After the wildfires that swept through LA neighborhoods of Altadena and Pacific Palisades, State Farm (California’s top home insurer) requested an emergency rate hike of 22%. They didn’t get that but yesterday a judge did approve a 17% hike.
Administrative Law Judge Karl Frederic Seligman, who oversaw an unusual three-day hearing on the matter last month, said that California’s largest insurer was already in a weakened financial state at the time of the fires and that the emergency rate hike would carry it over as the state considers other rate hikes requested last year.
“The proposed interim rate stipulation serves the best interests of California consumers and the public. Taken as a whole, it represents a fundamentally fair, adequate and necessary measure — effectively functioning as a rescue mission to stabilize State Farm’s financial condition…
