The Unfair Insurance Practices Act (Ins. Code 790-790.15) grants the Insurance Commissioner authority to promulgate regulations deeming insurance practices other than those set out in the UIPA to be unfair, deceptive or misleading and thus prohibited by the UIPA. Thus, the Insurance Commissioner did not exceed his powers in promulgating 10 Cal. Code Regs,. 2695.183 regulating the required contents of any communication of an estimate of replacement cost to an insured. The Commissioner found that incomplete replacement cost estimates are misleading to consumers, permissibly making concrete and specific, the UIPA’s general prohibition of unfair, deceptive or misleading insurer conduct, and acting within its statutorily granted power to administer the UIPA.
California Supreme Court (Cuéllar, J.); January 23, 2017; 2017 WL 280822