Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Large image
Can something be done about this obscenely large? It doesn't add to the article, and is large enough to probably make the page take too long to load for a lot of users. Peyna 18:46, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
- Actually the corporate south facility houses about 8,000 employees while the main corporate building houses about 6,000 employees. Srcrowl 03:57, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
Hurricane Katrina lawsuits
My thinking on the Hurricane Katrina lawsuits is that they would be more appropriately covered in one of the Hurricane Katrina articles, probably by adding a section to Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina that addresses insurance issues, or possibly in a new article. State Farm is only one of several insurance companies targeted by these lawsuits; in addition, there are issues relating to the reinsurance companies, the National Flood Insurance program, and the state-run insurance pools. Once that is done, the coverage in the articles on the insurance companies should probably be limited to a sentence or two that links to the Hurrican Katrina article. Thoughts? --Mwalimu59 20:42, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I agree completely. This is an article about the company, not specific lawsuits against it. As an insurance company, lawsuits are filed against it every day, some with merit, most without. Highlighting a few suits that may be overturned does not really do much to frame the company, especially when the majority of customers must be happy with them or the company would not be as large as it is. I am a little too close to the issue, so I won't make the changes, but I do think this article is not very balanced.--Thresher 18:38, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
I've added a POV tag. The section fails to adequately explain the issue or State Farm's responses, and is undue weight. Some of the links are utterly irrelevant (State Farm is a non-profit mutual insurer, for example). -- TedFrank 11:33, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
Criticism
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina's unprecedented storm surge had a severe impact on residents of the Gulf coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Alabama. Thousands of homeowners lost their homes and their way of life. Unfortunately, many had failed to purchase adequate insurance. According to news accounts, fewer than a quarter of gulf coast residents had purchased flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. While insurers (including State Farm Insurance) paid out billions to policy holders in the hurricane's aftermath (State Farm paying more than $5 billion itself), individuals have pursued lawsuits in attempt to recover losses which they claim should be covered by their insurance contracts.
One major issue pursued in these cases has been whether insurance contract exclusions for water damage are valid and enforceable. In a much-covered lawsuit Paul and Julie Leonard v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, U.S. District Court Judge L.T. Senter, Jr., ruled that such provisions were valid and enforceable. However, the judge invalidated an exclusion for wind damage that occurs in conjunction with water damage, so the Leonards were able to recover for losses due to wind. Similarly U.S. Senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican and U.S. Representative Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat have pursued their own personal claims against State Farm as well as legislative changes. State Farm, for its part, has said that it has settled more than 84,700 home, commercial and personal property claims and paid out more than $1.1 billion in Mississippi.
Meanwhile, Kerri and Cori Rigsby, two former independent adjusters (working for E.A. Renfroe) who worked for State Farm Insurance exclusively for 8 years have claimed that State Farm Insurance supervisors systematically demanded that Hurricane Katrina damage reports be buried or replaced or changed so that the company would not have to pay policyholders' claims in Mississippi. Kerri and Cori Rigsby, say they have turned over thousands of internal company documents and their own detailed statement to the FBI and Mississippi state investigators. Per The Birmingham News (December 12), U.S. District Judge William Acker, Jr., ruled "Moran and Rigsby clandestinely copied approximately 15,000 confidential documents off of State Farm's computer." Acker also ruled the women violated their employee agreement with Renfroe.
On January 11, 2007, the courts ruled against State Farm in the Hurricane Katrina case involving lawsuits where State Farm said damages were from flooding and not from hurricane wind. It has widely used this reasoning to turn down insurance claims related to the hurricane damage.
On February 14, 2007, State Farm announced they would no longer be selling new policies to homeowners in the state of Mississippi. Though the insurer has claimed it is due to the legal and business conditions in the state becoming untenable, State Farm's legal troubles that resulted from hurricane Katrina undoubtedly played a major role in the decision. State Farm announced that while current policy holders will keep their coverage, they also announced they may not renew current plans when the policy expires, leaving the door open for State Farm to halt business in Mississippi altogether. At the time of the announcement State Farm was the insurer for approximately 30% of homeowners in the state of Mississippi, making them the state's most popular insurer.
