Ambassador Ric Grenell said Tuesday that he had requested a meeting with the CEO of State Farm to discuss the Los Angeles fires, and the insurance company’s controversial response to the disaster.
Grenell posted on X:
Grenell acted following reports that the company had canceled many policies in the days and weeks leading up to the January fires, and that it has been compelling policyholders to compile detailed lists of their personal possessions if they want full coverage.
A local resident whose fire insurance was canceled by State Farm on December 18, 2024, told Breitbart News via text: “Having been insured by State Farm for a very long time, to not be renewed by them was devastating. That we were not renewed only 2.5 weeks before the fire and to later find out that some immediate neighbors had been renewed added insult to devastation.”
As Breitbart News reported, State Farm has been giving policyholders 50% of the value of their coverage for personal property losses, but requiring them to compile extensive lists of their possessions to receive the full 100%.
The process is considered traumatic for fire victims, as Breitbart News, the New York Times, and others have reported. One state senator has even proposed a bill, the “Eliminate ‘The List’ Act,” to relieve policyholders of the burden.
Several companies have chosen to pay 100% of the value of personal property coverage, though there is considerable variation (based on company responses, and queries to policyholders in the area affected by the Palisades Fire):
State law requires a minimum of 30% before requiring full itemization.
As Breitbart News has reported, State Farm and other insurance companies began pulling business out of California after the state effectively imposed price controls by refusing to let them price their policies to account for the growing risk of wildfires.
State Farm in particular began canceling existing fire insurance policies toward the end of 2024, with some policyholders losing coverage in late December — days before the fire.
“State Farm has the opportunity to step in and make its loyal customers whole — it needs to do so now,” Orenstein said.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
(Full disclosure: the author, whose home survived the fire, has an insurance policy with State Farm that was not canceled.)