Judge confirms Attorney General’s authority to investigate potential race discrimination by auto insurers PEMCO and Progressive

CC™ Legal News

“Auto insurance companies made investigation public by fighting to quash inquiry into use of credit history to choose customers and price car insurance.”

Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that a Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected an attempt by PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company and subsidiaries of the Progressive Corporation to stop his office’s investigation of potential race discrimination against Washington drivers. The companies both use consumer credit histories — or “credit-based insurance scores” derived from a consumer’s credit history — to decide whether to sell, and at what price to sell, their auto insurance products, despite evidence that this practice disproportionately harms people of color.

PEMCO and Progressive have a significant presence in Washington state. PEMCO has issued approximately 160,000 private passenger auto insurance policies to Washingtonians; Progressive likewise insures a significant portion of Washington drivers. Both companies openly use credit history and/or credit-based insurance scores to decide who they will provide coverage to, and at what price. Publicly available information indicates PEMCO charges people with low credit scores as much as triple those with high credit scores; Progressive likewise significantly increases premiums for individuals with negative credit histories.

The companies brought the matter to court to fight the office’s investigation, making the investigation public.

The office has a longstanding policy that it does not comment on investigations, including confirming whether they exist. However, in fighting to quash the Attorney General’s investigative demands, the insurance companies revealed the investigation. Given the significant importance of, and the public interest in, the practices under investigation, the office is offering comment.

“Washington law is clear: Unfair, deceptive or discriminatory business practices are illegal,” Ferguson said. “Significant evidence shows that using credit history to price insurance disproportionately affects people of color — even when their driving history is just as safe as white drivers. My office has a responsibility to investigate race discrimination against Washingtonians. I intend to do that."

Analyses show that the use of consumers’ credit history and/or credit-based insurance scores disproportionately affects drivers who are people of color, even if their driving records are just as safe as the driving records of white drivers. In 2020, the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group, reported that when insurance companies rely on factors having nothing to do with driving, including credit scores, to price their insurance products, Black drivers “will pay more for auto insurance than white drivers, even when everything related to driving safety and vehicle type is held constant.”

One media report notes this stems from “a long history of discrimination” in lending, banking, and government programs that is well-understood to “affect the data that credit scoring models use today.”

According to the Consumer Federation of America, “[b]ecause insurance is required in every state but New Hampshire, the disparate pricing likely causes higher levels of uninsured driving among African Americans and higher incidence of state uninsured driving penalties for African Americans, which can include fines, car impoundment, and jail. It also means less access to vehicles and reduced access to jobs, as the nexus between car ownership and employment opportunity is well established.”

The Attorney General’s Office is seeking information about PEMCO and Progressive’s compliance with the Washington Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination as part of its investigation.

Any Washingtonians with information about PEMCO’s or Progressive’s use of credit history in pricing, or deciding whether to offer, auto insurance, including people who believe they have experienced discrimination as a result of those practices, should reach out to the Wing Luke Civil Rights Division at 1-833-660-4877, and choose option 9 from the main menu. Individuals can also contact the Attorney General’s Office by email at AutoInsurance@atg.wa.gov.

Assistant Attorneys General Yesica Hernandez and Patricio Marquez, and Legal Assistants Anna Alfonso and Allie Lard, handled the Attorney General’s Office’s motion to enforce its investigation demands.

The Washington Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination in insurance transactions on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, citizenship or immigration status, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or honorably discharged veteran or military status.

The Wing Luke Civil Rights Division was created in 2015 to protect the rights of all Washington residents by enforcing state and federal anti-discrimination laws. It is named for Wing Luke, who served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Washington in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He went on to become the first person of color elected to the Seattle City Council and the first Asian-American elected to public office in the Pacific Northwest.

Individuals may file civil rights complaints here.

SOURCE: ATG.WA.GOV

A suit filed by the Center for Race, Inequality, and the Law takes a new approach to proving racial bias in the insurance industry

CC™ Matters Arising

“The study found that, compared to White homeowners, Black customers had to submit more paperwork to have their claims approved, were likely to have more conversations with a State Farm representative before having their claims approved, and experienced longer wait times to receive payouts.”

For Alexander Rose ’20, the highlight of his 2L year was participating in the Civil Rights Clinic taught by Professor of Clinical Law Deborah Archer. Over the course of the year, he worked on an employment discrimination dispute, advocated against the New York Police Department gang database, and co-drafted litigation strategies for advocates in the wake of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Her course was the defining experience of law school and helped make me the type of advocate I am today,” Rose says.

