In summary
Department responds to fired judge’s lawsuit, calling allegations ‘egregious.’ In doing so, it disclosed that a current judge also filed complaints with the State Bar.
California’s Insurance Department reversed course Friday and chose to talk about a lawsuit brought by a former administrative judge against Commissioner Ricardo Lara and others, which accuses them of illegally approving rate increases.
In doing so, the department appears to have inadvertently disclosed that a current administrative judge, Karl-Frederic Seligman, also filed complaints about misconduct by attorneys in the department.
As CalMatters reported this week, administrative law judge Kristin Rosi sued Lara and his former special counsel Lucy Wang in late September, alleging that they fired her in retaliation last year after she ruled in 2024 that they were improperly approving insurance companies’ requests to raise their customers’ premiums.
Proposition 103, the 1988 voter-approved law that governs insurance in the state, requires the Insurance Department to hold hearings when an insurer requests a rate increase of 7% or more if a member of the public objects through the so-called intervenor process.
Rosi’s “decisions found that Defendants had refused to conduct mandatory hearings, relied on unauthorized regulations, and circumvented rules requiring transparency in settlements,” according to her lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court.
Rosi alleges Lara, Wang and other yet-to-be-named staff in the department tried to undermine the authority of administrative law judges after those decisions. That included asking the judge to change her rulings or to rule in certain ways, the lawsuit said.
“While it is our policy to not comment on pending litigation, the egregious nature of these demonstrably false allegations and blatant inaccuracies requires a response,” Gabriel Sanchez, spokesperson for the department, said in an email to CalMatters.
Sanchez said the department will “vigorously” defend itself: “At all times, Commissioner Lara and Department staff acted properly, legally, and within the decades-old framework of Proposition 103 to protect consumers and ensure accountability in its operations.”
Last year, Rosi filed complaints with the State Bar against Wang and three other department attorneys. The complaints, which are not public but were obtained by CalMatters, allege in detail repeated violations of law that include meetings that the judge said should have included all parties involved in rate hearings, including insurance companies and intervenors.
Sanchez said the judge “misinterpreted… longstanding Proposition 103 procedures,” and that the State Bar has closed those complaints and did not find wrongdoing. He sent CalMatters a letter from a State Bar investigator dated July 14 that declared the matter closed. That letter said “The State Bar has completed the investigation of the allegations of professional misconduct reported by Hon. Kristin L. Rosi and Hon. Fredric J. Seligman.”
There appears to be no previous reporting that Seligman had also filed complaints with the State Bar. He is the only person listed as an administrative law judge on the department’s website. His staff did not immediately return CalMatters’ request for an interview.
Wendy Musell, Rosi’s lawyer, said her client appealed the State Bar’s decision to close the complaints.
“My understanding is the State Bar still has jurisdiction and the matter is still under appeal,” she said.
Rosi had been an administrative law judge with the department’s Administrative Hearing Bureau since 2007. She was appointed chief judge in 2016. In January 2025, the department placed her on administrative leave; her position was advertised as vacant in July 2025; and she received the department’s affirmation that she was fired in November 2025, according to her lawsuit.
Rosi sued Lara and Wang and other unnamed staff in their capacity as officials with the Insurance Department, so the state Justice Department is representing them in the lawsuit.
Lara’s second term as commissioner ends in January. Wang left the department in late 2025 and now works for a law firm that represents the insurance industry.
