The California Department of Insurance has launched an enforcement action against State Farm General Insurance Company after an investigation revealed the company’s mishandling of claims filed by survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
According to the Department, State Farm policyholders filed approximately 11,300 residential claims related to the Los Angeles wildfires, representing nearly one-third of the 38,835 claims filed across all insurers.
The investigation found repeated examples State Farm taking excessive amounts of time in its handling of claims, making “unreasonably low settlement offers and underpaid claims,” failing to assign adjusters within statutory timelines and while repeatedly reassigning adjusters, failing to provide required written denials for hygienist and environmental testing and ignoring inquiries from policyholders.
“Wildfire survivors came to us for help, and we followed the facts,” said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “Our investigation found that State Farm delayed, underpaid, and buried policyholders in red tape at the worst moment of their lives. That is unacceptable, and we are taking decisive action to hold them accountable.”
The enforcement action seeks millions of dollars in penalties and will require State Farm to take corrective actions to speed up payments and resolve outstanding claims
“The Los Angeles fires were one of the most destructive disasters in our state’s history. Survivors deserve a fair, timely recovery, not obstacles and delays,” Lara added. “We are taking a two-pronged approach: legal action to address State Farm’s conduct, and legislative action to ensure this does not happen again.”
State Farm responded to the enforcement action with a statement that said, “Wildfire survivors deserve real solutions — not a distorted picture of State Farm’s response. We strongly disagree with the Department’s characterization.”
State Farm added, “The threat to suspend State Farm General’s ability to serve customers over primarily administrative and procedural errors is a reckless, politically motivated attack that could ultimately cripple California’s homeowners insurance market. We reject any suggestion that State Farm engaged in a general practice of mishandling or intentionally underpaying wildfire claims, and we will respond through the process.”
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