LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A State Farm executive has been fired after apparently making comments about the insurance company’s recent rate hikes following the devastating SoCal wildfires.
In a shocking turn of events, Haden Kirkpatrick was fired after an undercover video appears to show him talking about rate hikes. What’s worse — the comments were made in reference to fire victims in the Pacific Palisades.
“Where the Palisades are, there should never be houses built there in the first place, where people want to be built in areas where they have natural areas around them for their ego. But they’re also… its a (expletive) desert,” Kirkpatrick is heard saying in the recording.
Kirkpatrick was a vice president for innovation and venture capital at State Farm. According to reporting from the L.A. Times, he was recorded during a Tinder date – saying that a request for rate hikes was “kind of” orchestrated “but not in the way you would think.”
In the video, he appears to describe a bargaining situation with the department of insurance. He describes a final bargaining chip of threatening to cancel policies.
State Farm General, the company’s California subsidiary, has filed for an emergency 22% rate hike for its homeowners’ policies.
It cites the fires and a $5 billion decline in its surplus account over the last decade.
State Farm sent Eyewitness News the following statement:
“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.”
The company also confirmed that Kirkpatrick is no longer affiliated with State Farm. Kirkpatrick has made comments, telling the L.A. Times he believes the Tinder date was a setup.
Eyewitness News has reached out to Kirkpatrick but we have not yet heard back.
Meanwhile, the California Department of Insurance says: “We want answers from State Farm. This only raises more questions.”
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