Now, two years after his graduation, Rose and Archer are working together again, this time on a potentially groundbreaking case of racial discrimination.

Filed on December 14 in federal court in Illinois, the suit, which is seeking class action status, alleges that insurance company State Farm discriminates against Black homeowners and makes it harder for them to receive pay outs for insurance claims. The case claims that State Farm utilizes fraud detection software that has a disparate impact on Black customers. Brought under the Fair Housing Act, the case is the first lawsuit of its kind to use data specific to an insurance company in making racial bias claims, according to an article on the litigation in the New York Times.

Representing the plaintiffs are NYU Law’s Center for Race, Inequality, and the Law (CRIL), where Archer is faculty co-director; and Fairmark Partners, a Washington, DC–based firm focused on civil rights and corporate accountability where Rose serves as chief of staff; and local counsel.

“This suit does not reflect the values we hold at State Farm,” Gina Morss-Fischer, a State Farm spokeswoman, told the New York Times. “State Farm is committed to a diverse and inclusive environment, where all customers and associates are treated with fairness, respect, and dignity. We are dedicated to paying what we owe, promptly and courteously.”

The case is built on a study which began when Archer, CRIL fellow David Jimenez ’23, Rose, and other members of Fairmark began discussing a 2020 story in the New York Times that reported Black homeowners often encounter difficulties when seeking payments for their property insurance claims. While these claims of bias are widespread, the Times reported, it was difficult to determine patterns of discrimination because insurance companies do not make information about claims publicly available.

“This question about wealth inequality and the links to home ownership and insurance kept coming up,” says Archer, who served as lead researcher for the study, “and CRIL has an interest in algorithmic bias, but also in thinking about community equity and the things and policies in place that make some communities less equitable and less hospitable for success,” says Archer. As many insurance companies use algorithms to handle a portion of claims, “it seemed like an important thing to explore,” she says. Archer says that CRIL and Fairmark worked with polling company YouGov to conduct a survey and analyze data from 800 State Farm claimants over several months in 2021.

The study found that, compared to White homeowners, Black customers had to submit more paperwork to have their claims approved, were likely to have more conversations with a State Farm representative before having their claims approved, and experienced longer wait times to receive payouts.

After analyzing the data, the Center and Fairmark spoke with individuals and community organizations to assess how impacted communities would like to file litigation, Archer says.

“In the past year, CRIL has become more sharply focused on challenging some of the modern tools of racial inequality, particularly with a sharper focus on economic justice issues, as well as diving deeper into exploring issues at the intersection of race and technology and algorithmic bias,” says Archer. She notes: “The practices of insurance companies and how they perpetuate racial bias and racial inequality is kind of a black box.”

SOURCE: NYU LAW NEWS

The True History Of Britain's Horrifying Role In Slavery

CC™ Videoscope

Buhari’s Killing Fields: Catholic priest burnt to death and another shot in northern Nigeria

CC™ Breaking News

Gunmen burned a Catholic priest to death and shot and injured his colleague in northwest Nigeria on Sunday, police said, the latest violence raising concerns about security ahead of an election next month.

Nigerians will vote for a new president on Feb. 25 but kidnappings for ransom and killings by armed gangs in the north have lead to fears that polls may not be held in some areas.

The motive for the latest attack was not immediately clear but gunmen have previously targeted priests in the largely Muslim north.

Wasiu Abiodun, police spokesperson for Niger state, said in a statement that armed men torched the residence of Father Isaac Achi, of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, in Paikoro local government area, after failing to gain entry around 3:00 a.m.

Father Achi was burned to death while another priest identified as Father Collins, who was at the house, was shot and injured as he tried to escape.

He is recovering at a local hospital, Adiodun said.

Butcher of Daura: The Real Muhammadu Buhari

CC™ Videoscope

Breaking: More classified documents found in Biden's 'personal library'

CC™ Politico News

By Zeke Miller and Michael Balsamo

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden acknowledged on Thursday that a document with classified markings from his time as vice president was found in his “personal library” at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, along with other documents found in his garage.

Biden told reporters at the White House that he is “cooperating fully and completely” with a Justice Department investigation into how classified information and government records made their way to his home and the office of his former institute in Washington.

