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- MarkCiccone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+55Like a good neighbor, State Farm screws you over.
- afterpartyboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23On NPR this morning, they had a report on inmates in prision that are serving prision terms that are longer than their original sentences because the paperwork regarding their cases were lost. One gentleman was sentenced to three months for a slew of unpaid parking tickets and jailed right before Katrina hit -- and ended up serving four months in a maximum security prision he was moved to in northern Louisiana. He served a longer jail sentence, in maximum security, for parking tickets and lost paperwork?!
There are a lot of people out there that are taking too much f*cking time to fix what happened down there, and not enough oversight and help to do it in a timely manner. Where were the police or these watchdog employees when State Farm did this? The ignorance of some people and the lack of support I've seen in handling this disaster is just as criminal as the acts some people are committing, and getting away with.
P.S. Brian Ross is probably one of the finest investigative journalists I have ever encountered in the news. Nice job B! - rekrapt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23Oh, it's true... not only was it witnessed, there are receipts from the shredding company. And it was a big-assed truckload of documents too, not just a couple of file cabinets.
- canewediggit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20how come casinos never pull this ***** when they lose? f-n insurance co.s need to cough it up. if you collect when you're winning, you better pay when you lose.
- endgame, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21IF and it's a big IF this is true than State Farm should be heavily fined & be sued to the max for this situation. I want to see more evidence before I believe 2 independent adjustor's. Although I fined it funny how it has taken over a year for this and then suddenly 2 people come out with evidence. Maybe there was allot of fraud going on in State Farm but the media may have not picked up on it.
- ceralor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Fined? Why not shut down for this stunt?
- phrocker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16The funny thing is, insurance companies pull this ***** on Casinos. Just research the hard rock casino and hotel in Biloxi. It had major troubles because it was in a spat with its insurer.
My parents have state farm. With 140k in damage, we received 12 grand from them. Isn't that wonderful?
The government stepped in with grants to help people screwed by insurance companies, yet they haven't fulfilled their promises. Everything is going wrong. Nobody can rebuild. My parents are one of the few people on the entire coast who have moved back home, yet they owe everybody under the sun. This is really a sad debacle, but what most of you probably don't realize is that we knew about this. People on the MS Coast know about these things. They know about the shredding, the skewing of engineering documents, the lying, the coverups. Most people would say Katrina destroyed the MS coast and a local economy....but you know what, she didn't do as much damage as the insurance companies. - signal15, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Allstate denied the claim to my roof which was clearly caused by hail and wind, and said it had resulted from people walking on my roof. They denied it twice. I've given them over $12000 of insurance money between homeowners and auto insurance over the past 4 years. When Katrina hit, we had another storm up here that really damaged my roof and siding, and they hired a 3rd party adjuster to come in and look at it. He actually paid up. He told me that many of the adjusters get paid on claims that are denied, and that's why it's so hard to get any of them to pay. It's a friggin racket.
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Of course they do. Notice that if a man is a professional, he'd be banned from the casino.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Insurance is a scam.
The *ONLY* time they pay out is when there is a "big pocket", who can afford to sue the living ***** out of them, on the other side of a policy. At some point the insurance industry's own behavior begins to drive the actuarial numbers that drive the policy fees themselves and that, my friend, is the insurance industry's own little version of a Ponzi scheme. - beand1p, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Like a good neighbor, State Farm borrows your sugar and makes cookies and doesn't share when your starving.
- shiftless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Why the hell does anyone go with State Farm? You file one claim with them, then they cancel your insurance without notifying you. Pathetic insurance company.
- labmouse42, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I totaled my car in 98' and state farm gave me the full value of my vehicle -- much to my suprise. However, they probably did not have the funds to rebuild all the homes in the southeast, which is their own fault.
- SmokedL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Probably because the mainstream media is so biased it's not even funny, so people turn to alternative sources in order to get at least a chance at some real news.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6> how come casinos never pull this ***** when they lose? f-n insurance co.s need
> to cough it up. if you collect when you're winning, you better pay when you lose.
