Pacific Palisades residents had trouble evacuating during The Palisades Fire.
State Farm Says It Honors 65% of Possessions with No Listing. What about the other 35%?
At the Hive gathering of displaced residents after the Palisades Fire, a harrowing story was told by an 81-year-old who joined the group.
She and her 89-year-old husband are long-time residents in the Marquez Knolls area on Sunset. They received a fire evacuation notice on January 7, 2025 in the afternoon, but when they went outside, traffic was stopped on both sides of Sunset and they couldn’t get out.
The woman hosed down the house, and the couple went back inside. Later, they went to bed but wakened at 2:30 a.m. when they heard a loud crash. They got up, looked outside and saw flames around them. They got into their car and drove one way down Sunset Boulevard towards the beach and then turned around and went the other direction. The resident told this editor there were no fire trucks on Sunset. Their house burned on January 8, all the contents were destroyed. They saved nothing.
About 7,000 homes and businesses were destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
The resident who has been State Farm Customer for 60 years and never filed a claim, told this editor she was having trouble listing all the contents. The couple don’t have children to help with the numerous tasks, associated with surviving after a fire.
This editor asked the Palisades Long-Term Recovery Group if they had anyone who could help, and the answer was they had too many people for the caseworkers they have.
Next this editor reached out to State Farm media representatives on January 13, “Why would you make a couple, an 81-and 89-year-old, list their possessions after they’ve been paying State Farm for more than 60 years?”
This editor added, “I also lost my home in the fire. We were customers for more than 30 years and we are being put through the ringer by our adjuster, John Butterfield, who it seems does not want to pay possessions, questioning everything and saying more examination is needed on everything from a Speedo swimsuit to ALO yoga clothes. I don’t want this sweet elderly lady to go through this stressful experience.”
State Farm responded on January 15. “To answer your questions about contents coverage: if a customer experienced a total loss from the January wildfires, State Farm provides an advance payment of up to 65% of their policy’s contents limit without needing a detailed list of belongings. This typically means more advance dollars in contents coverage than other companies because of the State Farm-specific policy benefits offered—see our Newsroom for more details about this.
“After a customer receives their advance, their claim handler can help them complete an inventory to receive additional payment for their loss up to the full policy limit,” State Farm said. “We follow the promise outlined in our policy with every customer claim to keep insurance fair and affordable for all our customers.”
The 81-year-old resident said that the State Farm adjuster Zachariah Stepp, did contact her on January 15 and provided her with a inventory sheet so she could make a list. In the letter he said she could contact him.
CTN suggested she call Zachariah and have him come to her apartment and help her write the required inventory list. Let him help her list everything that way further “examination” will not be needed.
Several people at the informal Hiva gathering who have State Farm commented that it seems the insurance company will pay 65 percent of personal items, but does not want to pay 100 percent of possessions.
One man said, if they don’t want to pay the full amount, they should come to our houses before the fire and told us what they won’t pay, so we could have paid less on our premiums.
(Editor’s note: Residents from the Palisades Fire were first screwed by the City of Los Angeles and are now screwed by insurance – after years of paying taxes and premiums. They’ve also been screwed by the State, which could step in and help. There has to be a special place in hell for these officials who are putting so many innocents through this ongoing nightmare.)
The inventory process has been excruciating, and we’re still working on it, causing huge stress and tension in our family. Plus we have not received full value for dwelling based on rebuild estimate of $350-$400 sq ft.
Process determines outcomes, and we need to reform processes. Specifically there need to be changes so that after undergoing the trauma of losing one’s home, one does not have to endure a torturous experience dealing with insurance. There needs to be transparency and accountability about tools such as Xactimate, and a simple process for challenging lowball estimates and blanket depreciation.
It is the job of the Insurance Commissioner to make sure practices are fair and just (the Department ” safeguards all of the state’s consumers by fairly regulating the insurance industry). On June 12, 2025 Insurance Commissioner Lara announced an investigation into State Farm practices. You can see the press release here: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2025/release043-2025.cfm The release states: “A Market Conduct Examination is one of the Department’s most effective tools, involving a thorough, fact-based review that typically takes several months. ” We are now more than seven months out. I have tried repeatedly to get a response, but Mr. Lara’s office will say nothing about the status of this investigation. Has it been abandoned, and if so why? This is an appalling lack of transparency and accountability. I urge readers contact his office and see if you can get a response: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0500-about-us/05-Contact/index.cfm
Meanwhile, on Nov. 13, L.A. County started its own investigation. You can see the press release here: https://counsel.lacounty.gov/los-angeles-county-opens-investigation-into-state-farms-handling-of-wildfire-claims/
More recently, on January 6, 2026 legislation was introduced, backed by Lara “to speed up recovery for survivors.” See https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2026/release001-2026.cfm If the legislation passes, it is unclear if it will actually help us in any way. Further, in the absence of a thorough review and report, there is no telling what or how many major problems remain unaddressed.
One bright light is the nonprofit United Policyholders, which does very good work: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-ezHF_akueorARFtALJlnA.
It is so technical and time consuming to deal with this, and it is so very difficult to be grinding through inventory and dealing with insurance more than a year after the event. Elected officials need to do everything possible to fix this process by making it more transparent and accountable.
Ghana Mayor Bass is doing a fantastic job. DEI helped all the residents out in this situation. So does paying out public employee pensions that will eventually make millionaires out of retirees ($80,000 per year for 30 years = $2,400,000), and that’s a small one.
Why does Mayor Bass use our city taxes for a MLK
parade? If LA is bankrupt and can’t trim our trees, fill potholes, fix sidewalks, replace street lights, pay to hire more firemen and law enforcement then why are we having parades and who even knew of the parade or where it was located or whatever!!! Were there float or bands or ??? And then a fight breaks out at the end and a possible fatality? Why would the mayor spend money on a parade no one knew about and not take care of quality of life issues throughout the city?