Insurance Industry California

It was early morning as the two young campaign volunteers alighted from a weathered sedan parked in front of City Hall and unfurled a crudely lettered banner: "Ralph Nader Appears Here." As a handful of city workers and a few curious passers-by gathered in the open plaza, America's best-known consumer advocate stood stiffly in his dark overcoat and rumpled blue suit, clutching his ever-present accordion file and regaling the faithful with tales of lies and greed.

In a significant Proposition 103 rollback, Mercury Insurance Group on Thursday agreed to rebate $46 million to 266,000 California auto insurance customers, or about $172 per customer. Mercury, a unit of Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp., is the second insurer--but the first stockholder-owned one--to agree to a Prop. 103 rebate. The company has about 4% of the California car insurance market.

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has barred four unlicensed insurers from doing business in California, citing them for either misrepresenting their assets or otherwise lacking the financial strength to make good on claims. "These companies were selling insurance in this state with no apparent intention of meeting obligations to their policyholders," Garamendi said Wednesday.

The wettest January in Los Angeles-area history took a toll on Kathleen Walsh's home. The Temple City resident discovered brown spots and mildew on her newly plastered ceiling. Walls in a recently remodeled section of her house buckled, and the carpet molded. Even some paintings got soggy. Walsh's home sustained about $11,000 in damage, her insurance agent estimates. Walsh is reasonably lucky because the bulk of her damage claims will be covered by her homeowner's insurance.

Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush rejected recommendations from his own legal team that some of the biggest insurance companies in the state be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for mishandling claims in the aftermath of the devastating Northridge earthquake.

Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., the largest life insurer based in California, sought state approval Tuesday to convert to a new corporate structure that would allow the public to buy a stake in the 129-year-old company. The Newport Beach insurer sees its expansion through acquisitions, and it wants to be able to tap the public markets for cash to finance its purchases. As a mutual, the company is owned by policyholders, making it difficult to buy other firms.

Shares of 20th Century Industries lost nearly a quarter of their value Friday, a day after the California Supreme Court rejected the Woodland Hills-based insurer's constitutional challenge of regulations for Proposition 103. Twentieth Century's stock closed at $12.75 a share, down $3.625, or 22%, in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

National Colonial Insurance had the worst consumer complaint record among auto insurers and Farmers Insurance Exchange ranked worst among homeowner insurers in a survey released Thursday by the state Department of Insurance. United Services Automobile Assn. was rated best in both categories.

Urging California residents to "shop around" before purchasing homeowner insurance policies, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi Wednesday released a statewide survey spotlighting dramatic price differences between identical policies offered by the state's 26 largest insurance companies. The survey also revealed major price differences between identical policies purchased in various communities and regions of California.

A split has developed among the big auto insurance companies on the Proposition 103 rollback issue, with some companies prepared to compromise with new Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and pay rebates of 1989 premiums to customers. Although Garamendi has not said how large a rebate he wants, some insurers believe he hopes for a return of 6% to 8% on auto, homeowner and other premiums, an amount that would send checks of $100 or more to millions of California policyholders.