The obvious answer to this question is that the casinos know the odds ahead of time and that the insurance companies are driving with their rear-view mirror, but rely on "other methods" to reduce exposure to their own bad actuarial numbers. - labmouse42, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@overlordmead
"hey choose to live in an area that is DANGEROUS"
Your right! The southeast is always being ravaged by hurricanes. They should move to california where they dont have to worry about hurricanes! - Comatose51, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Wow, if this is true, I'm not going to buy renter's insurance from them like I had planned. The credibility of an insurer means a lot to me. I don't want to get screwed over when I need them the most.
- RipperMortis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My wife recently served on jury duty in federal court on a case involving State Farm. They were refusing to pay a man whose home burned. They claimed he set it himself. Basically their case fell apart and the plaintif was awarded over $100,000.
- Heembo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Like a good neighboor, State Farm is there"
Any of you folks have that jingle in your head? With neighboors like these, I'm sittin' on my porch with a loaded 12 gauge! - p5ychop3nguin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5like a good neighbor, state farm borrows your chain saw and cuts your legs off
- JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They would have shredded the documents much sooner and not been caught with it, but the government was hogging all the shredders and taking like forty ***** minutes in the bathroom too.
- RatTrap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's just low.Screwing over those people like that if they really got rid of those papers.
- twiztedambience, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i agree, brian ross is one of the few good investigative journalists left
Anybody who saw 20/20 last night heard another story like this... so it's not just Brian Ross's blog this is posted on, though he was the reporter who broke it.
I didn't bother reading the article since I saw a portion of it on TV, but generally the outcome of this piece is that State Farm has denied this and is paying for an independent investigation of the matters. Whether or not it is truly independent will be up to us to decide I suppose, or more investigative journalists...
it would be nice if the government was providing some oversight here... - labmouse42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2When my car was totaled 7 years ago my policy was not canceled. Sure it went up $50 every six months, but they did not cancel me.
- phrocker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Your from MS, so you should know about the insurance agents telling people they didn't need flood insurance. Our agent told my family. Countless people we know heard the same thing from their agents...yet the judge decided that this didn't matter. Don't you think that if the person you've had insurance with for decades urges you not to get flood insurance ( or in some cases won't even sell it because they think its needless ), that you might not get it? Some people may argue that hey, you're near the water, you should have had flood insurance...but many people were 18-25 feet above sea level, yet they still received several feet of water in their home. I think there should be some culpability
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'm from Mississippi so I'm well aware of how badly the insurance companies are screwing people.
Lately the big controversy has been about wind vs water damage. The insurance companies have been denying claims or paying out pennies on the dollar.
Here's the kicker- the companies would only write flood insurance policies to property in flood prone zones. With a 35' storm surge, Katrina put water as far inland as I-10. - SweetsGreen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"They shouldn't even call it insurance.
They just should call it ''in case *****.''
l give a company some money
in case ***** happens.
Now, if ***** don't happen,
shouldn't l get my money back?" -- Chris Rock - weathersinc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I had a renter's policy with them. One day, my balcony mysteriously caught on fire and burned. The apartment complex put the fire out with a fire extinguisher. They kicked in my door and claimed that I had changed the locks. When I went to go pick up the fire report and someone had forged my signature on it and said that I had started it unintentionally. I was not even home when it happened and by the time I got there, the apartment complex was already tearing it down less than a hour after it all started. The only way I could get this changed was by going to court. I contacted State Farm and told them to deal with it. What did they do, paid the apartment complex to put a new balcony up and canceled my policy without telling me. Great.
- jabberwonk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2*** sigh****
I have State Farm for all of my family's insurance. If this is true, and right now it certainly looks daming for State Farm, whether I'm the only one or not, not only will I move my two cars, homeowners and riders and life insurance to a new company, I will make sure my agent knows exactly why I'm moving to another company. While not his fault, he should definitely be made aware so he can pass it on up the line - so it can be shredded by someone.... - Ruckus21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There are bad insurance companies and there are worse insurance companies. State Farm has just cemented it's place in history as one of the worst. Think of a worse thing to do than to rob someone when they need help the most. Victimize the victim. Pick their pocket while they're drowning. To hell with suing them, I want to see jail time.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No- its true. The agents would not write policies that included flood coverage in areas that were not flood prone. It gave some agents a price advantage and if asked, they told clients "if you didn't get water from Camile, you don't have anthing to worry about." That's what the litigation is about.
