Blogs

California Has the Power to Respond to the Insurance Crisis

May 5, 2026  ·  Will Pletcher

After years of skyrocketing insurance bills and policy non-renewals by insurance companies, it was good to hear candidates for Governor offer proposals to push back...

Key Legal Documents in Consumer Watchdog’s Challenge to State Farm $1.2 Homeowners Rate Hike Request

August 19, 2025  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Consumer Watchdog has challenged a more than $1.1 billion rate hike State Farm State Farm seeks for its homeowners, renters, condo and landlord policies. A...

Insurers Can’t Avoid Offering Premium Discounts to Good Drivers by Creating Bogus Club Memberships

March 31, 2025  ·  Justin Kloczko

An auto insurance company must offer its lowest rate to all good drivers, and can’t hide behind so-called club memberships in order to overcharge motorists. ...

State Farm – Emergency Public Rate Hearing on Request for Nearly $1 Billion Increase in Home, Renter and Condo Premiums

March 25, 2025  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Public hearing begins Tuesday, April 8, 10:00 AMWATCH LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/@cdiahb3069/streamsKey documents below ** IN BOLD Consumer Watchdog is challenging State Farm’s unprecedented request for a...

Insurance Commissioner Seeks to Avoid State Review of Regulation Permitting Insurers to Use Secret Black-Box Models to Set Rates

December 11, 2024  ·  Ryan Mellino

On December 5, 2024, Consumer Watchdog sent a letter to California’s Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) objecting to the Department of Insurance’s (“the Department”) use...

Consumer Watchdog Saves Policyholders More Than $53 million with 21st Century, USAA, and Liberty Insurance Rate Hike Challenges

November 1, 2024  ·  Ben Powell

Los Angeles, CA — Consumer Watchdog recently reached settlement in three challenges to double-digit rate hikes requested by 21st Century Insurance Company for its auto policies,...

Consumer Watchdog Achieves Increased Transparency, Enhanced Wildfire Risk Disclosures for Consumers in Settlement with Allstate

August 22, 2024  ·  Ben Powell

Consumer Watchdog reached a settlement with Allstate and the California Department of Insurance, resolving the company’s application with the Department for a rate increase of...

Responding to Clearview AI’s Comments Concerning Consumer Watchdog’s Report on Clearview AI’s Abuses of Our Privacy Rights

February 26, 2024  ·  Ryan Mellino

In the wake of the publishing of Consumer Watchdog’s report on Clearview AI, both the company’s CEO, Hoan Ton-That, and General Counsel, Jack Mulcaire, objected to the...

John Doe v. California Department of Public Health et al., Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. 20STCV3236

October 13, 2023  ·  Jerry Flanagan

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit affecting consumers enrolled in two California state-sponsored health care programs for individuals living with HIV. Notice of...

California Apartment Association’s Abuse of the Ballot Initiative Process

September 29, 2023  ·  Ben Powell

The integrity of the California voter initiative process is under attack. The California Apartment Association is attempting to add to the ballot an unconstitutional initiative...

The Good That Came Out Of Suing the State Over Allowing Illegal Disposal Of Radioactive Waste From CA’s Most Notorious Cold War Lab: An Epitaph

August 21, 2023  ·  Liza Tucker

The Santa Susana Field Lab, nestled in the Simi Hills, is about an hour by car from downtown Los Angeles.  It is the scene of experimental...

California Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds “Organizational Standing” in Unfair Competition Law Cases

August 4, 2023  ·  Ryan Mellino

Do you believe that an organization should be able to sue to stop actions that cost the organization money and directly harm its mission and...