Southland

Checks Still Not in the Mail: Drawn-out administrative hearings resume at 10 a.m. Monday at the state Insurance Department’s San Francisco offices over Proposition 103 rebates owed by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. The firm, the largest property-casualty insurer in the nation and in Southern California, was ordered in 1991 to pay $234 million to Californians who were policyholders in 1989, the year after voters passed the insurance rate-rollback initiative. With accumulated interest, the total owed today could be far higher. State Farm says it owes nothing because it made no “excessive” profits that year; in fact, the company says, it suffered an operating loss. Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who promised during his election campaign last year to have all remaining Proposition 103 rebates in policyholders’ pockets by July 1, expressed frustration that negotiations with State Farm collapsed a couple of months ago and that a settlement could not be reached.