Patterson

Defendants, ITT Consumer Financial Corporation, Aetna Finance Company, ITT Lyndon Property Insurance Company, ITT Lyndon Life Insurance Company, and John M. Higgins (collectively ITT), appeal from an order denying their petition to compel arbitration and prohibiting them from confirming arbitration awards in the City and County of San Francisco. Plaintiffs Abbe Kanarek Patterson et al., are individuals who borrowed money from defendant finance companies and who, in connection with those loans, purchased insurance policies from defendant insurers.

In September 1991 plaintiffs filed a class action alleging ITT had violated the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (Civ. Code, § 1750 et seq.), engaged in unfair debt collection practices (Civ. Code, § 1788 et seq.), unlawfully made collateral sales a condition upon obtaining loans, breached the loan agreement with respect to insurance payments and refunds, engaged in false advertising, intentionally inflicted emotional distress, and committed fraud. A companion case containing many of the same allegations was filed on behalf of an individual plaintiff, John Lang, a few months later.

ITT petitioned for an order to compel arbitration…