Quake Insurance

It cost $100 million to repair and seismically reinforce the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after the Northridge earthquake, but on Wednesday the manager of the Coliseum and Sports Arena complex, Pat Lynch, disclosed that no one is willing to sell quake insurance for the stadium. Lynch said that one insurance company is willing to sell $5 million worth of coverage on the Sports Arena for one year for $250,000, but $6.5 million in damage would be required to satisfy a 10% deductible.

A state appellate court in San Francisco ruled that a California law requiring insurers to offer earthquake insurance with their homeowners policies does not prohibit insurers from refusing to carry a homeowner altogether, if he or she insists on buying earthquake coverage. Two Marin County homeowners had sued State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. because it refused to sell them earthquake insurance and canceled their entire policy when they demanded it.

The administrative law judge in ongoing hearings on earthquake insurance rates has ruled that state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush can legally keep his own expert off the stand if he doesn't like what the expert would say. Judge Andrea L. Biren, in a written opinion, refused to either independently subpoena the expert, Robert Hunter, or to order the Insurance Department to produce him for a second time at the hearings--turning down a motion from a consumer advocate.

Lawmakers on Thursday gave up an attempt to meet a May 1 deadline set by Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush for approval of a state-run California Earthquake Authority to coordinate the sale of homeowners quake insurance. The chairman of a legislative conference committee working to find a compromise on two widely divergent bills on the matter, state Sen. Charles M.

Despite the impetus of the Oct. 1, 1987, earthquake, Californians are no closer to affordable earthquake insurance than they were a year ago, insurance industry experts testified at a state Senate hearing in Whittier.

A Superior Court jury Tuesday awarded $9 million in punitive damages to a former Farmers Insurance adjuster who alleged he was fired for refusing to underpay claims after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, his attorney said. Kermith Sonnier also was awarded $1.46 million in compensatory damages after jurors found supervisors unfairly fired him for resisting Farmers directives to reduce loss estimates on quake-damaged homes, attorney Steven Ball said. "Farmers argued that Mr.

A former Times editor, Noel Greenwood, echoing a few other messages I've received lately, asks, "Does anyone at the state earthquake authority know what the hell they are doing?" Greenwood, who lives in Santa Barbara, explained, "My premium for quake coverage has gone from $289 to $621 in one year, without explanation of any kind. . . . "My cost of quake coverage is now roughly equal to my basic home insurance policy ($621 to $673).

California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush is proposing that the state operate a privately financed earthquake insurance authority to make sure that homeowners can get coverage. The concept of a free-standing authority has merit, but Quackenbush's proposed framework tilts too far toward insurers and leaves too many consumer-cost questions unanswered.

Legislation calling for revival of a state-run earthquake insurance program for homeowners was introduced Monday in the Assembly. "We are learning the hard way that repealing the old program was a mistake," said Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-San Jose), the bill's author. The earthquake insurance program was repealed in 1993 after critics claimed that it was bordering on insolvency.