Steve Young was somewhat upbeat when he was asked what he thought about the outcome of a long-brewing legal battle between three insurance associations and the California Department of Insurance.
That upbeat attitude is because a court of appeals accepted his association’s amicus brief this week. That may sound a bit trivial, but Young sees it as a signal there’s at least a slight chance the group will have its day in court sooner rather than later.
Young, vice president and general counsel of Insurance Brokers & Agents of the West, applauded the Second District Court of Appeals action earlier this week in granting IBA West’s request to file an amicus brief in the litigation over replacement cost regulations that were successfully pushed through the courts by the California Department of Insurance last year.
On Monday IBA West filed the brief, a request to support the petition for writ of mandate filed by the Personal Insurance Federation of California and the Association of California Insurance Companies challenging the legality of the replacement cost regulations.
The writ would speed the appeals process along. Otherwise, the appeals process could go on for years and draw out a battle that was ignted last year.
When CDI and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones came up with the regulations regarding how do deal with and present to consumers replacement costs on homeowners’ insurance policies last year, it touched off a legal battle between the three associations and CDI attorneys.
While CDI argues the regulations were necessary to protect homeowners, the groups believe the CDI and Jones overstepped their authority, and that this move could be an inroads to enabliing the regulators to wield a broader authority over more than just those entities in homeowners insurance.
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