On this page
What these are
Thirty-one internal State Farm records made public after an Oklahoma judge removed their confidentiality label. Read or download every released exhibit here.
Why they matter
They tie roof-claim decisions to a nationwide system tracking manager approvals, full-roof replacements, and claim payments.
Why the plaintiffs filed them
The plaintiffs connect full roofs called an “opportunity,” manager review, the nationwide rollout, and State Farm’s later report of “about a $1.4B decrease in indemnity.”
From one county to every state
Dallas County pilot → Nationwide → State Farm reports “about a $1.4B decrease in indemnity.”
The record, in State Farm’s own words.
The $1.4 billion decrease in indemnity comes first. Then come manager review, the agent warning, the money target, the claim State Farm eventually corrected, and the company’s own math.
After State Farm took its Wind/Hail claims program nationwide, it reported policyholders were $1.4 billion less whole—and called the comparison “interesting.”
“About a $1.4B decrease in indemnity from 2020 to 2021.”
Cornell’s Legal Information Institute defines indemnify as compensating a person for losses. In ordinary English, State Farm reported policyholders were collectively $1.4 billion less compensated for wind-and-hail losses. The email calls the attached data “Enterprise wind/hail results,” places the number directly after the one-county Wind/Hail pilot and nationwide rollout, then pairs it with a plunge in full-roof replacements—from 5.6 for every repair to 2.0.
State Farm called the comparison “interesting.” It did not call the $1.4 billion fraud, waste, or uncovered claims. It called it indemnity.
The claim handler could recommend replacing the whole roof. A manager decided whether State Farm would approve it.
“Quality Play: Establish parameters to engage Team Manager review when claim handler recommends full slope replacement or full roof replacement for claims with light wind (50 mph or less) or small hail (1" or smaller).”
The adjuster handling the claim could say the whole roof needed replacement. State Farm then made a manager review that recommendation. The deck never says the reviewing manager had seen the roof or spoken with the roofer. State Farm tracked how often managers approved those recommendations. From February to June 2021, the reported approval rate fell from 80.9% to 42.7% for wind-only or light-wind claims, and from 73.8% to 45.8% for wind-and-hail claims. State Farm expanded the program to every state.
The slides establish the manager review, the measured approval rates, and the nationwide rollout.
State Farm’s own agent said customers had to fight for money the company owed.
“We now pay really low and customers fight to get what we owe them in more and more cases.”
Tracy Haus had sold State Farm policies for 20 years. She told senior leaders that roof customers were being paid too little and then forced to fight. She said that in “8/10” of the claims she described, State Farm finally paid what it should have paid at the start—but only after making the customer angry and hurting the company’s name.
Haus was one State Farm agent, and her warning reached senior leadership.
State Farm called full-roof replacements its biggest opportunity to cut claim payments.
“Full Roof Replacements is our biggest bucket of opportunity.”
The next released message explains what “opportunity” meant: money State Farm paid on claims. It says one improvement bucket could be worth $50 million and that the dollar amounts would decide where leaders focused and what guidelines they wrote.
Exhibits 3 and 4 make the money connection. State Farm described the goal as improving claim accuracy.
State Farm took five months and two inspections to approve a roof its first inspection already supported.
“The estimate should have been to replace the roof due to the amount of damage in the test squares.”
The contractor disagreed with the first decision right away. State Farm first paid $1,487.75, then added $1,179.61 after a second inspection. The agent escalated the file to leadership. State Farm’s later review agreed that the first inspection supported a full roof, accepted the contractor’s price, and called for “service recovery.”
State Farm ultimately fixed the claim. Its own review says the first inspection already supported a full roof.
State Farm calculated that one percentage point represented 5,000 claims and $78.8 million.
“5k claims at $15,769 avg severity or $78.8 million.”
The employee wrote that one percentage point meant about 5,000 claims, at an average of $15,769 each. He was talking about claims he believed should not have been paid but might once have been paid because of “lack of skill/will.”
One State Farm employee made this estimate using the assumptions stated in the message.
State Farm’s own records read like the McKinsey claims playbook—down to the dollar.
At the United States Senate hearing, policyholder advocate Doug Quinn testified that McKinsey trained insurance companies to use their claims departments “as a profit center.” Senator Josh Hawley described the method in plain English: “Delay, delay, delay,” make a low offer, and fight the policyholder who pushes back.
State Farm’s next email defines that “opportunity” as “indemnity spend”—money paid to compensate policyholders for losses—and says one bucket may be worth $50 million. Then came manager review when a claim handler recommended a full roof, approval-rate tracking, the nationwide Wind/Hail rollout, and State Farm’s report of $1.4 billion less indemnity on wind and hail claims.
The less State Farm pays on a claim, the more money State Farm keeps. That is why the word “opportunity” matters. For a family trying to rebuild after a disaster, State Farm’s “opportunity” is money not paid on the claim.
What this means for your State Farm claim
These documents show where to look and what to ask:
- Who inspected the property, and what damage did that person record?
- Did the claim handler recommend replacing more of the roof?
