Mercury Insurance Initiative "Will allow insurance companies to increase cost of insurance"

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Campaign for Consumer Rights, the campaign affiliate of Consumer Watchdog, lauded a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Jerry Brown to correct and strengthen the official Title and Summary of Proposition 17 in order to clarify that the initiative "will allow insurance companies to increase cost of insurance to drivers who do not have a history of continuous coverage."  The Title and Summary currently reads:  "May allow insurance companies to increase cost of insurance to drivers who do not qualify for discount."

Mercury Insurance is opposing the change, which will be decided in court on March 12th, along with other changes to the ballot pamphlet. A copy of the suit, which was filed yesterday, is available at: http://bit.ly/bSfZeG

Proposition 17, sponsored and funded by Mercury Insurance, would allow insurance companies to surcharge drivers based on their history of purchasing auto insurance. That practice is currently illegal in California due to the 1988 insurance reform measure Proposition 103.  Despite Mercury's campaign rhetoric that Prop 17 is only about discounts, the California Department of Insurance and now the Attorney General have concluded that Prop 17 will allow insurance companies to raise premiums on drivers who, for virtually any reason, did not have insurance coverage at some point in the past five years.

"Jerry Brown is taking his duties seriously. He is giving voters the most accurate information possible to make an informed choice on this deceptive ballot measure," said Harvey Rosenfield, who, as an opponent of Proposition 17 was named as a real party in interest in the Attorney General's lawsuit.

Mercury Insurance has already spent $3.5 million to put the initiative on the ballot, and tens of millions more is expected to be spent by the insurance company on advertising and its front groups to deceive voters into voting for Prop 17.

For more information, please visit: http://StopProp17.org  - Or find us on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stopmercury

http://StopProp17.org

SOURCE Campaign for Consumer Rights

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