News Scrapbook 1988

Los Angeles. CA !Los Angeles Co .) Los Angeles Da,ly Journal (Cir. 5 x w 21 ,287) NOY 28 1988

Continued from Page 1 "Our overall conclusion is that we are still interested In doing business in California, re- gardless of what happens with Proposition 103," O'Regan said. "But we're a little con- fused with how to work with it." Profitability He said, "I don't know if (malpractice insur- ance) would be profitable with a 20 percent rollback." While Home Insurance's solvency would not be threatened by Proposition 103, O'Regan said, "If a particular line Is not profit- able, you can't expect the company to continue writing that line." Fellmeth said, "I don't sec why (any insur- er) would leave California. There's a huge market here. There's lots of money." Passage of the measure apparently has Im- peded the State Bar's effort to expand the mar- ket in California. Sacramento attorney Kevin R. Culhane, chainnan of the bar's malpractice insurance committee, said negotiations with major carriers to enter the state under the bar's auspices have been sidetracked as the insurers evaluate the possible impact ofPropo- sition 103. The bar has been struggling since 1985 with what some call a crisis in the affordability and availability of lawyer malpractice insurance. After dropping a plan to require all attorneys to carry insurance earlier this year, bar offi. cials began efforts to increase the availability for uncovered lawyers, who account for 36 per- cent of the state's full-time private practitioners. "The existence of Proposition 103 is a prob- lem" for the carriers in negotiations with the bar, Culhane said. "They are waiting for ad- ministrative and court interpretation." Culhane said onemajor carrier that was "se- riously considering coming into the state'' sent a letter to bar officials saying the firm wanted to evaluate the initiative's potential impact. Fellmeth cast doubt on the motives of com- panies that say Proposition 103 inhibits their desire to enter the California market. He noted new carriers would not be affected by the 20 percent rollback, since they would have no rates to which the rollback would be applied. New companies, Fellmeth said, "are not af. fected, except to the extent that they actually will be subject to prior approval (of rate changes)." He indicated insurer aversion to regulation may be the real reason for any re- luctance to operate in California. The backed initiative could force insurers to toughen underwriting standards and stop cov- ering attorneys in high-risk areas of practice, according to Hadfield and others. That could have a particularly damaging Impact on per- sonal iajury and real estate attorneys, who accounted for 32 percent of the malpractice

claims reported in the state between 1980 and 1987. "We would have to very carefully under- write," Hadfield said. He added that that could mean the company would write no new busi- ness "or only good (lower risk) business." O'Regan agreed, but said: "There are other options. You could rewrite a policy so that it is not 10 broad." As an example, he noted Home lrlsurance offers its clients a "tail period" of between one and three years after expiration of their poli- cies. Under such a provision, the Insurer cov• ers any claim filed within the tall period, lf the act occurred while the policy was effective. Home Insurance could reduce its tall cover• age in reaction to Proposition 103, O'Regan said. Lawyers who would be especiallyaffected by reduced tail coverage include estate planning, real estate, and securities attorneys, Hadfield said. He said those areas of practice typically have a longer gap between the act of alleged malpractice and the filing of a claim. Higher Standards Fellmeth said higher underwriting stan- darcb would not necessarily be bad from a consumer standpoint. "If you have higher underwriting standards, coupled with mandatory insurance," he said, "people who are super, super high risks won't be practicing." Of the possibility insurers would reduce cov- erage, Fellmeth said: "It would not necessar- ily be detrimental. The attorney would have to bear some of the risk." Attorneys unable to find malpractice insur- ance could become more selective in taking cases, some attorneys say, to reduce the expo- sure oftheir personal assets to _claims. That, in turn, could reduce accesa to;We,.courts for _ Said Scott: "It's going to affect consumers no matterwhat. Attorneys would become more selective." But he added the proposition could have a beneficial impact if "more cases are referred to more qualified attorneys." Culhane said lawyers "may be more selec- tive in taking cases." He predicted that while cases involving serious iajuries and strong li- ability would not be affected, attorneys could be more reluctant to take "novel cases" or those in which liability is marginal. Conswners could be affected in another way, too. If lawyers do not carry malpractice insur- ance, consumers might find it difficult to ob- tain monetary compensation for legitimate claims. Most California lawyers do not have as much personal assets as many people believe. If an attorney Is not covered by malpractice insurance, in many cases "you can get a judg- ment, but it might not be collectible, Culhane sai1/ consumers.

