Allstate Settles Discrimination Claims

Allstate Insurance Co. unveiled a plan to increase its presence in African American and Latino neighborhoods in an effort to settle charges it avoided selling policies in predominately minority areas. Allstate, which has denied the charges of discrimination, said it will boost the size of existing programs designed to expand insurance coverage in all communities. For example, Allstate, a unit of Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate Corp., will open an office in Los Angeles and several other cities this year that will assist neighborhoods with broader economic problems. The insurance company will expand its programs with the assistance of the National Fair Housing Alliance, a fair housing group that filed the original complaint against Allstate in 1994.