Suit Seeks $1.6 Billion From Auto Insurers

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. It wants Quackenbush to set the profit ceiling and have the insurance companies return $1.6 billion in excess profits made during the last three years, as well as interest and other investment gains made on those profits, according to San Diego lawyer Brian D. Monaghan. An Insurance Department official said the agency could not comment until it had received a copy of the lawsuit. Dan Dunmoyer, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, an industry group, called the suit frivolous.