News Scrapbook 1988

San Diego, Cal,f. Southern Cross (Cir. W. 27,500)

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1r1 Diego, Calif, Sou llwrn Cross (Cir. W. ?7 ,500)

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Business Seminar Serles, continues Dec 2 with " Marketing Within the Organization." Cost for on session Is $15. Each emfnar Includes pre entatIon mat r als and continental brea~fa t For further information, call J ckie Frinberg. 260-4644 Distinguished tpeakers series, I cture eries focusing on the buslne activity In the United States, the Pacific Aim and M x/co, continue at th Manet, t r Execu11v Confer nc Center, D c. 15. Topic for Dec mber Is, "Doing Busln In Mexico," conducted by Rodolfo Aernandoz, a

m naglng partner for Touche Ross and Company m Tlju na. Cost ,s $1 p r e slon. Call 260 4644

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ropos·tion 103 Backers Urge S preme Court to Lift Stay 11CARRIZO A

ew Law Library By~fo"LF, Time, Staff Writer

r---------------------------------, ceptions will be for companies that can show a Insurance Dept. to Add Staff if 103 Is Upheld

substantial threat or insolvency. The initiative also requires a rurther 20 per- cent auto Insurance discount for defined "good drivers" after November 1989; subjects future Insurance rate Increases to slate review; re- strict., Insurer •' authority to refuse to renew auto policies; and makes the slate insurance commlsaloner an elecllve office In 1990. Since the election, several major insurers have announced that they are leaving the state, restricting their California business or 6hlft1ng coverage In the atate to higher-priced

Th 1tate insurance comrnlsaloner plans to dd 300 employees to her 515-member 1t.afl her office's annual budget by $18 mllllon--to enforce Proposition 103 If the Insurance ln!Uative b upheld In court, ac- cortlmg to a publbhed ri!port. The inlUatlve allows the department lo charge Insurer • for added enforcement It the atate Supreme Court allow • the lnJ. Uat1ve to take effect, Commlsslo er Roxanf and crea coats.

The paneb would take evidence on expected pleaa by insurance companies lo be allowed to raise thelr rat.ea above the %0 percent roll- back from 1987 levels that Proposition 103 "We feel we are very conversant on the GnJespie said. "But we are putting together aprocuathatwillmakethoseflnance clear to the world. •.. We particularly want to showwhere the money Is going - how much mandates. finances of m I of the companies already,"

affiliates.

The companies' lawsuits -

the lead case Is

to litigation, how much to the doctors, how Calfarm Insurance Co. v. Deukmejfon, contend among other things that the dilJg ntly,theLoaAngelesTimesreportedln wages. Where the premium dollar la 20 percent rate rollback and one-year freeze Tu day's editions. disappearing." violate the constitutional right to make a fair The Insurance commissioner, In an inter- return on one's investment. They also contend "We have no feeling about the law; we just view In her San FranclBco office, repeatedly the "threat or insolvency" standard will force Implement It," h said. "We are reaqy In expressed her determination to be non-politi- them to operate at a loss. t.hb case." cal if ehe does administer Proposition 103. But Colchett argued that the rate rollback The In urance commissloner sald an 11- She also reiterated that she has no plans to and freeze did not amount lo unconstitutional member "Implementation committee" nm for the post of insurance commissioner, confiscation In an industry where "rates have working since September has agreed on es- which would become an elective office in 1990 been so high, for so long," without state regula- lablishing several parate hearing panels. under tenns of Proposition 103. tion. He also said the slate insurance commis- '---------------------------------sionerhad ample authority to protect insurers In I.heir %~page reply to the insurance Indus- from loss of their capital investment under the try suits Colchett and his legal team mixed 8 "threat or insolvency" standard. little rh;torlc In with their legal arguments. ~~ting a number or re?t control .and public Gill pie aald c would enforce the measure much lo the lawyers, how much to pay S007838 -

"The people have • poken. Now, predictably, utility cases, Colchett sa.td the justices should those who have lost the election are looking for not even accept the suits for full review be- and, where necessary, inventinll potential cause no on~ knows exactly what eff~cl Propo- problema with Proposition 103 T, Cotchelt altion 103 will ~8'1-'e unW after the 1DSurance avrote ' commlssloner unplements It and creates ex- .._......,_..,_ · emptions for companies actually threatened "Their requests amount to choruses ofgloom with insolvency. and doom, scenarios of persecution based upon Charging that insurers have "brought this on highly debatable factual assertions.... The themselves," Colchett said the insurance in- people of California want the price of their dustry "Is continuing its efforts to deny ac- insurance set lairly." countability to the citizens of Calilornla and to

