Survivors of the Eaton fire gathered Thursday morning in Pasadena to condemn State Farm’s alleged mishandling of a slew of claims by policyholders who suffered losses in the blaze.
Speaking in front of State Farm’s catastrophe claim tent on Colorado Boulevard,, the group urged California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to launch a formal investigation into the insurance giant, alleging that a series of delayed and denied claims has left wildfire victims in dire financial positions and unable to return to contaminated homes.
The demonstration comes a week after State Farm presented its case for a 17% emergency rate hike — down from an initial 22% request to state officials in February — in an administrative hearing in Oakland.
State Farm said the hike is necessary to “help stabilize State Farm General’s financial position” and prevent the carrier from having to “further constrain” its ability to provide home insurance in California.
Last month, Lara approved the rate request on a “provisional” basis, pending an administrative judge’s sign-off.
Fire victims on Thursday described the rate hike request as the latest in State Farm’s series of betrayals.
“The disaster began with the Eaton fire, but for us, the real trauma began when we filed a smoke damage claim with State Farm,” speaker Wendy Davis said. Davis’ five-bedroom home in Altadena is still covered in toxic soot and ash, 100 days after the wildfire first erupted.
Davis said that for the last three months, State Farm has “delayed, stonewalled and denied us the help that we’re entitled to,” deploying one inexperienced adjuster after another to lowball her property value.
Davis said the company also told her that her policy covered only the ash that blew into her home, not the asbestos contained within it.
“Are we supposed to scrub the asbestos out by ourselves wearing hazmat suits and respirators?” said Davis, a 35-year policyholder. “It’d be laughable if it weren’t so cruel.”
State Farm said in a Thursday statement that its focus “continues to be on supporting our customers in their recovery from the largest fire event we have ever experienced in the state.”
“We’re here to help our customers recover and we empathize with those who are rebuilding their lives,” the company said.
Under California Proposition 103, insurance companies seeking to raise rates must prove that those hikes are necessary before they can be approved.
According to Carmen Balber, executive director of the consumer advocacy nonprofit Consumer Watchdog, State Farm has not met the legal standard for a rate increase.
Balber said in a press release that should State Farm’s request be approved, it would set a “dangerous precedent, letting insurers bypass consumer protections and shift costs onto struggling families.”
In an interview, Balber said that Lara has not done enough to “stand up to” insurance companies that have threatened to pull out of the state because of rising costs.
State Farm has reportedly fielded more than 12,500 fire and auto claims related to the Jan. 7 fires and paid more than $3 billion to customers. The company projects total wildfire-related payouts of $7.9 billion, though its net losses are estimated at $600 million after reinsurance payments.
But Balber maintained that the company is still profiting too greatly off of California’s high-risk policyholders to leave the state.
In a statement, Lara said State Farm’s “actions raise serious concerns about their financial stability,” but he disputed claims that that he has not held the company and other insurers accountable.
“Since the fires began, we have been actively engaged in affected communities, ensuring that insurance companies fulfill their claims promptly and in full,’’ Lara said. “We are working with urgency to expand availability, stabilize the market, and make insurance work for all Californian.”
Victims of the Eaton fire said Thursday they are in limbo, maxing out their credit cards and hopping from one rental to another while they wait for their claims to be resolved.
Before Kelsey Szamet and her family moved into their current rental in Pasadena, they had stints in three hotels and with two sets of friends. Being constantly on the move, she said, has been “destabilizing” for her two young daughters.
“There’s a lot of big feelings, big emotional responses that are not typical for them,” Szamet said, adding that she herself is struggling daily with “exhaustion at the cellular level.”
Szamet said she believes State Farm’s delays and denials are part of a deliberate effort to wear people down until they stop seeking relief altogether.
But Shawna Dawson Beer, founder of the 10,000-member Beautiful Altadena Facebook group, said that Altadena residents remain committed to holding State Farm accountable and getting fire victims the relief they’re owed.
“We will continue to speak up for our neighbors, for ourselves, for our community,” Beers said. “And we will not go quietly.”
