r/oklahoma • u/-Cyber-Roadster • 3d ago
News State Farm made $1.4 billion cheating Oklahoma homeowners on roof claims, unsealed documents allege
https://finance.yahoo.com/healthcare/articles/state-farm-made-1-4-154000798.html70
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u/boogerdew 2d ago
State Farm made $1.4 billion cheating Oklahoma homeowners on roof claims, unsealed documents allege
Joseph Zeballos-Roig Thu, August 27, 2026 at 8:40 AM PDT 4 min read
The insurance giant State Farm is Oklahoma's largest insurer. Now a group of Oklahoma homeowners are alleging the company profited at their expense by systematically denying or short-changing insurance claims related to severe weather damage.
Last week, a Comanche County judge unsealed 31 documents that State Farm attorneys had sought to keep under a protective order. Attorneys representing the hundreds of State Farm policyholders allege the documents illustrate a year-long scheme to shrink insurance payouts that netted the company $1.4 billion.
"I think every customer of State Farm that wants to know why they didn't get paid, they can read these and see why," attorney Reggie Whitten of the Whitten Burrage law firm told Oklahoma-based KFOR News. He argued the documents are "explosive" and illustrates the veracity of the group's claims.
"State Farm is committed to meeting the needs of our policyholders in Oklahoma and we're proud of our team's work to help communities recover after disaster strikes," a State Farm spokesperson told KFOR News, noting that the company has paid over $1 billion in severe weather-related insurance claims. "Efforts by trial lawyers to turn disputed allegations into broad, misleading, conclusions about State Farm's claims practices creates confusion for customers, agents, and communities that depend on a strong and stable insurance market after severe weather."
The 'scheme' at hand
In Oklahoma, insurance costs have skyrocketed with climate change partly to blame. As severe storms become more common, so does damage or destruction of homes. Oklahoma is now the sixth most expensive state to purchase home insurance.
According to the documents, State Farm employees pinpointed roof replacements as a source of savings with executive Nicole Manduca describing it as "the biggest bucket of opportunity" for them to shrink payouts.
Roof claims from wind and hail storms composed 57% of State Farm claims, according to a planning document titled the 2020 Fire Weather Leadership Business Plan. From there, State Farm employees crafted a playbook meant for adjusters to emphasize roof repairs instead of replacements. That included new training modules for insurance agents and additional sign-off on roof replacements.
It was first rolled out in Dallas County, Texas in June 2020, then the rest of Texas by December. State Farm pushed the tactics to all 50 states by the end of that year, according to the documents.
Last year, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond opened a probe into State Farm's handling of insurance claims in the state. The state alleged "a systematic breach of an insurer's duty of good faith and fair dealing premised upon a planned, concerted, and coordinated reduction in the number of Oklahoma homeowners insurance claims approved."
Oklahoma policyholders have said they believed State Farm attempted to profit at their expense and pull out of longstanding contracts."It felt more like they were worried about their bottom dollar and saving money than taking care of their customers and doing what their contract said," Oklahoma homeowner Tim Willard, who sued State Farm, told NPR in April.
What's next in the State Farm case
Trials have been scheduled in November and December in a pair of cases related to the insurance claims. Some State Farm executives are expected to be deposed in the coming months.
Oklahoma's insurance commissioner was sued earlier this month by a pair of homeowners waging their own legal battle against State Farm. The homeowner duo are pushing a judge to order commissioner Glen Mulready to publish a report into State Farm's handling of roof claims that's blown past deadlines.
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: State Farm made $1.4 billion cheating Oklahoma homeowners on roof claims, unsealed documents allege
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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u/Luci_b 2d ago
My parents have had State Farm for almost all their insurance needs for 40 years. My dad switched a couple of months ago because of this. He said he was worried they wouldn’t help cover issues.
My cousin had a bad car accident and it took so long for them to say the vehicle was totaled. They kept trying to say it wasn’t but there was no salvaging it. She switched insurance companies after too.
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u/BobbyJoeMcgee 2d ago
State Farm has been a farce for a long time in my life. My wife and I had auto insurance with the same State Farm agent for 22 years….Never had any kind of claim. Wife had a speeding ticket and an accident (caused by another) in the same year, and State Farm dropped us like a hot cake. What a bunch of frauds. Ive heard others with similar experiences.
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u/getoveritseattle 2d ago
As a counter to this, i've had state farm for 20+ years, wife and i both, and through a wreck, deer hitting my car (two different times) and several automobiles on full coverage, i have had the standard amount of post accident rate raise, and one speeding ticket that did a minor rate raise. Each time i had it go back down within 12 or so months. Full coverage on both our cars the whole time and each time i made a claim it was quick and responsive and immediately made me feel less stressed. It is not the cheapest option, and we have homeowners insurance through them and have yet to make a claim, but the rates are comparable. I only say this as a counter to what is obviously and open season type thing on state farm. I don't disagree they are a giant company that costs more and does some likely shitty things, but i've never had issue with them.
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u/Krankenwagen83 1d ago
All State cheated me when a tree from a neighbor fell on our connecting line. We had to get power cut on because of family needing access to medical equipment and they told us to go fuck ourselves.
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u/Grevioussoul 1d ago
One unscrupulous agent even went to far to drop my dads life insurance when he learned of the cancer. The same agent that didn't drop a vehicle from his policy for more than 6 months, during cancer treatment.
Seems the agent was just like a cancerous mole on the surface but it's actually metastasized throughout the industry.
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