On May 21, 2024, a severe hailstorm swept through Tulsa County, Okla., battering homes with golf ball–size hail. Tim Willard says an adjuster for State Farm initially told him his roof needed replacement, but the company later denied the claim and canceled his policy. Willard spent savings and borrowed to replace the roof so another insurer would cover his home, then sued State Farm.
Willard’s experience is reflected in hundreds of lawsuits across the country alleging that State Farm, the nation’s largest home insurer, has used internal practices to deny or minimize payouts for hail and wind damage. NPR reviewed nearly two dozen such lawsuits and related filings; plaintiffs’ lawyers say the cases illuminate strategies State Farm allegedly used to reduce roof-replacement payments.
Oklahoma has become the epicenter of the litigation. More than 600 suits were pending against State Farm this spring, according to a law firm representing plaintiffs. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has intervened in one case, alleging a secret scheme to deny and lower payouts for roof damage. State Farm denies wrongdoing and says it pays valid claims based on policy terms and the facts of each loss. The company also says it works to protect customers from predatory contractors and plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Plaintiffs identify two core tactics they say State Farm employed beginning around 2020. First, adjusters and engineers used internal definitions and exclusions—such as requiring evidence of “functional damage” or a fracture through the shingle—that do not appear in customers’ policies. For example, in Wisconsin, Nicole Maziasz says State Farm denied her 2023 hail claim after an engineer concluded her shingles showed no “functional damage.” Her policy did not define that term; the couple later settled, receiving roughly the cost of the new roof and attorneys’ fees.
Second, plaintiffs say State Farm restricted adjusters’ discretion to declare a roof a total loss, routing decisions through managers who applied the company’s internal hail-damage definitions. In a 2022 deposition, former claims specialist Amy Lanier said teams were told to deny claims even when adjusters believed payment was warranted. She described the moral strain of telling policyholders their roofs were “wear and tear,” not storm damage. State Farm’s lawyers deny any broad managerial requirement to override adjusters.
State Farm has framed the initiative differently in court, saying a 2020 program aimed to improve claims accuracy and correct overpayments and underpayments. The company argues that paying for uncovered losses shifts costs to other policyholders, making insurance less affordable.
The controversy unfolds amid broader stresses on the home-insurance market. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns are increasing the frequency and severity of storms, floods and wildfires, driving up claims and repair costs. Hail is a particularly costly peril:industry data show hail contributed to roughly $51 billion in insured losses from severe storms in a recent year and often represents the majority of severe-storm claims.
As rates climb—home insurance costs in the U.S. rose roughly 46% on average since 2021, per some industry trackers—insurers have also pulled back from high-risk areas and nonrenewals have surged in states like Florida, South Carolina, California and Oklahoma. That combination of higher prices and shrinking availability has left many homeowners vulnerable and increased political and legal scrutiny of insurers’ practices.
State Farm, a mutual company owned by its policyholders, reported strong recent earnings after a period of underwriting losses in prior years. The insurer told NPR it has paid more than $1 billion for wind and hail damage in Oklahoma over the past two years and that its homeowner policy provides broad coverage, noting Oklahomans experience high numbers of wind and hail losses.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers say litigation has produced jury verdicts and settlements that support their claims. In one Oklahoma case, a jury awarded $325,000 plus additional breach-of-contract damages after finding State Farm acted in bad faith. Other recent settlements returned multimillion-dollar awards to homeowners, though those deals often include confidentiality provisions and require corporate discovery materials to be returned or destroyed.
State Farm has a history of high-profile disputes over claims handling. In 2022 the company agreed to pay $100 million to settle federal allegations related to its handling of Hurricane Katrina claims. Plaintiffs’ attorneys and consumer advocates argue that regulatory oversight can be insufficient, leaving homeowners to seek redress through the courts. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners said state regulators investigate formal complaints and often resolve disputes without litigation, but that consumers can still access courts when they believe laws were violated.
The insurance industry, for its part, has pushed back against plaintiffs’ lawyers, arguing that aggressive advertising and frivolous suits drive up costs. The Insurance Information Institute has run campaigns criticizing what it calls “legal system abuse.” State Farm pointed NPR to industry commentary asserting the need to counter predatory attorneys.
Oklahoma’s insurance regulator has said it has investigated roof-claim handling for two years but that investigative materials are confidential. Attorney General Drummond says state action is needed because settlements that keep plaintiffs quiet do not deter alleged misconduct. He also says his office is examining other insurers.
Lawyers who have handled decades of disputes with State Farm describe recurring patterns. Jeff Marr, an Oklahoma plaintiffs’ attorney whose litigation against State Farm dates to 1999, says the same tactics repeatedly resurface when insurers seek to limit payouts.
For homeowners, the stakes are practical and immediate: denied claims can force families to borrow, delay repairs, or face worsening property deterioration and potentially higher risks of foreclosure. Experts warn that denied or underpaid claims in areas frequently hit by storms can drag down property values in neighborhoods and strain local public finances.
State Farm maintains it acts within policy terms and the law, and says its efforts to refine claims handling are part of corporate responsibility. Plaintiffs, the Oklahoma attorney general and some juries have reached different conclusions. The litigation and regulatory inquiries are ongoing, and Drummond says he hopes state enforcement can impose penalties that deter future behavior and prompt broader industry accountability.