Katrina hit the Mississippi coast with a storm surge that massacred houses that weren't touched by Camile. - Heembo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Like a good neighboor, state farm is there to steal your newborn and sell it on the open slave-trade market for profit
- mabhatter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I would say that there needs to be "truth in insurance" rules made to cover this situation. What you've got happening is many people that thought they were covered, or told they didn't need certian coverage because they weren't in a "risk" area dn "didn't need it" , then denied claims when those things happened far outside the "risk" area.
I would agree with you that insurance companies should only have to fufill their obligations, but the states should be looking carefully at what is covered and how insurance companies are representing it. Part of insurance is "fairness", and companies should not be profiting from misleading customers to make a sale. Being from Michigan, we have fairly strict auto insurance laws for similar reasons.. there's certian stuff the state requires you have... and agents have to represent that. Yes, rates will probably go up in the future when more stuff becomes required, but that's part of "fairness" as well.
it comes down to wether companies should be able to profit while allowing customers to "hang" themselves by missing important features in coverage. - epiccollision, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1they all suck
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No surprises here. Anyone remember how Allstate's 'good hands' felt when they dropped the insurance policies of victims in Andrew's wake?
Insurance companies don't exist to help you; they exist to take money from you, often assisted (or even mandated) by the government. View your insurance premiums as another tax you'll never see again and be done with it. - angelp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@overlordmead - I hope a natural disaster doesn't completely destroy the lives of some of you self-righteous idiots. Lord knows we all want you to live another stress-free day to spread your stupidity.
- epiccollision, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1um it was on 20/20 this is just the reporters blog.ass
- tdowling, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Not only that, but shutting down State Farm would all but destroy the city of Bloomington, IL where it's based. Let's not be *too* drastic...
- jessijessi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i have had state farm for 6 years. renters and full coverage auto. i was car jacked in seattle a month ago. my car was found in salem trashed and the cup holder had a brown-sugar like residue inside it. the same stuff on the jackers coat and pants left in my car. i drove it back to seattle with the windows down, and gagging the whole way in tears. it smells really, really horrible. i was told by police that it was either meth or heroin or a mix of the 2. state farm claims that i was responsible for the drugs and the odor after they found out how much it would cost to replace the interior. multiple, detailed cleanings did nothing. they sent out an "expert" to test the car. not a smell test. but a swab test of the steering wheel, the seats and the dash. all of these places have been cleaned. the cup holder (which still has the brown residue in it) was conveniently NOT tested. i filed a complaint with the washington state insurance commission. next is the BBB, the attorney general, and king 5 news. i've also talked with a lawyer. so for now, my car still smells like crack... or meth... or ??
- p5ychop3nguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's not that mainstream news is politically biased, it's that they only report the news that is show to get people's attentions, like murders, or kidnappings or celebrity crap. They don't think enough people care about these types of stories to give them any space.
- BlogCruiser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Insurance has almost always been a scam when it comes to disasters. You are required by laws to have vehicle insurance and homeowners insurance and need medical insurance etc. However, it is a false sense of security in many cases.
Don't let me convince you to burn all your insurance and not pay insurance but there is a lot less that they will pay for then most think. Most Americans are not covered for water and flood damage, if they are it is through the federal government and that pay out is going to be questionable.
The US courts decided years ago that insurance companies can drop you even after the disaster whether it is medical or disaster if you cost them to much money. Do some research on your own insurance and you will find out.
Bottom line this article doesn't surprise me in the least but over all the insurance companies will be found to be with in their legal rights, most likely.
They may have to pay a few more for public relations but I'm sure there were few if any covered by water damage in New Orleans. If they were it was through federal flood insurance even if it was through their insurance company. My guess is most of the damage from Katrina was from flood and water damage, which few insurance companies truly cover. - overlordmead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@angelp
If my parents/family moved to an area that is known to be a dangerous place to live I would have the same advice for them too. How is it that I'm the stupid one? Last time I checked my home is safely nuzzled in the Rocky Mountains. - McMultiverse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Just to play devil's advocate here for a bit...