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J\lany Complaints Cited ", omcthmg h,,s to h this man beeause h I ere aung a lot ot prolMms for people. a lot or probkms," s.:ud Mcrkd Harri~. ex e<·ut1vc d1n·<·tor or th,· S,111 Diego Welfare H1ghts Org,rn1z,1t1on, which ha~ f1 lderl m.in complamts from women subirc t to thc pol1c·y ~lurphy's cr1tlC$ say the JOh m ny welfare- r np1N1t.1 ,ire quah (1l'd for often f,111 to pay l'1tough to cover child-car r.o. ts Also. many mothrrs .ire rrluctant to go off airl hrr,111sc• thrv will losp their Med1- C'al f)('11ef1ts-,1 prpc•1ou !'ommod1- ty for parr11L~ or small children prone lo 11lncss "I don't hkc b 111g on welfare, I hatc th \\hole dral. and I'd rather work for 'TIJ own money," said St.11 ry 'ope, 20. who ~upports her If nd her 3 y<'ar old daugh - ter, Ashley, on $33:i a month plu: 87 m food • tamps. "Hut I don't have .iny k1lls, and the type of JOii I could get wouldn 't be enough lo cov r rent and day car ." Lo 111g hrr mcd1< .,1 m ur,mre is Copp' h1ggl'st worry "A hl ey has b en 111 .llld out of thl' cmcrgPncy room seven or eight tun(' th1. y ar She 111 t got over curll'l I vr r . lfl lo c Mrd1-Cal thal' 1l ' do11l' .ihout

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San Diego, CA /San Diego Co ) San Dieg_o Union (Crr . D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341,840)

NOV 2 8 1988 P. C. 8

Est. 1888

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I ea s Lobos to win New Mexico tournament

Continued from D-1 and 0-1 with USD at The Pit before last night. "We thought we had some good young kids. but we didn't know what they would do. _'O~r victory was probably a com- bma!Jon of what they didn't do shoot- ing and what we did. Coming into the game, I thougnt we had lo slow down their break and had to play inside- out to keep them from getting second and third shots. "~fens1vely, we gambled, playing behmd their big men (7-foot Rob Loeffel, 7-2 Luc Longley and 6-7

leaper Ch~rlie Thomas). We gam- bled. and if it had failed we'd have be~n off to the races. It worked. so it paid off." Egan attributed New Mexico's early lead to his team's youth. "O~; guys had to get settled.'' he said. After our young kids discov- ered that they couldn't escape the arena, they started to play" USD forward Craig Cottrell calle the victory "a great team effort." . "If one guy was off, we wer picked up by others," Cottrell said We played great defense the whol

game, and didn't panic when we fell behmd 13-0. That's great for a young team:• . Bliss. who saw his team get only five offensive rebounds and turn over the ball 21 times, was highly critical of,~is team's performance. Usually when a team isn't ready to play, it shows m offensive re- ,~unds and loose balls," Bliss said. We got off to a great start, and then only scored 43 points in the next 36 mmutes. We just couldn't generate any offense."

ard and Gylan Dottin Jed the Toreros' stretch run, which was helped considerably by poor outside shootmg and turnovers by UNM. Str1~kland, the only Torero to score m double figures, was only 3_ f~r-12 from the floor, but he used a m~e touch at the lme to score 14 pomts. Dottin and Bell, the tallest USD player at 6-9, scored nine each. Thomas, who was voted tourna- · ment_ MVP, led UNM with 17 points and five rebounds.

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In the consolation game, Lehigh beat Loyola of Baltimore, 86-72. ..- ~ ..~~:;;;;;:::=::::-----.....L ----~~~-==-=---~-===~ as .:ta Strickland, Cottrell, Efrem Leon-

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.I Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 123,064) NOV 28 1988