Biden did not say when the latest series of documents were found, only that his lawyers' review of potential storage locations was completed Wednesday night. Lawyers found the first set on Nov. 2, days before the midterm elections, but only publicly revealed that development on Monday.

AP

Letter From US Senators 'Inappropriate,' Won’t Sway Me, FTX Bankruptcy Judge Says

CC™ Legal News

By Jack Schickler

A bipartisan letter from four U.S. senators is an “inappropriate” intervention in bankruptcy proceedings that won’t sway judicial decisions, Delaware Judge John Dorsey told a court hearing Wednesday.

The letter, from John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) called for an independent examiner to be appointed to investigate the collapse of the crypto exchange.

The letter is an “inappropriate ex parte communication,” Dorsey said, using a legal term for court interventions that don't give all parties the chance to be represented.

“I will make my decisions on the matters referred to in the letter based only upon admissible evidence and the arguments of parties and interest presented in open court,” Dorsey said. The bankruptcy court judge added that the letter “will have no impact whatsoever on my decisions in this case which will only be based upon the facts and law presented by the parties."

The senators’ letter raised questions about ​​the ability of law firm Sullivan & Cromwell to impartially represent the crypto company's new executives. FTX filed for bankruptcy Nov. 11.

Read more: FTX Has Recovered 'Over $5B' in Assets, Bankruptcy Attorney Says

CoinDesk

Elom Musk makes history: Becomes first person to lose $200 billion and counting......

Illustration: Ryan Trefes

CC™ News

By Tade Ogunjobi

Billionaire Elon Musk, formerly the richest man in the world, has broken a new record as the first person in history to lose $200 billion and counting, as things stand.

According to the Western/European centric Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, the Tesla founder and Twitter owner lost $200 billion off his net worth.

It was gathered that Musk’s wealth plummeted to $137 billion following the decline in Tesla shares in recent week. This includes a massive 11 per cent fall in Tesla shares on December 27.

Tesla, out of desperation resorted to offering consumers in the United States a $7,500 discount for its two highest-volume models before the end of 2022. 

Recall Musk’s fortune topped at $340 billion in November 2021.

On the back of this, he was the world’s richest person for more than a year at a stretch.

The new Twitter owner was then overtaken this month by Bernard Arnault, the French business magnate and co-founder of luxury goods powerhouse LVMH.

Putin ally Patrushev says Russia is now fighting NATO in Ukraine

CC™ Global News

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Tuesday that Moscow was now fighting the U.S.-led NATO military alliance in Ukraine and that the West was trying to wipe Russia from the political map of the world.

Putin casts the war in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself and its people against any aggressor.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev is seen by diplomats as one of the major hardline influences on Putin, who has promised victory in Ukraine despite a series of battlefield setbacks.

"The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv - this is a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all the United States and Britain," Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview.

"The Westerners' plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world," Patrushev said.

The United States has denied Russian claims that it wants to destroy Russia, the world's biggest producer of natural resources, while President Joe Biden has cautioned that a conflict between Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three.

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union and United States came closest to intentional nuclear war.

The United States and its Western allies have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an imperial land grab, while Ukraine has vowed to fight until the last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory.

RUSSIA ALONE

As a former Soviet spy who has known Putin since the 1970s, Patrushev's views give an insight into thinking at the very highest levels of the Kremlin. He rebuffed CIA Director William Burns' warnings in 2021 against an invasion of Ukraine.

In a Soviet-style analysis of the West, Patrushev cast Western political elites as corrupt and controlled by trans-national corporations and business clans which planned and executed "colour revolutions" across the world.

"The American state is just a shell for a conglomerate of huge corporations that rule the country and try to dominate the world," Patrushev said.

The United States, Patrushev said, had sown chaos in Afghanistan, Vietnam and the Middle East, and had been trying for years to undermine Russia's "unique" culture and language.

Russia, he said, was a victim of Western designs to push it back to the borders of 15th century Muscovy, and accused the West of bleeding Ukraine to undermine Russia.

"There is no place for our country in the West," he said.

In response, he said, Russia would achieve economic sovereignty and financial independence but also build armed forces and special services capable of deterring any potential aggressor.

Russian business and private capital, he said, needed to be more "nationally oriented".

"The younger generation should be inspired by the ideas of creative work for the benefit of our Motherland, and not sit in the offices of Western corporations," he said.

Reuters

Were the Ancient Egyptians Black?

CC™ Historical View