A former California judge is suing the state and a top insurance official after she spoke out about insurance rate hikes.

Kristin Rosi, the former Chief Administrative Law Judge for the California Department of Insurance, accused California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and his department of going around her authority, entering into settlements with insurers looking for rate hikes without her say.

She said the practice violates Proposition 103, a 1988 ballot measure that gives the insurance commissioner authority to review auto, home, and other rate increases.

The measure also guarantees public rate hearings and forbids premiums that are “excessive, inadequate, unfairly discriminatory or otherwise in violation of the Insurance Code.”

Rosi was placed on leave in January 2025 after more than a decade on the court. Her September lawsuit in Alameda County accuses the commissioner, a former deputy commissioner, and the department of whistleblower retaliation, 𝘴єx discrimination, infliction of emotional distress, and other causes of action in seeking damages.

“Judge Rosi was in the unenviable position of indicating that the law must be followed,” Rosi’s attorney Wendy Musell told the Los Angeles Times. “Once she raised these concerns, she swiftly found herself out of a job.”

Lara, a former state senator, took office in 2019 and is exiting office as Jane Kim won an election for his seat this fall. Kim, the more progressive alternative to competitor state senator Ben Allen, has pledged to “make insurance affordable, available, and fair.”

Rosi has also accused Lara, using “widespread press accounts,” of lavish trips across the world, including to Paris, Dubai, London, and Singapore. The lawsuit says Lara didn’t properly identify the proper reason for the expensive hotels and restaurants.

Home insurance rates have been a particular concern in California, where devastating wildfires have struck in recent years. A recent Stanford study said wildfires drove an 84% increase in average homeowners’ insurance premiums over roughly the last five years.

And California auto insurance rates have jumped more than 30% since 2022, according to the LA Times.

Musell said home and auto insurers are involved in the lawsuit, and they have hiked rates in recent years.

Rosi’s lawsuit contends the state should hold public hearings if insurers seek large rate hikes of 7% or higher, but that the state has not done so and has gone around the process instituted by Proposition 103. Intervenors are also allowed to participate in the process and be compensated for their expenses.

One advocacy group founded by Proposition 103 author Harvey Rosenfield, Consumer Watchdog, has been the top intervenor. The insurance industry has criticized the group for reaping more than $15 million in intervenor fees. Consumer Watchdog claims it has saved consumers billions in unwarranted premium increases.

The advocacy group has been complaining about the practice of going around the legal approval process, Rosenfield told the LA Times.

“We protested vehemently. At the end of the day, the choice was don’t participate in the process and don’t watchdog the department’s handling of these cases, or participate and accept the limitations,” he said.

“It was my expectation that all rate challenges would go through a hearing process overseen by administrative law judges, regardless of the size of the increase,” he added.

But some view Rosi’s contention with the state as an overreach.

“This seems to be an ongoing dispute with an administrative law judge who has attempted to exercise unprecedented powers,” Rex Frazier, a former regulator with the state insurance department and president of an insurance industry trade group, told the outlet.

Rosi had been on the bench since 2007 and also worked for 12 years at California’s Public Employment Relations Board.

The California Department of Insurance declined to comment on the lawsuit to The Post, saying that it has “no comment on this matter.”

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