But Mr. Kirkpatrick is clear that his job, which he states includes overseeing two companies, including an insurance company6, is to “future proof the company.”7 And in his recorded conversation, Mr. Kirkpatrick provided a starkly different perspective. He described how State Farm evaluates its financial exposure and approaches the Department for rate increases. He stated:

“We’ll go to the Department of Insurance and say we’re overexposed here, you have to let us catch up our rating… and they’ll say ‘eh’ because the Department of Insurance and the Insurance Commissioner is an elected position in California. He’ll say ‘nah.’ And we’ll say, ‘Okay, then we are going to cancel these policies.’”8
These remarks strongly suggest that policy cancellations are being wielded as a strategic bargaining tool rather than as a necessary response to financial risk. This contradicts the impression State Farm sought to convey at the meeting—that it would remain in the market if rate relief were granted, and calls into question the transparency and good faith of State Farm’s dealings with both regulators and policyholders.