Insurance: misrepresentations.

Existing law prohibits an insurer or his or her agent from issuing, circulating, or using a statement that is known, or should have been known, to be a misrepresentation of, among other things, the terms of a policy issued by the insurer or sought to be negotiated by the person making or permitting the misrepresentation. Existing law also prohibits a person from, among other things, making a statement that is known, or should have been known, to be a misrepresentation to another person for the purpose of inducing that other person to take out a policy of insurance or to induce that other person to lapse, forfeit, or surrender his or her insurance. Existing law provides that a violation of these provisions is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 or if the loss of the victim exceeds $10,000, by a fine of up to 3 times that loss, by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of up to one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would increase the $25,000 fine limit to $30,000.