We won another important victory for California consumers this week!
The insurance industry sued me (Association of California Insurance Companies v. Jones) to strike down an important consumer protection regulation. The regulation requires home insurers that are providing estimates of home replacement costs to provide complete estimates of the cost to rebuild a home.
We issued this regulation when we learned, after fires that swept through California destroying thousands of homes, that many homeowners had less insurance than they needed to replace their homes. They had been given a misleading estimate from their insurer of the cost of replacing their home and so they got too little insurance, because the insurers’ estimates omitted certain of the significant expenses that are expected when rebuilding a home.
The insurance industry did not limit their challenge to this regulation, however. They sued me to eliminate my overall authority to issue consumer protection regulations.
We strongly defended our legal authority to protect consumers. And the Supreme Court agreed. The Supreme Court upheld my authority to issue regulations to protect consumers.
It is a real privilege to use my training and decades of experience as a lawyer to fight for Californians.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
DAVE JONES
Insurance Commissioner
