Justin Kloczko writes about tech, energy and insurance for Consumer Watchdog. He’s covered privacy issues extensively, including data collection, privacy rights and legislation, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and surveillance pricing.He’s a recovering daily newspaper reporter with experience covering local government, education, and the criminal justice system at the Hartford Advocate, Middletown Press, and Manchester Journal Inquirer. His work has appeared in Vice, Daily Beast, The New Republic, KCRW and Los Angeles Magazine.While covering civil litigation at the Los Angeles Daily Journal he won LA Press Club awards for his stories detailing corruption at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. The stories led to the criminal prosecutions of multiple city officials. Justin also authored The Debaser, an independent newsletter about LA culture and politics that garnered him an appearance on the ABC/Hulu documentary about disgraced plaintiff’s attorney Tom Girardi called “The Housewife and the Hustler.”
Auto Club of SoCal Agrees to Cut Car Insurance Rates By $70 Million, After Originally Proposing No Reduction
Santa Monica, CA – California drivers insured by Auto Club of Southern California will receive an average rate decrease of 4.1% after the company agreed to lower premiums following discussions with the California Department of Insurance and Consumer Watchdog. The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog challenged a 2012 Auto Club filing with the Department of Insurance that would not have decreased rates. As a result o
Court Refuses Mercury’s Request To Delay Homeowners Insurance Rate Decrease Required By Insurance Commissioner
Santa Monica, CA – Mercury Casualty Company must implement an 8% rate decrease to its homeowners insurance rates as required by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, according to a ruling issued by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Eugene L. Balonon on Tuesday, denying Mercury’s request to delay the decrease from taking effect. The decision will affect approximately 270,000 Mercury policyholders.
Anthem Blue Cross Imposes Another Unreasonable Rate Hike, This Time On 7,000 Small Businesses in California
Santa Monica, CA –Anthem Blue Cross is again imposing an unreasonable rate increase on its small business customers, and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced today that the company will not budge on this excessive rate hike.
Insure.com study on auto insurance rates: misleading and unreliable
Yesterday, the insurance sales website Insure.comreleased a poorly constructed and remarkably misleading study on auto insurance rates. (More surprising, perhaps, is the fact that some journalists uncritically posted the study as news.)
Washington, D.C.Proposition 103 Rate Regulation Leads to $160 Million Homeowners Insurance Rate Cut by State Farm
Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, State Farm and Consumer Watchdog jointly announced a $160 million rate cut for State Farm’s California homeowners insurance policyholders at a news conference today. More than a million homeowners and approximately 250,000 renters throughout California will see their premiums lowered when their policy next renews.
Farmers Insurance to Face Trial For Deceptive Refund Practices
Last month a California Court of Appeal overturned the Superior Court ruling in Streit v. Farmers Group, Inc. and allowed California consumers to pursue a lawsuit against Farmers Insurance for cheating customers out of fair refunds if they cancel their insurance policy. Consumer Watchdog’s attorneys authored a key “Friend of the Court” brief that laid the groundwork for the Appellate Court’s decision.