This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today.
California investigates State Farm over claims from Los Angeles fires
Apartments burn in Altadena during the Eaton Fire.
(
Jon Putman
/
Anadolu via Getty Images
)
California’s Insurance Department has launched a formal investigation into State Farm over its handling of claims from the Los Angeles County fires.
The investigation, expected to take months, will allow for a more comprehensive regulatory review, the department said in a press release today. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in the release that the review will help determine whether State Farm has complied with the state’s consumer-protection and claims-handling laws.
“No one should be left in uncertainty, forced to fight for what they are owed, or face endless delays that often lead consumers to give up," Lara said.
Survivors of the January fires and lawmakers who represent them had urged the commissioner to open the investigation into the state’s largest provider of property insurance.
-
After pulling funds from the agency that led L.A.’s homelessness response for years, county officials say their new approach will be more accountable. -
Jonathan Hale said the statute of limitations remains open for another year. -
Sweetlovers, your time has come as L.A. hits peak pastry.
Residents of Pasadena and Altadena have complained about delays in payments; being assigned multiple claims adjusters; having to fight to be reimbursed for smoke damage; and more. His staff will also investigate inconsistent management of similar claims and poor record-keeping, Lara said.
“I’m happy to hear the commissioner has chosen to look deeper,” said Andrew Wessels, whose Altadena home has smoke damage, high levels of lead and more. “But I’ll believe stuff when I see it on any of these things.”
Sponsored message
Wessels, his wife and two children have lived in seven places since the Eaton Fire. He told CalMatters today that he is waiting on at least $25,000 in reimbursements from State Farm, and has not yet bothered to submit “a bunch” more requests for reimbursement because it seems futile at this moment. Last week, the insurer assigned him a new adjuster — the fourth so far.
State Farm said it is cooperating with the investigation.
“A fair review will find that thousands of State Farm customers are being helped by our teams on the ground in Los Angeles County and are very satisfied,” said Sevag Sarkissian, spokesperson for State Farm. He said the company has paid more than $3.96 billion on more than 12,000 claims by its California customers as of this week.
As part of the investigation, the insurance department is asking State Farm customers to continue to submit complaints. The department has so far received hundreds of claims related to the L.A.-area fires, a significant number of which are about State Farm, department spokesperson Gabriel Sanchez said today.
Formal investigations by the insurance department are known as market-conduct examinations. They have resulted in correcting insurance companies’ practices, said department spokesperson Michael Soller. After wildfires in 2015 and 2017, the department’s investigations of a handful of insurers including State Farm resulted in about $158 million more in claims recovered, Soller said.
State Farm received approval to raise the premiums of its California customers last month, and is seeking additional rate increases.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
Trending on LAist
-
Husband and wife Felix Agyei and Hazel Rojas combine food from their heritages, creating a marriage of West African and Filipino cooking -
The need for affordable housing in L.A. continues to far exceed the number of vouchers available to low-income renters. -
One L.A. County child care provider is turning decades of experience into videos that resonate with caregivers across the country. -
Sharpen your pencils and open your spreadsheets. We’re going to talk about pregnancy and work — from family leave to accommodations during pregnancy, and where you can pump when you return to work. -
She sat down with us in April, nearly 50 years after the night she turned down Marlon Brando's Best Actor Oscar — which is still among the most memorable and contentious in Academy Awards history. -
The goal is to reduce the often inequitable police enforcement of crossing the street. In Los Angeles, nearly a third of citations each year are written to Black pedestrians, who make up about 9% of the city’s population.
Best of LAist
