Low
Farmers Ins. Exchange v. Low
Opinion
Opinion
Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe and Paul Alexander and Vanessa Wells, Palo Alto, for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company and State Farm General Insurance Company, Amicus Curiae on behalf of Appellants.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Lawrence K. Keethe, Steven J. Green, Kristin M. Daily and Robert Asperger, Deputy Attorneys General, for Defendants and Respondents.
Public Advocates, Inc. and Mark Savage, John T. Affeldt, San Francisco, and Maria E. Andrade, for Interveners and Respondents Consumers Union of U.S., Inc., National Council of La Raza, Korean Youth and Community Council, Oakland Chinese Community Council, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles.
CORNELL, J.
This dispute concerns records and reports made by various insurance companies to the Insurance Commissioner of California, which, by definition, are public records. (Gov.Code, § 6252, subd. (d).) The records detail for every ZIP code in California the number of exposures [1] and the premium dollars earned by an insurer. The Insurance Commissioner agreed to disclose the records after receiving a request for the data from various consumers…