Thousands of LA fire survivors look to join California’s lawsuit against State Farm
Roughly 18 months after two major wildfires ripped through Los Angeles, many survivors are still battling with their insurance agencies to help with the ongoing rebuild. Survivors and people helping with the rebuild have consistently told Straight Arrow that State Farm has been the toughest to deal with.
Now, a network supporting survivors has filed a petition to join California in its effort to get payouts for people impacted by the Palisades and Eaton Fires.
“We’ve heard from survivor groups across the country, going back decades, that State Farm’s playbook is familiar: delay, deny, underpay,” Joy Chen, Executive Director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network (EFSN), said. “That playbook depends on survivors being isolated. What makes the L.A. recovery different is that thousands of survivors organized. We collected evidence. And we brought what we found directly to regulators, elected officials, journalists, and the public.”
Petition filed
The survivors filed the petition with the California Department of Insurance.
Earlier this year, the state took its own legal action against State Farm, alleging mishandling of claims after the fires.
EFSN is seeking intervenor status in that case.
That essentially means they were not part of the original lawsuit but want to join the case because it impacts the interests of the people they represent.
“This is the number one issue that’s holding people back from rebuilding,” Kambiz Kamdar, owner of Pali Construction, told Straight Arrow. “People can complain about permit times and utilities and undergrounding and evacuation routes, but at the end of the day, people that want to come back need the money to come back, and they are still fighting with their insurance.”
EFSN represents more than 10,000 fire survivors across Los Angeles.
If they are granted a place in this lawsuit, they would be able to conduct discovery, present evidence, participate in settlement talks and more.
“The general feeling is that none of this should have been necessary, that the state had the ability to act all along,” Mark Smith, a Palisades resident who lost his home in the fire, told Straight Arrow.
State Farm told Straight Arrow they’re aware of the petition.
“We recognize that many wildfire survivors, including those that are State Farm General policyholders, continue to face difficult recovery challenges,” the company told Straight Arrow in a statement. “Our focus remains on helping customers recover.”
State Farm issues
The California Department of Insurance found nearly 400 violations in State Farm fire claims.
State Farm has argued that those are administrative errors rather than a pattern of misconduct.
“Every tactic that they can use, they have been using to drag this along,” Kamdar said. “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to that just almost break down in tears, saying how it’s taking a toll on them, and they want to give up.”
While other insurance companies have also had their issues, State Farm has come up repeatedly when speaking with those involved in the rebuild process.
According to the state, State Farm’s alleged violations may have affected thousands of survivors.
“I generally think that the California Department of Insurance will be successful in prosecuting the suit against State Farm,” Smith said.
State Farm reported a net income of nearly $13 billion in 2025.
That’s where the alleged nickel-and-diming can get very frustrating for fire victims.
“It just feels like it’s a scam,” Kamdar said. “They take your money, they also make you pay a premium based on a replacement value, and then they nickel and dime you on that replacement value when you actually need that money to rebuild.”
What’s next?
A judge will now decide whether to grant EFSN intervenor status in this case.
“The Department found the violations. Survivors lived them,” Michelle Meyers, partner at Singleton Schreiber who’s representing EFSN, said. “The people who experienced the harm should not be spectators while decisions about accountability are being made.”
After that, the suit will move forward with pre-hearing motions and discovery.
Each side will exchange documents and evidence, identify witnesses and more.
While that process plays out, the rebuild continues in LA.
“It’s a steady climb,” Kamdar said. “At this pace, you’re talking about theoretically four to five years before we even get to the stage where you have a permit for every home that was destroyed.”
And while the state has now acted against the insurer, survivors would have liked to have seen them move more quickly.
“The general consensus is that Commissioner [Ricardo] Lara and/or Gov. [Gavin] Newsom should have been on this thing more on the order of a year ago, when the problem first started,” Smith said. “It shouldn’t have taken a very significant community action program to get the state of California to do something.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
