State Farm Sues Texas Department Of Insurance
In a surprising move State Farm has sued the Texas Department Of Insurance for making some of its proposals for insurance rate hikes public on the state agency’s website.
State Farm says some of its proposal information is confidential and since Texas Department of Insurance has made them public, it would benefit the companies competitors. State Farm is particular about some documents related to reinsurance that would be of value to its competitors.
On the other side the state department fees all such proposals are entitled for public scrutiny and that would ultimately benefit the public in choosing the best home insurance policy. Also the State Farm’s proposals for rate hikes would make the Home Insurance market unstable feels the state agency and hence the decision to make them public. Texas department has also expressed its disappointment for the State Farm’s decision to sue the state agency.
State Farm is the major player in the Texas Home Insurance market and has a goodwill among the Texas residents. Hope this move doesn’t change that goodwill and trust. A better move would have been to contact the Texas Department and request them to remove such material which the State Farm believes is confidential. But then we do not know if they have pursued that route in vain and have sued the Texas Department as the last resort.
It would be interesting to wait and watch how the case proceeds. Next court hearing is scheduled for 14th April and till then some documents related to the suit are expected to be withheld on the Insurance Department’s website.