Policyholders critical of State Farm General’s response to January’s firestorms won a court victory this week when a judge ruled a Pacific Palisades homeowner can probe the insurer’s claims handling practices during a rate hearing.

Administrative Law Judge Karl Fredric Seligman denied a motion by the Department of Insurance to have Merritt Farren, whose home burned down, raise questions about State Farm General’s claims-handling at a separate hearing after the rate increase is first considered.

“The outcome could easily result in chaos and challenges ... on numerous grounds that would only operate to cause delay,” the judge wrote of the department’s motion in his Wednesday ruling.

State Farm is seeking to raise its homeowner rates 11% after receiving an emergency 17% hike in May from

See Full Page