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- Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued State Farm, seeking data at the “zip-code level.”
- Lawsuit follows increased home insurance rates that were announced in July.
Illinois’ Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against State Farm, arguing the Bloomington-headquartered company should be required to give the state information about homeowners insurance policies that it issues nationwide.
Amid recent increases on home insurance rates, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul alleges the company refused to provide the state data that would help officials assess “the challenges that plague the homeowners insurance market for Illinoisans and All Americans,” he wrote in a news release.
Here’s what to know.
What data does the state want?
The state wants “complete data from State Farm at the zip-code level as to policies that it writes to insure homes across the country,” the complaint reads.
The complaint also says that “a complete understanding of the affordability crisis in homeowners insurance requires comprehensive data on the condition of State Farm, the market and the nonfinancial practices of State Farm, and the enterprise risks faced by State Farm.”
The effort follows the company increasing home insurance rates by 27.2% on average, which they announced in July.
Home insurance claims costs were exceeding premiums collected, leading to “unsustainable” losses, the company wrote at the time. Rates are increasing in Illinois due to rising home replacement costs and more frequent severe weather events, the company said, which is driving up the cost and frequency of claims.
Gov. JB Pritzker at the time on Facebook called the increases “unfair and arbitrary” and said the company’s claims were not adding up when compared with state data.
Pritzker called on lawmakers to pass legislation that “prevents insurance companies from taking advantage of consumers through severe and unnecessary rate hikes like those proposed by State Farm,” he said in a statement in July.
Would data lead to lower rates?
Raoul’s office did not respond to an email inquiry from The State Journal-Register that asked if obtaining the data would lead to lower rates for Illinoisans.
Lawsuit follows state investigation
Raoul filed the lawsuit on behalf of Illinois’ Department of Insurance Director, Ann Gillespie, following an IDOI investigation into State Farm’s homeowners insurance policies and premiums in November of 2024.
State Farm “spurned the examination, flouting its legal obligations under multiple provisions of the Illinois Insurance Code,” the complaint reads.
The data would come from State Farm Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, State Farm General Insurance Company, and Oglesby Reinsurance Company, all of which are collectively called State Farm.
What is the law about this?
Under current state law, insurance companies are required to file their rates with the Department of Insurance, and the agency can review consumer complaints to determine whether the rates being charged are consistent with those filings.
Illinois is the only state in the U.S. that does not prohibit rates from being “inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory,” which means it has no authority to reject a rate filing on those grounds.
The complaint said State Farm had two main reasons for not giving the data in November: “First, that State Farm cannot be required to produce data accessible in Illinois about policies insuring properties located outside of Illinois; and second, that the Director (Gillespie) might violate confidentiality protections for the data if State Farm produces it.”
State Farm statement
A spokesperson for State Farm, Gina Morss-Fischer, provided a statement to the SJ-R, saying “State Farm did not violate the law. This lawsuit is without merit and has nothing to do with Illinois customers or the cost of their insurance.”
Morss-Fischer added that “State Farm remains committed to collaborating with the Illinois Department of Insurance to benefit Illinois customers. We value our partnerships with state leaders and continue to work together toward finding solutions that allow us to best serve customers and promote a healthy and competitive insurance market.”
Tom Ackerman covers breaking news and trending news along with general news for the Springfield State Journal-Register. He can be reached at [email protected].
