State Farm’s Prop. 104 Aid OKd

A Superior Court judge, citing the free speech rights of corporations, declined today to issue an order that would have prohibited State Farm Insurance Co. from further campaign contributions to a no-fault auto insurance measure on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Judge Barnet Cooperman refused to grant a preliminary injunction sought in a class-action suit filed on behalf of a State Farm policyholder who contends that the nation’s largest auto insurance company has no right to use funds derived from premiums for campaign contributions. A temporary restraining order from Cooperman on Aug. 16 froze more than $2 million in campaign funds already contributed by State Farm to the insurance-backed Proposition 104.