Automobile Insurance California

California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, still stinging from a recent court setback that rejected his regulations for implementing Proposition 103, said Wednesday that one of Northern California's largest auto insurers has agreed to rebate $71.8 million to its policyholders--less than half the amount the state had originally sought. The agreement left some insurers wondering whether Garamendi is softening his stance against the industry.

Californians are heading into a period of annual auto insurance increases as savings from liability reform and improvements in auto safety come to an end, a top industry executive told Wall Street analysts Monday. That would mark a dramatic reversal from a downward cycle that saw auto premiums in California fall from the third-highest in the U.S. to 20th by 1999.

Gov. Gray Davis on Sunday signed landmark legislation offering affordable automobile insurance policies to more than one million low-income motorists in Los Angeles County and San Francisco. Winding up action on the final bills sent to him by the Legislature last month, the governor also signed a far-reaching proposal establishing minimum staffing standards for hospital nurses but vetoed a controversial measure aimed at overhauling the nursing home system for elderly Californians.

Gov. Gray Davis on Sunday signed landmark legislation offering affordable automobile insurance policies to more than one million low-income motorists in Los Angeles County and San Francisco. Winding up action on the final bills sent to him by the Legislature last month, the governor also signed a far-reaching proposal establishing minimum staffing standards for hospital nurses but vetoed a controversial measure aimed at overhauling the nursing home system for elderly Californians.

Californians are heading into a period of annual auto insurance increases as savings from liability reform and improvements in auto safety come to an end, a top industry executive told Wall Street analysts Monday. That would mark a dramatic reversal from a downward cycle that saw auto premiums in California fall from the third-highest in the U.S. to 20th by 1999.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of three San Diego-area drivers claims that many of the state's auto insurers have been allowed to generate profits that are larger than permitted under provisions of Proposition 103. Proposition 103 required that the state Insurance Commissioner establish maximum profit ceilings for insurers. The suit, which names 200 insurers, claims that Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush has failed to establish those ceilings.

Insurance Initiative Planned: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., California's largest auto and homeowners insurer, plans to announce today what the state Insurance Department calls "a multibillion-dollar urban marketing plan" for economically distressed neighborhoods of Los Angeles and Compton. State Farm developed the plan cooperatively with the Greenlining Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank that specializes in urban economic issues.

John Garamendi and the California Department of Insurance are doing all they can to get rid of 20th Century Insurance Co. because the insurer has charged too little for its policies and made too much money. With careful underwriting and low-cost distribution, 20th Century has been able to offer some of the lowest-priced automobile insurance in California. Because of its efficiency, 20th Century has been able to earn more profit for each dollar of automobile premium than many of its less-efficient competitors.

Leo Killion, 92, attorney and writer of "The Hut Sut Song." A native of Towner, N.D., Killion grew up in Minneapolis, where he heard Swedish folk songs that he later spoofed in nonsense lyrics. Written in 1939 by Killion, Ted McMichael and Jack Owens, "The Hut Sut Song" was recorded and popularized by the Freddy Martin Orchestra and the Horace Heidt Orchestra. It was sung by the Merry Macs in the 1941 movie "San Antonio Rose."

Insurance regulators proposed a model law Tuesday under which car rental agencies would have to justify the fees charged to customers to free them from liability for collision damages. A spokesman for the industry called the proposed legislation unnecessary, unreasonable, unworkable and "anti-consumer." However, the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, holding its national summer meeting here this week, is expected to approve it Thursday.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of three San Diego-area drivers claims that many of the state's auto insurers have been allowed to generate profits that are larger than permitted under provisions of Proposition 103. Proposition 103 required that the state Insurance Commissioner establish maximum profit ceilings for insurers. The suit, which names 200 insurers, claims that Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush has failed to establish those ceilings.

California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, still stinging from a recent court setback that rejected his regulations for implementing Proposition 103, said Wednesday that one of Northern California's largest auto insurers has agreed to rebate $71.8 million to its policyholders--less than half the amount the state had originally sought. The agreement left some insurers wondering whether Garamendi is softening his stance against the industry.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., California's largest homeowner insurer, on Friday raised its estimate of insurance losses from the Northridge earthquake to $1 billion from an initial estimate of $600 million. State Farm's announcement, the latest in a series of sharp upward revisions of loss projections, assures that the final total of insured damage from the Jan. 17 quake will far exceed the insurance industry's initial estimate of $2.5 billion.

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi Thursday accused State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., California's largest homeowners insurer, of redlining, or illegal sales discrimination, in inner-city neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Based on a new study of 1992 homeowners insurance sales in selected ZIP codes, Garamendi said the company "writes virtually no policies in South-Central and East Los Angeles" because it refuses to compete in poorer neighborhoods.