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California regulators just confirmed what wildfire survivors, consumer advocates, and our coalition partners have been saying for months and months: State Farm failed and wronged wildfire survivors. After Eaton and Palisades fire survivors reported delays, denials, underpayments, and endless red tape, the California Department of Insurance reviewed a sample of State Farm claims and found 398 violations of state law. Survivors lost their homes, stability, and months of their savings while they fought their insurance company for the money they were owed. And while State Farm was busy overwhelming these families with red tape and giving them the runaround, the insurance giant was simultaneously exploiting the moment to push for massive rate hikes on policyholders. AFR worked alongside coalition partners to demand transparency, scrutiny, and accountability. We pushed for the investigation, helped elevate survivor concerns, and fought to make sure the public could see what State Farm was doing behind closed doors. That pressure mattered. The department’s findings are a step in the right direction, and they show why this work to hold insurance companies accountable when they wrong people is so necessary. California is seeking what regulators call a historic fine, but because state law caps penalties at $5,000 to $10,000 per violation, the total could be around a few million dollars. For a company as large as State Farm, a penalty that small barely touches the damage done to survivors or creates the kind of consequences needed to change corporate behavior. We have to keep pushing regulators, and lawmakers for stronger enforcement, deeper scrutiny, and real accountability across the insurance industry. This is one company and a small sample of claims that were analyzed. There’s a lot more work to be done here. Donate now to help us keep fighting to hold State Farm and the rest of Big Insurance accountable.
State Farm should not be allowed to treat policyholders this way after a disaster, and then turn around to demand more money from the same families and communities it failed. If state officials find widespread violations, the response should match the magnitude of the wrongdoing, not just generate a press release. Big insurers are watching what happens here. If State Farm can break the law in claim after claim and face only a slap-on-the-wrist fine, other insurers will learn the same lesson: delay claims, fight survivors, extract higher premiums, and absorb weak penalties when the heat gets too high. That is why AFR’s insurance accountability work matters. Alongside our coalition partners we push accountability and help bring transparency to a market designed to confuse consumers and protect corporate profits. We work in coalition with partners, survivors, advocates, and policymakers to expose abuses, demand better consumer protections and stronger penalties for wrongdoing, and push back when insurance companies engage in profiteering behavior during a crisis while avoiding fulfilling their responsibilities. And we cannot stop now. California officials must do more. Other insurance companies must face real scrutiny. Fire survivors must be paid what they are owed. Public officials must know that the people will not accept giving insurance companies a pass or slap on the wrist while families are left to try to rebuild their lives while dealing with delayed checks, denied claims, and skyrocketing premiums. Let’s make sure Big Insurance knows that delaying, denying, and underpaying disaster survivors will not be met with silence. - Annie. Annie Norman (she/her)
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