Mercury Insurance

The head of one of California's biggest auto insurers is pursuing a ballot measure for the November election that would rewrite large portions of Proposition 103, the 1988 initiative that changed the way the state sets auto insurance premiums. George Joseph, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp.

California insurance companies can't charge higher rates for drivers who previously didn't have coverage, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday in a case brought by consumer activists. The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles found that Mercury Insurance's awarding of so-called persistency discounts to motorists who had automobile liability policies with Mercury or other insurers violated Proposition 103, the landmark auto insurance initiative approved by voters in 1988.

In the 1976 apocalyptic horror flick "The Omen," a snarling Rottweiler protects the antichrist child Damien Thorn, allowing him to unleash his devilish proclivities on a naive world. The beast is Damien's pet, and no one in the film questions the wisdom of allowing the menacing canine to roam the halls of the Thorn mansion. Update the plot to 2004, however, and the family's insurance agent probably would have an opinion.

One of California's largest automobile insurers showered a Senate committee with campaign contributions just days before it was to consider a bill the company is pushing to overturn a decision by Insurance Commissioner Harry Low. Mercury Insurance Co., a Los Angeles-based insurer, is sponsoring legislation that would allow it to continue to offer discounts to customers who maintained insurance coverage over the years.

At a private dinner hosted by state Senate Democratic leader Bill Lockyer at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, a dozen of California's leading insurer and trial lawyer representatives agreed this week on a truce in their long conflict over insurance and legal policy. As part of the agreement forged at the Tuesday night dinner, the lawyers gave the green light for putting in the inactive file a legislative bill that would have restored a wider right to sue insurers for bad faith.

A rash of complaints about advertising claims surfaced Wednesday in the battle over five insurance initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot. Three consumer groups accused two leading Southland insurance companies, Mercury and the Automobile Club of Southern California, of peddling false or misleading information in ads and mailings on behalf of Proposition 104, the no-fault initiative.

In an attempt to escape rate rollback provisions in the various insurance initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot, Coastal Insurance officials said Friday they have plans to shift their 250,000 auto policyholders to an out-of-state company that would offer new rates not subject to the rollbacks after the election.