Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is suing the state’s largest home insurer, arguing that it intentionally denies valid claims after extreme-weather events.
It comes as Drummond, a Republican who’s running for governor, has made his opposition to rapidly rising insurance rates a feature of his gubernatorial campaign. Oklahoma has some of the highest insurance prices in the country, stemming from intensifying wind and hail damage and a hands-off approach to regulating the industry.
That has made insurance a lightning-rod issue in statewide elections this year.
Drummond asserted in his civil suit against State Farm that the company created an internal strategy to reject homeowners’ claims after damaging storms, calling it an “ongoing fraudulent scheme that threatens the integrity of Oklahoma’s insurance market.” He made the same arguments in a legal filing last year.
