State Farm exec fired over comments on premium hikes

This week, after an executive at a major insurance state farm was fired, it was recorded in a secret investigation video commenting on the increase in insurance premiums in response to a southern California wildfire.

Hayden Kirkpatrick, who worked as Vice President of State Farm's Innovation and Venture Capital, was secretly recorded in a video published by O'Keefe Media Group. Los Angeles Times He reported that he claimed he was fired in the recording.

“Our people look at this and say, 'S'S —'. We went to the Ministry of Insurance and said, “We're overexposed here, you have to let us chase [rates]. '… he'll say 'nah'. And they say, “OK, we're trying to cancel these policies,” Kirkpatrick said.

He also said that “homes should not be built in the first place” in areas like Palisades in the Pacific due to the risk of fire, and that residents want “the surrounding natural areas for the sake of ego,” but that area is “f–desert, arid and tinderbox.”

State Farm asks California to approve hiking after wildfires

Kirkpatrick told The Times for his statement that he believed he was a set up, but otherwise refused to comment on the outlet.

State Farms tell Fox Business that “characteristics of State Farm General's communications in relation to rate processes or rate requests as a “operation” of the public is false. This person was not involved in business decisions related to the general state farm or its California business.

“As we have publicly shared about his comments, “These claims are inaccurate and never represent the views of the state's farms. They do not reflect our position on the victims of this tragedy, our commitment to the people of California, or our position on the employment practices of the entire company,” the statement continued.

American premiums are rising sharply, and litigation plays a key role

State Farm says the estimated losses from the wildfires will be around $7.6 billion. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP Via/Getty Images)

In early February, state farms demanded an average 22% emergency fee hike for California homeowners insurance, paying customers more than $1 billion, saying they had paid more than $1 billion, saying they would ultimately pay a lot more.

The insurance company said over the past nine years it has paid $1.26 for every $1 premium collected by the state farm general, resulting in a cumulative underwriting loss of over $5 billion. It was estimated as a direct loss from Wildfires in the Los Angeles area It was approximately $7.6 billion, including reported and unreported claims, and as of February 25th, it had paid $1.75 billion on 9,500 claims.

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California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara met with state farms on February 26th to help in explaining what actions the insurers have taken to improve their financial position.

State Farm said after the meeting that “she has repeatedly repeated the urgency with Commissioner Lala to approve the interim rate request for the state farm general, allowing state farm generals to continue to support their California clients.”