A California lawsuit targeting insurance brokers was filed in 1999 in San Francisco. The probe centers around the same issues that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is investigating in his suit against Marsh &McLennan concerning the ’kickbacks’ or contingent fees that brokers are paid on reaching a certain amount of business with an insurer. Prosecutors in the Californian case will see to what degree the so-called “independent brokers” are really unbiased in their choice of the insurance contract for their customers.

The lawsuit does not target salesmen who sell insurance for individual companies, such as State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

Finley T. Harckham of Anderson Kill & Olick of New York, one of the legal firms retained in the suit, says, that "the whole notion of an independent agent is that they are not beholden to a single company and can offer the consumer a range of choices to help them find the best deal."

The San Francisco lawsuit names Allianz AG’s Allianz Insurance Co., American International Group Inc. unit AIU Insurance Co., Chubb Corp., and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. unit Hartford Fire Insurance Co. that sell predominantly insurance to businesses, along with individual automobile and homeowner insurance.