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permit open and honest evaluation" of their rates. ' The people "demand that the sunlight be allowed to shine upon the accounting books of the insurance companies," he added. The court will now lo decide whether to ac- cept the insurance companies' petitions for review. -----

More Comfortahle Too Another vast Improvement in the library will be in sheer comfort. "It IS a problem around exam tune," said Professor Donald T. Weckstem, who teaches labor law and legal ethics at the university. "I thmk the expansion of the librar 1s ong overdu , in term of space for p to 1t and do research." The proJeCt' planners anuc1pate that the new climate-controlled buildmg will not only make 1t a more pleasant place to study in the summer and winter months, but will help preserve valuable but aging documents. Outgomg Dean Sheldon Krantz saJd he recognized the need for a larger facility almo t as soon as he amved at th hool m 1981. "I saw I.hat of th h pno u for th ! school, to mcrease its pr ttge nationally, would be to expand the law li- brary," he Sllld. Krantz said prestige and respect- b11ity have come rapidly to the 30-year-old law school, which 1s young compared to many or the nation's more venerable law school A he saw 1t, an expansion m res arch capab1hty was the catalyst needed to jom the ma]Or league . "It really was not posSJble to move to the upper tier without this," Krantz said. The computerization of r arch techniques has dram llcally changed the way Jaw er and law students work, Krantz d. "In the future of law, u m other fields we will begin to e more and more e / Please au LIBRARY, Pa e

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 123,064) NOV 25 1988

actics fo

efense _of Prol). 103

governor's office." Van de Kamp has indicated strongly he will run for governor in 1990, The day after Proposition 103 won voter ap- proval, the Industry filed four suits in the Cali- fornl Supreme Court asking the justices to find the measure fucially unconstitutional. That requires the court to rule it would be lmpo srble for Proposition 103 to be imple- mented constitutionally. Th focus of the challenges is a provision that requires insurers to roll back rates for most fonns of property-<:asualty Insurance to No- State News vcmbcr 1987 levels, and then cut them by 20 percent. Insurers, represented by a bevy of prominent lawyers, contend the provision amounts to an wiconstitutional laking of prop- rty without du process. The court took Jurisdiction over the cases and lsaued a stay barring the measure from laking effect wlille the matter WM before the Justic , Inr spon.se, VandeKampaskcdthecourtto lift the stay or limit it to the measure's rate rollback provision. He also urged the justices to rule quickly on th mcnts of the mdust.ry's challenge. Van de

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Kamp contended the justices should reject the industry's challenge because the state insur- ance commissioner could adopt regulations that would constitutionally implement the initiative. But in papers filed this week with the high court, Proposition 103 lawyers took a different taclc. They said the industry's suits are premature because the state insurance COmmissioner has not adopted regulations to implement Proposi- tion 103. The appropriate time for the court to consider a challenge would be after insurers complied with regulations formulated by the COmmissioner. Any challenge then would be based on Propo- sition 103 as it has actually been applied, the lawyers argued. In effect, the Proposition 103 !egal team said insurers should exhaust their administrative remedies before asking the court to strike Van de Kamp said Wednesday his office be- lieves a quick ruling by the court on the consli- tutionaJ issues "is the best way to get this case off the dime." He called the strategy difference a "di3:1greement among lawyers" that did not "re.fleet a major split." Of the strategy pursued by Proposition 1~3 lawyers, Van de Kamp .said, "The trouble wi that, from my standpoint, is that without guid- down the measure.

ance from the Supreme Court (for the commis sioner), we may have lo go back to th, Supreme Court." Fred Woocher, special counsel for the Altor ney General's Office, agreed a ruling on th, merits by the high court "would give som1 guidance" to the commissioner. But he said i "seems a little silly" to duck the constitutiona issues, saying, "Let's dance and get it ove with. JI Fellmeth said the strategy followed by Prop osition 103 lawyers adheres lo precedence ii regulatory law. "Generally, rules are adopted, applied anc then interpreted by the courts," he said. In th1 instant case, he added, the high court shoulc allow the commissioner lo adopt and applJ regulations to implement Proposition 103. "Once the court sees the rules, and if thL rules don 't pass muster, then throw the rules out," Fellmeth said. "Don't attempt to play insurance commissioner at the Supreme Court level. The court made a mistake in taking the

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far. 1888

- Fiction wrner Cria M.llza read, al Acts" 7 m. Nov 29, Fc>1mC1e,s-t!liilfi:rench Pa;lor. Aelm,salon Is Ir . lnlormallon 287-2~ trom her lorlhcomlng~

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case. The co tive ruling

should not be issuing specula-