Trial of State Farm Fraudulently Denying Claims

[Rage for Order]

As instructed, State Farm catastrophe manager Alexis "Lecky" King refused to answer questions an Oklahoma attorney fired at her for one hour and 10 minutes. Instead, she repeated the same phrase 87 times: "Because of the ongoing state and federal investigation, on advice of counsel, at this time, I must invoke my constitutional right to remain silent."

An Oklahoma jury in May found that State Farm "recklessly disregarded" its duty to deal fairly with policyholders, doing so "intentionally and with malice" through the use of biased expert opinions after the 1999 tornado. The tornado, one of many to strike May 3, 1999, reached a strength of F5, the most catastrophic on the Fujita scale.

In sworn testimony this summer in Oklahoma, company chairman and CEO Edward B. Rust Jr. said: "And that is ultimately my concern, also, is that we want to be fair with our customers. After all, the success of this organization is driven by our ability to retain current customers and to attract new customers. The last thing we want to do is be unfair with our customers."

When a report blamed the covered peril of wind for damage, the whistleblowers said, King ordered another to show the culprit was water, covered by the federal flood insurance program. The company finally called a halt to the reports altogether, the whistleblowers said, because too many showed wind damage.


http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/16024180.htm


Much more at the link. I hope the MS & OK Attorneys General nail State Farm's ass to the wall. What they did and are doing is despicable.