In Louisiana, State Farm is represented by the former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, Edgerton L. "Bubba" Henry, through the law firm Adams and Reese in Baton Rouge.
- Trent Lott Sues State Farm over Katrina Damage
- State Farm's Response to Hurricane Katrina
- VIDEO 20/20 Webcast Katrina Insurance
- ABC's 20/20 Mischaracterizes State Farm's Claims-Handling Process
- Profits for Insurers Are Soaring
- Sisters blow whistle on Katrina claims
- Judge Requires Return of Documents
Car Insurance Claims
A recent investigative report by CNN found that major car insurance companies, led by State Farm and Allstate Insurance, are increasingly fighting claims from those injured by their insured members. In some cases the settlement proposed amounts to just $50 or the threat that any lawsuit will be made so expensive and time-consuming that it would not be worth the victim's time. [1]
Criticism Section
Thresher 19:35, 4 September 2007 (UTC) It seems the same criticism comments were added to the Allstate page. This was my response there:
I fail to understand why this is mentioned:
"An investigative report in February 2007 by CNN found that major car insurance companies, lead by State Farm and Allstate Insurance, are increasingly fighting auto insurance claims from those who incurred soft-tissue injuries by their insured members.[6]"
Insurance companies have a vested interest in not paying for questionable injuries. Every dollar that is paid on a non-meritorious claim rewards people for anti-social behavior. All insurance companies have a duty to society to not pay more than they owe. Additionally, insurance companies have a fiduciary duty to their stockholders, or in the case a of a mutual company, their policy holders to pay only what is truly owed because insurance policy costs are directly affected by the underwriting history.
Soft tissue injuries are contentious because by their nature, there is no way to actually detect the purported injury. Insurance companies look at each claim individually. If they see a claim for soft injuries on a car with little or no damage, would it not make sense for the company to investigate it further? Would it not make sense for the company to question whether or not an injury actually occurred as a result of the accident?
Honestly, this section seems to be continually updated by people with an axe to grind. It is not balanced and doesn't begin to show both sides of the issues.
As I've mentioned before, I am too close to the situation, so I will not make the change. But I seriously hope that someone can objectively write about any criticisms with an open mind.
I am also in a situation. An automobile ran a stop sign and hit my automobile and State Farm is using many excuses to call the accident 20 percent my fault. They are giving me 80 percent of the damages after 2 weeks. In short State Farm Sucks. Dont Use Them. (There were no injuries so an attorney said it would be more expensive than it was worth to go after them.) --Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.244.253.90 (talk o contribs)
Of course, it is State Farm's duty to minimize the cost to its actual customer (the person who hit you), for a number of reasons (fiduciary duty since policyholders are shareholders, potential ramifications against the policyholder based on amount of damages (if your state has insurance points or something similar), etc.). --Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.166.218.35 (talk) 16:40, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
Patni issue
Patni is the one that short-changed its employees. State Farm would have paid money to Patni, not to the Patni employees. The cited article makes no claim of any culpability on State Farm's part. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 20:49, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
In addition Dick Luedke, a State Farm spokesman, says that visa workers receive fair treatment. "Working conditions at all our State Farm locations are monitored and maintained without distinction of State Farm or vendor employee," that quote coming from the same article. This citation clearly contradicts State Farm Luedke's statements.User talk:Bobheath 21:23, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Again, the accusations of personal interpretation and spinning against me are unwarranted and would be more appropriately directed at yourself. I have citations from reputable sources. You have no citations.User talk:Bobheath 21:36, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
What does $61,611 million mean?
The revenue / net income, etc listing says, for example: US $61,611 million (2007)... What is 61,611 million? Does this mean 61.6 billion? I request that this be formatted the same as every other article that lists these kinds of numbers (ie, $61.6 billion or million - I can't even tell which one it's trying to say). Thanks. --Preceding unsigned comment added by Dario D. (talk o contribs) 05:45, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
Trivia section
I'm not party to it but I'll weigh in on the recent almost-edit-war on the trivia section... In my opinion, the "Like a good neighbor" jingle written by Barry Manilow deserves mention in the article and should be restored somewhere (it could probably be shortened somewhat). The rest of the trivia section that hasn't already been incorporated into the article can probably be left off. --Mwalimu59 (talk) 19:02, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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