The "Farmers Insurance News-Alert" website is dedicated to providing the consumer and general public with detailed information concerning the Farmers Insurance Group. This includes fraud reports, consumer complaints, lawsuit's and other legal actions taken against this company. All information contained herein is for educational purposes only. Original sources, when known are sited.

 

Farmers Insurance to Pay $4.3M

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Farmers Insurance Group will pay $4.3 million to settle
an Ohio case that claimed the company refused to insure homeowners in
minority neighborhoods, Attorney General Betty Montgomery said Monday.

The Los Angeles-based company will spend $3 million for grants and
low-interest loans to develop, build and repair owner-occupied homes
throughout the state and will pay a total of $1.3 million to the Ohio Civil
Rights Commission, the Toledo Fair Housing Center and Housing Advocates of
Cleveland.

The settlement stemmed from a 1999 Lucas County lawsuit that accused the
company of discriminating in its insurance practices.

The Toledo Fair Housing Center sued the company after two black women said it
wouldn't sell replacement insurance policies for their homes because they
were built before 1950. The policies pay for the replacement of a home if it
is destroyed.

The company through its Ohio division or corporate headquarters in California
instructed agents to apply these restrictive guidelines, said Lisa Rice, the
Fair Housing Center's executive director.

Agents ``were given the message over and over again, over a protracted period
of time, that they were used to supposed to use these guidelines, and they
did,'' she said.

A message seeking comment was left Monday with the insurance company.

The company changed its guidelines in 1998, officials have said.

 

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