1. All insurance companies and banks have massive numbers of documents professionally shredded on a daily basis. You can't just toss a redundant copy in the trashbin, since that document will contain private information that can be abused. It's not unusual for these companies to shred documents, so a receipt of disposal shouldn't be incriminating on its own. Now, if they were shredding outstanding claims to make them "disappear", then that is so blatantly illegal and criminal that all involved should make plans for a nice, cozy prison cell.
2. A lot (if not most) of the ill will towards insurance companies always boils down to coverage. Flood? Not covered in a homeowner's policy. Full coverage? You don't get it unless you explicitly pay for it. Insurance companies pay out on what they cover, no more and no less. It's the only way for the system to work - if you want more coverage, you need to pay for it. It's fair for all policy holders, that coverage reflects their insurance investment. If you have $140,000 in damage and your coverage only extends to $12,000 of that damage, it's what the insurance will and SHOULD pay. They can't hand out money that's not in the policy, when others that do have that coverage need the money to fix their homes.
3. Now, if the insurance company is not paying for work that IS covered under their policy, then they are not doing their job and should be held accountable. You can't lie about physics - wind damage is wind damage and flood damage is flood damage. There has been a LONG series of precedent for what kind of damage falls into what category. Any homeowner MUST see what is covered under each policy, and get the coverage they think they will need. That's the onus on EVERY homeowner.
4. Like I said, wind and flood damage are pretty clearly demarcated at this point. If an insurance company is avoiding its responsibility, they will end up paying out the ass and will likely lose a customer (and more once the PR side of their *****-up hits). It's not in any insurance company's interest to not honor their policy, since any short term benefit is erased by the courts and the public. If your roof has been torn off and you have coverage for wind damage, and the insurance company is not paying up, TEAR THEM A NEW *****. But, if your roof has collapsed due to water damage and mold, then you need to realize that coverage is dependent on if your policy covers this.
5. I'm sympathetic to anyone who has had their home damage or destroyed by a disaster. There are TONS of people still suffering in Louisiana and Mississippi, and they need help. But, at the end of the day, insurance companies are businesses. They need to collect payments, pay out to victims and have more money in reserve for the next disaster. I know it's the in-vogue thing around here to be all anti-corporate and untrusting of any business, and I can't say that corporate America hasn't had it coming for a while.
I guess all I can do is ask for people to look at a situation like this with a dispassionate eye: claims were filed, claims were disputed and an allegedly criminal act was committed. If State Farm so blatantly destroyed records, they will be punished severely. - McMultiverse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"the companies would only write flood insurance policies to property in flood prone zones"
Uh, this is blatantly untrue. Flood insurance is only MANDATORY in flood prone zones to SECURE LOANS. You can get flood insurance regardless of where you are, since it's mostly handled by the government these days (not "the companies"): http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/index.jsp - esuomynona, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@ceralor
I think fines, firings, and criminal charges are the way to go. Shutting the company down would cause more problems for people who actually rely on the insurance (those who are getting it anyway).
If the company is significantly fined, the right people are fired and/or criminally charged it will be like a new company anyway. - Smukke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Step back... Two former contractors who had an exclusive contract & probably later had to actually compete for a contract & lost it... They make a lot of allegations and maybe get on TV. They don't name the engineering firm that supposedly changed its report... they don't name the supervisor who supposedly asked for the change on the report.... I'm glad I'm not a State Farm customer but I have a suspicious mind and this sorta quacks like a duck. I prefer for this sort of thing to play out in the courts before it plays out in the media.
- iPadraic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0You're not getting the full story... Of course they shred documents.. they shred nearly ALL their documents. Since they keep everything electronically filed, there is no need to keep the hard copy. It's not only State Farm, it's all large corporations.
- AbortedFetus, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Only $100,000 for a burned down house? What was the guy living in, a double-wide?
- xler8, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I have not had a terribly negative experience with them.
I had renters ins with them in NO. After Katrina, SF came to my evacuee location and gave me a check for $2000. They said it was part of my plan - that I was to be given money to evac since I was in the disaster zone.
Later, I filed a claim for damaged items and have been passed around from person to person and I have been told different things to do. I still need to resend more items to them to get the claim processed. I don't know if the procedure is just complicated though or there are shenigans going on... - rhizome, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@ceralor "Fined? Why not shut down for this stunt?"
As if the government is powerful enough to shut down State Farm Insurance. -
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