An administrative judge in California's Insurance Department who was fired last year is suing Commissioner Ricardo Lara and his former special counsel, accusing them of illegally approving insurance rate increases and undermining the judicial branch of the department, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, in a story originally published by CalMatters.
Kristin Rosi, former chief administrative law judge for the department, filed the lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court in late September. She alleges that Lucy Wang — the former special counsel who was also a deputy insurance commissioner — and other top officials retaliated against her for calling out their practices and refusing to comply with orders to revoke or change her rulings. "When Judge Rosi was making rulings consistent with the law she was informed improperly that she ought to rule certain ways, and that she ought not to hold hearings," said Rosi's lawyer, Wendy Musell. Rosi will not be giving interviews about the lawsuit, Musell said. Gabriel Sanchez, an Insurance Department spokesperson, did not address questions about the lawsuit or a request to interview Lara. "We have no comment," he said, according to CalMatters.
The suit's allegations have not been proven in court. They include claims that the department regularly breached the separation of its executive, legal and judicial branches in rate reviews, and that "the underlying rate processes included settlement agreements for unprecedented rate increases" using procedures "neither codified by insurance law, nor found in the regulations." Californians' home insurance premiums have increased 23% since 2023, according to comparison website Bankrate.com, the Chronicle reported.
Rosi also filed complaints last year against four people from the department, including Wang, with the California State Bar. Those cases are pending and have not been made public, but CalMatters obtained copies. The complaints say Wang, and in at least one case Lara, should not have been meeting with the legal team about cases being reviewed by that team without including all stakeholders. Dave Jones, Lara's predecessor who appointed Rosi as chief administrative law judge, called the allegations "shocking and disturbing."