Software Developer Intern - HR&D

Fire Survivor group says it has sued the Insurance Commissioner over the State Farm case. The network says no neutral decisionmaker has been provided to hear its request to join the state's enforcement case. Published on Wednesday, September 9, 2026 | 6:01 am A Altadena-based network of Eaton and Palisades fire survivors said Tuesday it has sued Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to keep the state's case against State Farm from being settled before survivors are heard. Every Fire Survivor's Network says its petition asks a court to order the California Department of Insurance to provide a neutral decisionmaker to hear the group's request to join the enforcement case, and to bar the department and State Farm from settling, dismissing or narrowing that case until the request is decided. The group says it is not asking the court to rule on whether State Farm broke the law, or to grant the intervention itself. The underlying case is the department's own. On May 4, the department filed an Accusation and Order to Show Cause against State Farm General Insurance Company, the first step toward a public hearing before an administrative law judge. Department examiners reviewed a sample of 220 claims and found 398 violations of state law in 114 of them, citing slow and inadequate investigations, missed statutory deadlines for accepting, denying and paying claims, misclassified testing costs, misrepresented policy provisions and inadequate communication, according to the department. The filing adds 34 further violations drawn from consumer complaints. Penalties may reach $5,000 per violation, or $10,000 for willful violations, and the department has asked to suspend State Farm's certificate of authority for up to a year. The matter is File No. OSC-2026-00001. State Farm has rejected the department's account. Responding to the May filing, the company said it rejects any suggestion that it "engaged in a general practice of mishandling" or intentionally underpaid wildfire claims, and said it would respond through the process. The survivors' group petitioned the department on June 16 for full party status, seeking the right to conduct discovery, present evidence, cross-examine witnesses and take part in settlement talks. Nearly three months on, the group says, no decisionmaker has been provided to hear the petition while the enforcement case moves ahead. It says the department has served State Farm with charges and discovery, that State Farm has responded, that the department describes the two sides as in "early discovery," and that the group is informed and believes the department and State Farm are privately negotiating a possible settlement. "Survivors should not have to fight our own insurance regulator," Joy Chen, the group's executive director, said in the announcement. "They should have their petition to participate decided by a neutral decisionmaker," Pamela Pressley, senior staff attorney at Consumer Watchdog, said in the same announcement. The group says it holds firsthand accounts from more than 1,600 State Farm policyholders describing the same practices the department found in its sample, evidence it says goes to the question State Farm disputes: whether the violations were isolated or a general business practice. It is represented by Singleton Schreiber and Consumer Watchdog. Based in Pasadena, the network says it represents more than 10,000 survivors and allies of the two fires. State Farm policyholders filed approximately 11,300 residential claims from the Los Angeles wildfires, according to the department's claims tracker. Los Angeles County opened a separate front on Aug. 31, suing State Farm over its handling of Eaton and Palisades claims under the state's unfair competition and false advertising laws and seeking restitution for policyholders, according to County Counsel Dawyn Harrison. The County Counsel's investigation drew on information from the survivors' network and other community organizations. Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free. Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.

L.A. County sues State Farm over its handling of wildfire claims. Los Angeles County announced Monday that it had filed a lawsuit against State Farm General after hundreds of victims of last year's devastating wildfires complained that their claims had been delayed, denied or underpaid. The lawsuit alleges that State Farm engaged in illegal and deceptive business practices that kept victims of the Palisades and Eaton fires from receiving what they were entitled to under their policies. County officials said their investigation into the complaints found unreasonable delays in processing claims, as well as "systematic underpayments." Officials said they also found that State Farm had illegally suppressed smoke damage claims. "Survivors are just asking for what's right," L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said at a Monday news conference. Bob Devereux, a State Farm spokesman, said in a statement that the company would respond to the lawsuit through the legal process. "State Farm General strongly disagrees with Los Angeles County's characterization of our wildfire claims response," he said. Devereux said that State Farm has so far paid more than $6.2 billion on claims related to the two wildfires, including about $1 billion for smoke-related damage. About 78% of the claims have been closed, he said. "We continue working directly with customers whose claims remain open and evaluating each claim based on the facts of the loss and the coverage provided by the customer's policy," he said. "Our focus remains on helping customers recover," he said. Wildfire victims praised county officials for the lawsuit, which was filed in L.A. County Superior Court. Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor's Network, said at the news conference that, in the months after the fires, it became apparent in talking to victims that those with State Farm policies were not getting the benefits they had paid for. She said for those families, insurance had become "a barrier to recovery" rather than a safety net. "Nineteen months after the fires, families are still suffering," she said. The county's investigation included looking at complaints that Chen's group and others had collected, as well as hundreds of other documents from State Farm policyholders. County officials said that State Farm "failed to substantially comply" with their requests for documents and information during their investigation. With more than 2.8 million residential and commercial policies, State Farm is California's largest private insurer. The county's lawsuit includes dozens of complaints of L.A. County fire victims. "After six decades of paying thousands a year for insurance, we expect them to honor their agreement," said one family. Many families say the insurer refused to test their homes for toxins left by smoke. The lawsuit claims that State Farm "drastically lowballed" estimates of financial losses for destroyed or partially damaged homes. "They offered us $11,000 to remediate our five-bedroom house," complained one family. "That's only 13% of the actual cost." According to the California Department of Insurance, 11,300 State Farm policyholders filed homeowner claims arising from last year's L.A. County fires. The lawsuit asks the court to require State Farm to pay full restitution to policyholders, as well as civil penalties for violating state law.

LA County has sued State Farm, alleging the insurer violated California laws whilst handling claims from the Palisades and Eaton Fires on 7 January. The county accuses State Farm of delaying payments, making lowball offers, frequently changing adjusters, suppressing smoke damage claims, and false advertising. State Farm initially offered only 50% of personal property losses unless customers provided detailed itemisations. Following media coverage and legislative pressure, this increased to 65%. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara investigated after protests by the Every Fire Survivor's Network, finding violations and threatening the company's licence. State Farm reported nearly $13 billion in profit in 2025, more than double the previous year. The company had cancelled coverage for many residents before the fires occurred.