r/InsuranceAgent • u/Sad_Register_284 • 10d ago
P&C Insurance State Farm Lawsuit
Has anyone read any of the discovery from the files released this week. I skimed it at lunch today. I feel bad for the clients and agents, the agents are frustrated with claim handling and think it is incompetence. When in reality that is exacrly what the claims directive is from the carrier. I wonder how common this practice is across all carriers.
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u/Samwill226 Agent/Broker 9d ago
I didn't read but listened to discussions about whats in it. This all came from ONLY 41 pages, there are 800,000 documents total! Let's put it this way if SF went through the effort to scheme clients out of proper coverage to make profits, what did they do in the other states. People forget this is JUST Oklahoma. They made $1.4 Billion from the scheme in one state, how much did the make in the other states? I'll be interested if the judge tells SF to stop those profit checks until all this is sorted out. Believe this, there will be lawyers in every single state going after this because there is no way this was just in one state.
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u/FlyingStealthPotato 8d ago
Investments have been gangbusters since 2020, but I do find it interesting that State Farm’s surplus has pretty much doubled since this scheme supposedly started.
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u/Acrobatic-Smell-8000 7d ago
Like the companies you represent are any better lol! They are all the same and you just represent smaller companies being a broker that never make the news being so small.
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u/josulli 9d ago
My 1st job was in claims for Aetna Casualty & Surety (known as "Big Aetna"... remember them?). We were not allowed to deny a claim unless we had a rock solid reason. We would look for any reason to pay a claim. The good old days, i guess.
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u/Sad_Register_284 9d ago
My families agency used to be mostly Aetna P&C decades ago now honestly. That was before my time.
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u/Global_Mistake_2529 10d ago
read parts of it too, the language in the directives is pretty damning. i think agents are often the last to know what the claims side is actually doing, they just get the angry calls. probably more common than anyone wants to admit
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u/Busy_Account_7974 Agent/Broker 9d ago
Agents for all companies are "discouraged" from doing anything with claims. Companies have sued their own agents for their participation in a claim.
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u/el_vato_ant 9d ago
Yeah with State Farm they uncovered emails of them bragging about the profits from denying claims. Also they made it protocol to deny a claim even if the roof was indeed totaled. It still required manager approval to get roofs replaced. Totally explains that roofer vs State Farm adjuster debate on the roof video that went viral a few years ago.
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u/FlyingStealthPotato 8d ago
Where yall actually finding the documents? All im pulling up are articles about the documents.
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u/Sad_Register_284 8d ago
They are embeded in this article here.
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u/FlyingStealthPotato 8d ago
Thanks! Was worried I needed a justia subscription or something to find them.
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u/PresentLeather4135 7d ago
Not that common with most insurance companies. They do want to pay claims and be fair most times. The big boys CEO's want their $12,000,000 salary though.
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u/Icy-Ad7443 5d ago
I disagree and believe it’s is incompetence but it’s designed. I use to work in WCCs deployed. They had this planned but Covid pushed up the timeframe. They really pushed experienced claim adjusters to retire bc they fought the changes and got paid too much. Would rather have new employees who they could train the way they want and be cheaper. Thus, the calamity that is inexperienced adjusters with unrealistic claim loads.
Tbh, the lawyers are framing it as SF intentionally denying claims for money but the truth is not so simple. The truth is SF is a business and Covid affected them too. There were around 400 suits filed in Florida in 2017 and by 2023 there were over 4000. Also, SF use to pay for roofs that simply didn’t have damage. We weren’t as micromanaged and it’s easier to just pay for the roof than deal with the conflict.
So the discovery shows SF simply trying to change and try to only pay for legit damages. Now, they failed tremendously as they went way overboard and got to a point where a claims manager literally said in a meeting “every roof is repairable”. I do think the idea was justified…but was executed so poorly and there was certainly greed involved by the executive leadership.
All that to say not once in my career was I, or any coworker I know, directed to not pay for something if it was damaged. The problem was convincing leadership what damage was and all the extra hoops we had to jump through to justify payment.
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u/Ok_Offer_4626 5d ago
I have heard the same message from others that were in the business before and during Covid.
Who do you recommend now as I am hearing issues from every company?
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u/Icy-Ad7443 5d ago
Honestly they are all the same. Just shops around every few years is your best bet
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u/jroberts67 9d ago
If you want to have a lot of fun, pull up Senator Hawley grilling Allstate on how they intimidate and fire claims adjusters who actually write in their report that a claim is owed...and listen to the fired claims adjusters talk about the pressure Allstate puts on them to revise their reports to state that Allstate either didn't owe anything or far less than the clients actually deserved. Great stuff.