State Farm executive fired after disparaging L.A. wildfires and victims – San Bernardino Sun

A State Farm executive was fired after he was secretly recorded saying the company was “kind of” orchestrating a rate hike for California policyholders following January’s firestorms in Los Angeles County.

Haden Kirkpatrick, State Farm Mutual’s vice president for innovation and venture capital, was recorded in a video published on YouTube by O’Keefe Media Group saying the company manipulated its 22% emergency rate increase requested to cover losses from the catastrophe, “but not in the way you would think.”

A State Farm spokesman confirmed Kirkpatrick was terminated and said his statements in the March 6 video were false.

“These assertions are inaccurate and in no way represent the views of State Farm. They do not reflect our position regarding the victims of this tragedy, the commitment we have demonstrated to the people of California, or our hiring practices across the company,” spokesman Sevag Sarkissian said in a statement.

In the video, Kirkpatrick made unflattering remarks about wildfire victims in January’s devastating wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The conflagrations fueled by 100 mph Santa Ana winds killed 29 people, destroyed more than 12,000 homes and burned at least 57,000 acres.

Also see: State Farm Says LA wildfire losses total $7.6 billion

Kirkpatrick, who began working with State Farm in February 2021, couldn’t be reached for comment via his LinkedIn profile.

O’Keefe Media used a hidden camera planted on one of its employees to capture Kirkpatrick discussing “the company’s planned exit from the state’s insurance market,” and his “explicit hiring biases.”

Kirkpatrick used coarse language to criticize California residents, saying, “People want to build in areas where they want to have, like, natural areas around them for their ego. But it’s also a f*ing desert. And so, it dries out as a tinderbox.”

He also acknowledged that wildfires in these areas are not surprising to insurance professionals. “Climate change is pushing these seasons. If you’re an insurance professional, it’s predictable,” he says.

Kirkpatrick also says in the video that State Farm’s decision to pull out of the California insurance market was a calculated move in response to financial concerns and state regulations.

“Our people look at this and say, ‘Sh*t, we’ve got, like, maybe $5 billion that we’re short if something happens,” he continues. “We’ll go to the Department of Insurance and say, ‘We’re overexposed here, you have to let us catch up our rate.’ And they’ll say, ‘Nah.’ And we’ll say, ‘Okay, then we are going to cancel these policies.’ ”

A spokesman with the California Department of Insurance was not immediately available to comment.

On Saturday, State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said that he expects to make a decision soon on State Farm’s emergency rate hike request. That decision, he said, could see the insurer shoulder a portion of the financial responsibility to cover losses from the historic Los Angeles County firestorms.

State Farm executives said at a Feb. 26 meeting with Lara that it needs the 22% emergency rate hike in California to cover more than $7.9 billion in losses. Lara initially rejected the request, saying in a Feb. 14, letter to State Farm executives that he needed more information before he can approve an increase.

According to the O’Keefe Media video, Kirkpatrick didn’t shy away from discussing his explicit effort to reshape State Farm’s workforce demographics, acknowledging his personal bias in hiring practices.