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Farmers Insurance Abandons Texas

September 30, 2002
Farmers Insurance Co., already facing a suit by state regulators, is pulling out of Texas, refusing to write new homeowners insurance and canceling all renewals effective in November, the company said last week. The decision affects about 700,000 homeowners.

State officials were unapologetic. "The consumers have been getting ripped off by this company and I'm not going to put up with it," Republican Gov. Rick Perry said. Inisurance costs have become a key issue in his race against Democratic challenger Tony Sanchez.

Farmers is Texas' second-largest homeowner insurer but says it's losing hundreds of millions of dollars because of rising claims for mold and water damage.

State regulators sued Farmers in August, alleging that it aws overcharging customers and using deceptive trade practices. The suit seeks about $150 million in restitution.

Last week, the state offered to settle and said it would waive proposed penalties that could have totaled billions of dollars. The state also offered to lift a cease-and-desist order that the state Department of Insurance had issued a week after the suit was filed.

Farmers said the state's actions made it impossible for it to continue to do business in the state. A Department of Insurance official said she hoped Farmers would reconsider but said the department would not allow the company to operate illegally in Texas.

Homeowners premiuims have increased by as much as 200 percent for many Texas consumers. Insurance companies say rising claims related to water damage and mold have driven up their costs. A spokesman for Farmers said Texas account for 43 percent of its underwriting losses in the first half of the year even though only about 15 percent of its premiums came from Texas.

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