Insurance Agencies

In response to Diana Hale's letter regarding no-fault insurance (March 24), she is misinformed. She made the statement that "while insurance agencies and trial lawyers are battling it out. . . ." Let me assure you that insurance agencies are buyers of insurance for clients. We, like our clients, feel the squeeze of redlining and exorbitant rates! What she means to say is "insurance companies and trial lawyers are battling it out"--and indeed they are. No-fault is only one aspect of the ingredients in response that will begin to bring sanity into the insurance industry.

California's doctors, hospitals and insurance companies have launched a united campaign against a proposed ballot measure seeking tighter regulation of health insurance rates, and proponents quickly returned fire. The proposed ballot initiative seeks to give the California Department of Insurance the same rate-setting authority over health insurance that it already holds over auto and property insurance policies. Calls for greater governmental control over rates have grown amid significant rate hikes for health insurance in recent years.

All Valley Insurance Group, the insurance unit of Valley Federal Savings & Loan Assn. in Van Nuys, said it purchased Lewis Associates, an independent insurance agency in Visalia. The price was not disclosed. All Valley Insurance now owns three insurance agencies in the San Joaquin Valley. The others are Follett-Niday-Badasci Insurance in Lemoore and Wagner-Trask Insurance Agency in Fresno. Together, the three agencies generate about $22 million in premiums annually, All Valley Insurance said.

Citing the city's failure to hire a new city manager as well as recent officer-involved shootings, Maywood's insurance agency has terminated coverage because it views the municipality as too high a risk, according to city officials. In a notice delivered to the city last week, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority said it would end all general liability and workers' compensation coverage effective July 1, according to Interim City Manager Angela Spaccia. "This termination potentially puts the city in the position where it cannot continue to operate its police department and provide other city services," a statement on the city's website announced.

Tolman & Wiker Insurance, a Ventura firm that is one of the county's oldest and largest insurance agencies, has purchased the Ventura County division of Frank B. Hall & Co. The seller was Aon Corp., a Chicago holding company that acquired the nationwide Hall agency last year. Dennis W. Corte, a partner in Tolman, said Hall's office in Oxnard has been closed and its 10-person staff has moved to Tolman's headquarters in downtown Ventura. Thomas K. Dodds Jr.

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has secured a court order putting the California business of Apex Placement Insurance Co., based in the Caribbean, under a conservatorship, moving for the first time against an unlicensed auto insurer in the state. He also directed 22 Southern California insurance agencies to stop selling the company's auto policies.

The new law requiring drivers to provide proof of insurance when they are stopped by police, or pay fines up to $2,750, is sending droves of people to local insurance agencies. At High Risk Specialist, a Newport Beach agency specializing in providing insurance to people with bad driving records or who haven't had insurance before, nine agents are fielding about 100 calls apiece daily and working 16 hours a day to handle the deluge. "I'm exhausted," said agent Sean Lucero.

As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, Bruce Talamon was a good student, regular churchgoer, even a Boy Scout. And on a few occasions, he was also a joy rider. Like many adolescents eager to take an early turn behind the wheel, Talamon would tag along with friends who would furtively borrow a parent's set of car keys, cruise the neighborhood, and finally return home, exuberant and undetected. "We'd just ride around, we didn't ditch class.

State Seizes Insurance Businesses: The Insurance Department seized a Fremont-based insurance agency and related businesses, accusing their two principals of health insurance fraud. Stoddard Insurance Administration and other businesses run by J. Paul Stoddard and John Anton Berg were placed under court-ordered conservation, the department said in a statement.

Regarding Patricia Occhiuzzo Giggans' Platform (Commentary, Oct. 3): She is perfectly correct. Boxer Mike Tyson should not be shielded by his celebrity status. However, he is shielded by an old rule of law. Ever hear of innocent until proven guilty? J.E. FULLERTON Anaheim

Tony Freeman opened his State Farm insurance office at about the worst possible time. It was late 2002, just as the national company lost its appetite for much of the California home and auto insurance business. And the new agency owner had counted on that business to pay the bills and recoup his $50,000 start-up cost. "I wanted to quit so bad, so many times, in the early days. It was brutal," says Freeman, 43.

California's largest health insurers, facing possible fines and other penalties for the way they sometimes cancel policies after patients pile up medical bills, meet today with regulators to discuss ongoing state enforcement efforts. The meeting was called by the Department of Managed Health Care, which oversees health maintenance organizations and other types of health plans, because it was nearing completion of investigations into the cancellation practices of Health Net Inc.

Inglewood police are searching for a third suspect in the September stabbing deaths of two business owners, authorities said Wednesday. The announcement followed the arrest several weeks ago of Osman Canales, 26, and Juan Maldonado Jr., 16. Both have been charged with two counts of murder, three counts of robbery and three counts of kidnapping, Inglewood Police Capt. Eve Irvine said at a news conference. Although he is a minor, Maldonado is being charged as an adult, police said.

The holding company for Hanmi Bank in Los Angeles said Thursday that it would acquire two Garden Grove-based insurance agencies that, like the bank, have a largely Korean American clientele. Hanmi Financial Corp. didn't disclose purchase terms for Chun Ha Insurance Services and All World Insurance Services, which sell life, health, commercial, auto and property policies. Ki Hong Park, who founded the brokerages, will stay on as their chief executive.

Thousands of taxis and limousines were taken off the streets because the companies that owned them were sold millions of dollars in what authorities said were bogus insurance policies. A cease-and-desist order was issued against two businesses that allegedly sold the fake policies to more than 150 companies throughout the state.

As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, Bruce Talamon was a good student, regular churchgoer, even a Boy Scout. And on a few occasions, he was also a joy rider. Like many adolescents eager to take an early turn behind the wheel, Talamon would tag along with friends who would furtively borrow a parent's set of car keys, cruise the neighborhood, and finally return home, exuberant and undetected. "We'd just ride around, we didn't ditch class.

Citing the city's failure to hire a new city manager as well as recent officer-involved shootings, Maywood's insurance agency has terminated coverage because it views the municipality as too high a risk, according to city officials. In a notice delivered to the city last week, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority said it would end all general liability and workers' compensation coverage effective July 1, according to Interim City Manager Angela Spaccia. "This termination potentially puts the city in the position where it cannot continue to operate its police department and provide other city services," a statement on the city's website announced.

The state's new earthquake insurance agency will be discussed Wednesday at a meeting of the Sylmar Community Coordinating Council. Keith E. Weaver, field representative for state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Van Nuys), will discuss the California Earthquake Authority, which was established in September to set insurance rates, said Irma Goodman, a council spokeswoman.

The longer-term solvency of the U.S. agency that insures pensions is at risk, threatened by troubled airlines and other companies failing to fund their retirement plans, the agency's director said Thursday. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Director Bradley D. Belt said he expected to report a significantly increased deficit for fiscal 2004, which ended Sept. 30, eclipsing 2003's record $11.2-billion deficit for the agency's single-employer insurance fund.

Lawmakers are investigating conflict-of-interest concerns involving Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi's nominee to head a state agency that controls more than $1 billion in failed insurance company assets. Fred A. Buck's nomination as chief executive of the Insurance Department's Conservation and Liquidation Office has been stalled in the Senate since last September, when Garamendi nominated him for the $260,000-a-year post.