Group Brings Insurance Fight Before FPPC

SACRAMENTO — The battle of competing auto insurance initiatives has expanded to a new front with the filing of a complaint before the state Fair Political Practices Commission by backers of one initiative against another.

The insurance industry supporters of the so-called no-fault auto insurance initiative asked the FPPC to order the California Trial Lawyers Assn., which is sponsoring a competing insurance initiative, to stop describing its measure a “consumer proposal.”

The trial lawyers’ measure is one of two auto insurance initiatives that already have qualified for the November ballot.

The insurance industry’s no-fault plan and a so-called Voter Revolt initiative, sponsored by consumer advocate Ralph Nader and others, have submitted signatures for places on the November ballot, but have not yet been certified.

Purport to Reduce Rates

The other auto insurance initiative that has already qualified for the ballot is backed by a different coalition of insurers.

All four initiatives purport to reduce auto insurance rates, some by limiting attorney fees and others by greater regulation of the insurance industry.

In the complaint filed with the FPPC on Thursday, John Crosby, executive director of Citizens for No Fault, asserted that the California Trial Lawyers Assn. “is disregarding state law mandating that the dominant financial contributor in any initiative campaign must identify itself.”

“Trial lawyers are trying to deceive voters by advertising their proposal as the Consumer Reform Coalition or the Insurance Consumer Action Network initiative,” Crosby said in a statement.

The trial lawyers group was not immediately available for comment, but it has previously complained that the insurance industry is attempting to mislead voters by campaigning under a no-fault banner rather than as the insurance industry.