A Los Angeles Superior Court ruled against the insurance industry last Friday in a lawsuit insurers filed against the California Department of Insurance.  Consumer Watchdog’s litigation director Pam Pressley, working with the California Dep’t of Insurance and the Attorney General’s office, led the successful courtroom battle, protecting the requirement that insurance companies pay the costs incurred by consumers and consumer groups who challenge proposals to unfairly and illegally jack up insurance rates.  As we wrote in the news releases, Consumer Watchdog:

brings
legal, actuarial, and (in the case of earthquake insurance rates)
geological experts to the Department of Insurance to make the case
against price gouging. In some instances, companies have withdrawn or
dramatically reduced their rate hike proposals only after substantial
work has been done by consumer experts but before the Department of
Insurance has begun the process of conducting a formal hearing.

Recognizing the value of finding and blocking unfair rates as
quickly as possible, the Department issued amendments to the so-called
"intervenor regulations" to clarify that consumers and their experts
should be compensated for reasonable time and expenses associated with
protecting consumers from price gouging whether or not a formal hearing
was conducted.

Here’s the judge’s ruling.