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--~ , ___ D_·5 Young Toreros emerge from The Pit with victory over the Lobos Tribune Staff and Wire Reper~ ?-- Cf 7 c~ back a~ainst v~rtually the USD received a 4½-mmute s~d- same New MeXJCO team that defeat- Aztecs travel to Texas to face Baylor ing ovation from New Mexico's ed Arizona last season. 16,889 fans at the start of last night's "I'm ecstatic," said USD junior By Ed Zieralski game again t the Lobos. That's how forward Craig Cottrell, who had they greet visiting teams at The Pit. eight points and four rebounds. "It They stand up and clap and clap and was a great team effort. If one guy clap. And the fans keep clapping was off, another one picked us up. We until the op ing team scores. played great defense the whole USD Ii t n d to the ovation for 4 game. We were down 13-0, but we minutes and 27 seconds, until didn't panic. That's a good sign for a Toreros senior guard Danny Means young team." hit a thrre-apointer. That made it 13-3. USD started freshman point guard fore impor ntly it made the fans Wayman Strickland, sophomore cen- 1t down, cttle mto their chairs and ter Keith Colvin and sophomore for- wait for th end of the game. That's ward Randy Thompson Four of the when they ually give a standing five players who came off the bench ovation to ew Mexico. The Lobos for USD were underclassmen - have won 8 rcent of their contests ftesnman guarcl Gylan Dottin, fresh- m The Pit over the past 22 years. man forward Kelvin Woods, sopho- But only 17 people were clapping more guard Kelvin Means and sopho- when thi game was over - the more center Dondi Bell. Still, the Torero and their coaches. Toreros bench outscored the New USD stunned New Mexico 64-53 to Mexico bench 30-10. win the third annual Lobos Classic. '·We're still a very young team and Somehow a Toreros team comprised we didn't expect this," said USD mostly of freshmen and sophomores coach Hank Egan "This is just a put asid the crowd. put a ide the great win. I still don·t know what ·core, put a ide everythmg, and they can do." Tribune Sportswriter San Diego State, coming off its season-opemng 74-61 victory over Delaware Saturday night, left this morning for Waco, Texas, where they will play Baylor tomorrow. The game will be broadcast on KFMB-AM at 5:30 p.m. Baylor (0-2) lost both games in the Central Fidelity Classic at the Universi- ty of Richmond in Virginia. Richmond beat the Bears 56-38 on Friday night, and Arizona State beat the Bears 89-73 in the consolation game Saturday night. The Bears, however, did manage an easy 75-57 win over the same Australian team that beat the Aztecs 75-66 at Peterson Gym last week. The Bears' only starter back from a team that went 23-11 last year is guard Michael Hobbs (10.9 points and three rebounds per game last year). The Bears went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1948. This will be the first regular-season game played in Bay!or's new 10,084- seat Ferrell Center. What the Toreros did last night is keep their composure at a time when even veteran teams might have fold- ed. ior guard Efrem Leonard hit a three- pointer with 9:40 left in the half. Seven minutes later,.USD had a 23-21 lead when Strickland hit a three- pointer off a fastbreak. footer, but USD took it right back when Strickland turned a steal into a layup. A few seconds later, Strick- land hit a 19-footer and the Toreros had themselves a 27-26 halftime lead. Egan said the Toreros too;( a chance on defense. "We took a risk and played behind their big people," said Egan, refer- ring to 7-foot Rob Loeffel and 7-2 Luc Longley. "The gamble paid off be- cause they missed their outside shots. We were fortunate they missed some shots in critical situations in the second half. New Mexico just didn't shoot the ball well." Inside, Loeffel and Longley com- bined for just nine points. Outside, the Lobos shot 39.6 percent (21-for-53) from the field, including 23.5 percent (4-17) from three-pomt range New Mexico was even cold at the free- throw line, where the Lobos shot 43.5 percent (7-16). basketball team. We need to be a blue-collar team that goes out there with some true grit. We didn't have it tonight" The teams battled back and forth through most of the second half and were tied 48-48 with 5:57 to play when New Mexico scored on a dunk by Charlie Thomas. However, USD scored nine straight points after that for a 57-48 lead with 41/z minutes re- maining. The Lobos resorted to fouling USD players in the game's closing min- utes. They made the mistake of foul- ing Strickland, who made seven free throws in the final two minutes and led the Toreros with 14 points. Dottin and Bell each had nine points for the Toreros, who received eight points each from Cottrell, Leonard and Means. _S_Pr_. _ Die_:;-o_,_M_o_n_d_ay_,_N_o_ve_m_be_r_28_,_1_98_8____ @ ___ TIIE ___ ~'IRI __ B_UNE

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Strickland, Cottrell and Bell, who had a game-high 12 rebounds, were selected to the all-tournament team for USD. Thomas, who had a game- high 17 points, was selected tourna- ment MVP after scoring 51 points in two games.

"I was disappointed most that we didn't take charge of the game down the stretch," said New Mexico coach Dave Bliss. "Right now, we're just a very nice

USD scored 12 of the next 17 points after Means' ice-breaker. The Toreros trailed just 18-15 when sen-

New Mexico regained the lead 24- 23 when Willi~ Banks hit an 18-