This was our house on Radcliffe that was destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
John Pascoe looks through a window space at the remains of his home and possessions
Our home burned at 764 Radcliffe in Pacific Palisades and all our possessions, which included at least 30 years of accumulated heirlooms, antiques and other items. Our “good neighbor” insurance company State Farm continues to avoid paying money on possessions. We paid the insurance company for 30 years and now they don’t want to pay what they owe us.
We wrote to the California State Insurance Commission, who has sent a letter to State Farm, who replied that they were in the process of reviewing the claim.
We are not alone, resident after resident has written this editor, telling me they are in the same situation with State Farm.
This editor sent a letter to Senator State Ben Allen, asking for help with insurance payout. There has been no help, and now Allen is running for State Insurance commissioner.
Starting today, this editor will run every letter from State Farm (below), so people in other areas of the country can understand what to expect if they ever go through a complete and total loss, such as the people in Altadena and Palisades have.
Additionally, people who may know NFL players who do commercials for State Farm, should be aware that the “good neighbor” has been perfectly awful to those who are grappling with the complete loss of their home and personal property.
State Farm Insurance Companies
Fire Claims
PO BOX 106169
Atlanta, GA 30348-6169
Thank you for your recent communication on September 09, 2025 and September 10, 2025. A condition of your policy in addition to preparing an inventory is to attach all bills, receipts and related documents to substantiate the figures in the inventory. We are currently reviewing your personal property inventory submitted and requesting additional clarification and information in order to continue with our review.
- Your inventory lists many items purchased in the prior three years from the date of loss. Financial institutions typically retain financial statements from recent years along with making available online. Please review, provide or clarify availability with your financial institutions for statements of account which can assist in substantiating your claim.
- Please confirm that you either do or do not have any personal article policies or other instruments of coverage for your personal property items being claimed.
Please review and provide additional information and clarification by providing invoices, receipts, cancelled checks, banking statements, credit card statements, photos, description, use or purpose of the item, model or serial numbers. Purchases and orders from individuals or companies may be contacted and may be able to provide additional information, invoices or receipts. Please note this does not limit to the following however will assist in substantiating:
- Early 20th Century Handcrafted Solid Silver Serving Set- 3 Pieces
- Vintage, 100% silver coffee server
- Important antique silver cutlery service with storage cabinet
- Vintage Antique, Blue Antique Couch (upholstered) -1920s
- Vintage Antique, Blue Antique Seat (upholstered) -1920s
- (one of a kind – vintage), Vintage Italy Wooden Decorative Center Table
- Ten Inflatable Decorations
- Fishing reals
- Graded Trading Cards (Baseball and Pokemon)
- Beanie Babies
- Dell, 2 27″ computer monitors
- Tempur-Pedic Mattress
- Smith Wesson, Collectable Gun Rifle
- Dior dress
- Men’s Armani suits
- Armani, silk tie collection
- Large Safe
- 4 Fishing Rods
- Custom Computer Server with fiber optics
- Dell, 32″ dell monitor
- US Gov (uncirculated Mint), Coin Collection 30 years of silver collection since 1991 (3 sets, 1 for each kid)
- Pure Silver candle stick holder (5) engraved, Italy
- BBQ Grill (stainless steel)
I appreciate your time and attention to this, If you have questions or need further assistance, please contact me at 866-787-8676, ext. 1338.
Sincerely,
John Butterfield
Claim Specialist
(866) 787- 8676, Ext. 1338
Fax: 1-844-236-3646
statefarmfireclaims@statefarm.com
For your protection, when emailing State Farm, please do not include sensitive personal information such as Social Security Number, credit/debit card number (financial account number), driver’s license number, or health/medical information in an email. Please contact us at (866) 787- 8676, Ext. 1338 to discuss sensitive information.
Thank you for sharing this. It’s undignified to put people through this. And they know. And they’re hoping you’ll accept the 65% and call it a day. I hope everyone is following the Eaton Fire residents who have created an incredibly helpful Discord chat group and are working hard to advocate for all fire victims.
I am so sorry for your losses and that you have to go through this heinous process. Thank you for sharing your experience and the robotic response(s) as sent by State Farm. I look forward to reading the future correspondence to prep myself for my BATTLE (with Travelers). I have still to submit our inventory to Travelers, as it is a massive and incredibly time consuming task of details, details, details. I wish you much fortitude while you fight the frustrating fight and best wishes for a full payout. Wish that all for all of us victims!
I would like to give a tip that a friend gave me. Research your items online to give a
actual replacement value or have an appraiser give a value. It helped with FEMA. And you can provide that to them after your insurance pays you what their coverage will pay.
It helped my friend get back some and helps them put an actual monetary value on items. Even checking out what common items go for on Amazon and put it in your cart.
Then print out for documentation of replacement value.
That doesn’t work for antiques but at least maybe it will help with your other items.
Sorry for your loss and I hope they come through for you.
You are indeed expected to prepare an itemized inventory. However, you do not have to produce receipts for every single item—only for high-value claims (especially over $7,500, based on what your adjuster Patrick Levy told you). For older items, cash purchases, or gifts, you can use descriptions and comparable values online. State Farm cannot lawfully deny all payment just because you lack receipts.
Would you like me to draft a sample inventory note/disclaimer you could attach to your list, clarifying that some items lack receipts but are documented through memory, photos, or comparable listings? This can preempt pushback from the adjuster.
I’m tempted to send State Farm a plastic zip-lock bag of ashes labeled “receipts “.
Sorry for your losses! I lived nearby on Haverford and always enjoyed the design and landscaping of your house when walking the neighborhood.
I’m also sorry for the pushback you are getting from State Farm. We haven’t submitted an inventory to them yet. Did you, as we did, receive assurances from adjusters that State Farm understands you can’t have invoices or photos of everything, and will take your word? Keep us posted on how things go, very curious!
Thanks for your work keeping us informed while also navigating this insurance hellscape.
Sounds like a pretty standard ask. I am not seeing where the insurance company is being unreasonable. Would you pay for something you couldn’t confirm actually existed? Why should your insurance company? They cannot simply take your word for it. Look at it from their perspective. Sorry to play Devil’s Advocate here, but trying to browbeat your adjuster by posting this is chicken$#it… Yes, it’s a lot of work. Complaining about it won’t get it done…
If you spent $500 a year to be paid for a car and at the end of 30 years you needed a new car, why wouldn’t you get it? You had paid for it. Let me guess you have not been required to inventory your entire home? Otherwise you might get it. I hope you’re never put in this position. I can never get my cedar chest back that my dad made me–or the antiques given to us by aunts or the 1880s Episcopal prayer book handed down through the generations – and you say “fine, just produce the receipts.”
Thanks–but we did do that, went on line (and of course the time taken to do that is not compensated and it is time intensive for contents for an entire home) and found what items are worth–but still the insurance company wants receipts.