State Farm executive fired over comments about rate hikes

Laurence Darmiento

Fri, Mar 7, 2025, 4:58 PM 3 min read

A apical State Farm enforcement was fired this week aft saying the insurer's California complaint hikes are "kind of" orchestrated and aft making disparaging remarks astir Pacific Palisades homeowners that were caught connected an undercover video.

Haden Kirkpatrick, State Farm Mutual's vice president for innovation and task capital, was recorded saying that the petition by its California subsidiary for complaint hikes are "kind of" orchestrated "but not successful the mode you would think," according to a video published by O'Keefe Media Group, a blimpish outlet.

"Our radical look astatine this and say, 'S—, we've got similar possibly $5 cardinal that we're abbreviated if thing happens.' We’ll spell to the Department of Insurance and say, 'We’re overexposed here, you person to fto america drawback up our [rates]' ... He’ll accidental ‘Nah.’ And we’ll say, ‘Okay, past we are going to cancel these policies,' " helium said successful the video, recorded surreptitiously successful January aft the fires.

State Farm General, the subsidiary and California's largest location insurer, has filed for an exigency 22% complaint hike for its homeowners policies, citing the fires and a $5 cardinal diminution successful its surplus relationship implicit the past decade. The insurer has said it is present near with conscionable implicit $1 cardinal successful surplus to grip different large catastrophe.

Read more: Insurance commissioner rejects State Farm's petition for 22% exigency complaint hike

That petition was taxable of a caller proceeding with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who initially rejected the hike but agreed to see much evidence.

During the meeting, a State Farm enforcement told Lara that without the complaint hike the institution "may person to instrumentality actions that we different don't privation to do," according to a transcript of the meeting.

The institution has estimated the Pacific Palisades, Eaton and different fires connected Jan. 7 volition outgo it much than $7 billion, though with reinsurance its nett losses volition beryllium person to $600 million.

In effect to the video, Michael Soller, a spokesperson for Lara, said, "We privation answers from State Farm. This lone raises much questions."

Haden besides is recorded saying homes should not person been built successful Pacific Palisades but that residents privation to person "natural areas astir them for their ego," calling the country "a f— desert."

He further said helium tasked the company's HR squad to make a twelvemonth "2040" workforce that is much "Hispanic and Latino," which helium said was being "biased ... distant from my ain kind."