COURT FIRES INSURANCE EVASION FOE.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

When the judges in Glendale Municipal Court fired traffic commissioner Dona Bracke, they exposed a loophole that officials say allows hundreds of drivers to evade the mandatory auto insurance law.

Drivers ticketed for failing to carry proof of insurance were turning up in her courtroom with what they said were valid insurance cards to fight $1,325 fines.

Without any formal method for verifying the cards, Bracke ordered bailiffs to call insurance companies and check, angering lawyers who said she was overstepping her bounds, although she exposed more than 50 cheats this year.

``There is a perception out there that you can lie in traffic court, that it's OK,'' said Bracke, who held her job for seven years before she was fired.

``People shouldn't be able to get off for an inventive, imaginative story.''

Glendale police officers said they will miss Bracke.

``To me, she was expediting a system that definitely has some loopholes that people found and were abusing,'' said Sgt. Rick Young, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department.

``She was seeking truth in a system that often doesn't get to the truth,'' he said.

The legislator who wrote the law hopes to introduce a new bill to close loopholes by linking courts and the Department of Motor Vehicles with insurance companies. Five insurers are signed up for a pilot program that might lead to quicker verification of a driver's insurance.

The new insurance law has dramatically increased the caseloads in municipal courts throughout the state. In Los Angeles County, nearly 50 percent of the cases heard in traffic court now involve defendants trying to fight off the fine for driving without proof of insurance.

``Basically what you have to do is rely on the person who is saying this is my insurance, that it's the truth,'' said Terrie Wilfong, a government affairs analyst for the Judicial Council of California.

``The judge really doesn't have the authority to demand anything other than what it says in the code. There's no sure way to find out whether a person has insurance without getting the insurance companies involved.''

After judges objected to Bracke's techniques, she abandoned them in March and began requiring each person with questionable proof to return with a letter from their insurance companies.

Her courtroom demeanor continued to bother lawyers, and so she was fired in mid-December. Though Bracke is gone - she is considering a wrongful termination lawsuit - the case has legislators, police and court officials pondering how to close the loopholes.

Closing the loophole

When she was in the Assembly, state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco, was the author of the mandatory insurance bill in 1996. At the time, insurance companies fought off her attempt to get them to link their records electronically with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the courts.

``The insurance industry has got to get with the program. That way judges and the DMV and the police making the stop would know if a person has insurance or not,'' Speier said.

Speier said she admired Bracke for trying to enforce the law but said that the commissioner may have gone too far.

``My intention wasn't to get people thrown in jail. My intention was to get people to buy auto insurance,'' Speier said.

The DMV will soon start the pilot program with electronic links to five insurance companies.

The DMV receives about 100,000 registration renewals every working day and now cannot speedily check the validity of all proof-of-insurance documents, said spokesman Evan Nossoff.

``The volume makes it difficult, and we don't have funding for that level of effort. The law does not set up checks and balances,'' Nossoff said. ``The law says they have to present proof. It doesn't authorize us to conduct investigations.''

Vito Scattaglia, a commander in the DMV division of investigations, said the quality of fake documents is improving and the problem grows worse by the day.

When investigators do stings at DMV offices, they find that front-line DMV clerks are usually right when an insurance document looks suspicious to them. About 35 of every 50 documents labeled as suspicious turn out to be bogus, they say. But there is little review of proof of insurance sent with registration renewals by mail.

``There's minimal screening of the mailings. That's a big flaw in our system now,'' Scattaglia said.

Lobbyists working for insurance companies oppose linking insurance records with the DMV and the courts.

Bill Packer, a spokesman for the Association of California Insurance Companies, said members have opposed electronic transfer and will maintain that position out of fear customers could be harmed by mistakes.

``You'd have a situation where hundreds of insurance companies with all different kinds of computer systems (were) trying to link up with one (DMV) computer system,'' Packer said. ``We've heard the error factor could be as high as 35 percent.''

The insurance arm of the Auto Club of Southern California is part of the pilot program.

Police found fakes

Glendale police are finding that counterfeit car insurance documents have become a major problem. Young said some of Bracke's referrals to the police prompted investigations that allegedly exposed bogus insurance companies selling fake policies to Valley residents.

In three of five cases, defendants have pleaded guilty. One case is in trial, and a fifth is still under investigation. One case involved 79 victims from throughout the Valley.

Bracke's system clearly was not foolproof. Public defenders fighting off perjury charges against traffic defendants accused her of collecting evidence and taking on the role of prosecutor. In some cases traffic defendants who did have insurance were hauled off to jail because insurance companies gave Bracke bad information. Bracke was sued in federal court by three former defendants alleging she violated their civil rights, but the case was dismissed because the commissioner had judicial immunity.

Bracke freely admits she made up the insurance-verification procedures in her courtroom as she went along, trying to come up with the most efficient way possible to deal with an annual caseload of 15,000 to 18,000 defendants.

``I thought it would be easier for everyone if I just called the insurance company. It was like one-stop shopping. They didn't have to take another day off work,'' Bracke said. ``If there's no way to check, then the law is gutted.''

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PHOTO (color) Former traffic commissioner Dona Bracke finds more time than she wants among poinsettias at home. She was fired from her job.

John McCoy/Daily News