- Did a manager change or reject that recommendation?
- Did State Farm ask for another inspection, smaller repair, or more proof?
- What changed after the contractor, agent, or policyholder pushed back?
The comparison is simple: who saw your property, who controlled the payment, and did they agree?
The United States Senate put State Farm on the recordSenator Josh Hawley told State Farm and Allstate that their policyholders “shouldn’t be victims of fraud.”He named the State Farm and Allstate families who testified and told both executives that the American people “deserve better.” Earlier, he confronted State Farm with a longtime adjuster’s allegation of routine underpayment and a pattern of lowballing. State Farm denied it.
Watch State Farm answer the United States Senate →Watch the KFOR report
KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 showed the released records in its report and linked viewers to the complete filing.
“State Farm secret documents,” KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4, August 24, 2026. Friedman & Associates is not affiliated with KFOR, the litigants, or the court.
KFOR shows the released records and explains that they include internal messages about State Farm’s Wind/Hail program.
To indemnify means to compensate someone for a loss. State Farm reported policyholders received $1.4 billion less of that compensation after it took its Wind/Hail claims program nationwide.
Open Exhibit 6 ↗The report turns to Tracy Haus’s warning about low roof estimates, customers forced to fight, and damage to State Farm’s reputation.
Open Exhibit 17 ↗We know the playbook. Send us the estimate.
Send us the estimate, decision letter, photographs, scope, and payment history. We handle State Farm property claims of every kind in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
All 31 released documents
Search by exhibit, subject, or topic. Open any record in a separate tab or download its PDF. Page numbers refer to the complete 285-page filing.
Showing all 31 released records.
An agent reports “zero accountability”
After a hail claim dragged on for nearly a year, State Farm agent Chad Harris wrote that decision-makers were “next to impossible” to find, files were passed between people without authority, and the claim was closed in error. The customer needed an executive escalation to get basic ownership of the loss.
20–29
Claim tactics and cost goals share a scorecard
State Farm’s 2022 Quality Pillar Strategy asks, “How will we know the tactics are working?” and answers with claim-survey, error, productivity, claim-ratio, and expense measures. Customer claim decisions were managed in the same system as cost and operating targets.
30–33
Full roofs were the “biggest bucket of opportunity”
State Farm claim leader Nicole Manduca proposed focusing first on small hail and light wind and automating the link between storm data and roof-payment codes. The most expensive covered roof outcome became the first result the company wanted to track and change.
34
The roof “opportunity” was indemnity spend
Manduca called the bucket “indemnity spend,” compared State Farm’s replacement rates with Accenture figures, and said improved “Accuracy” in one bucket could be worth $50 million. Money not paid for full roofs was treated as an enterprise opportunity.
35
Leaders targeted 57% of net paid indemnity
The Fire Weather Leadership Business Plan identifies wind, hail, and water as 57% of net paid indemnity, then assigns leaders to total-roof authority, overturn monitoring, and adjustments to settlement authority. A customer’s roof decision could be escalated and measured because it sat inside the company’s largest payment category.
36–42
Policyholders were $1.4 billion less whole after the nationwide Wind/Hail rollout
To indemnify means to compensate someone for a loss. State Farm’s email reports a $1.4 billion decrease in indemnity after it scaled its one-county DFW Wind/Hail FME pilot nationwide—in ordinary English, policyholders were collectively $1.4 billion less compensated for wind-and-hail losses. The email calls the attached data “Enterprise wind/hail results,” calls the comparison “interesting,” and pairs it with a full-to-partial roof ratio that fell from 5.6-to-1 to 2-to-1.
43
One roof-payment point equaled $78.8 million
State Farm leader Tom Moss calculated that one point equaled about 5,000 claims at $15,769 each, or $78.8 million. Moss labeled the claims uncovered and undamaged. The same page makes State Farm’s financial stake unmistakable: every percentage point meant $78.8 million in claim payments.
44–45
The roof dashboard was a “silver platter”
State Farm leaders planned a Wind/Hail FME dashboard focused on Texas, Illinois, and Georgia; Manduca called the work a “passion project,” and Kathy Ress called it a “silver platter.” Roof outcomes were watched as a management result, not left solely to one adjuster and one claim.
46
Manager review would “net us the most gain”
Manduca paired broader management review of hail and wind claims with Roof Skills Review and an “Art of the Conversation” for denying or limiting coverage. A policyholder’s full-roof recommendation faced another approval layer, followed by a prepared explanation for the smaller result.
47
Fewer full roofs became “improved quality”
Using an Accenture “Industry Best” benchmark of 5–10% full roof replacement, State Farm tracked its total-to-partial roof ratio falling from 4.5-to-1 to 1.6-to-1 and prepared the result for senior leadership. For customers, “quality” increasingly meant a partial repair instead of a full roof.
48–52
The Wind/Hail Playbook monitored claim teams
Manduca sent the completed State Farm Wind/Hail Playbook for distribution and directed leaders to monitor calls, screen activity, and claim examples in huddles. The roof approach was a repeatable program with supervision and adoption checks, not an isolated adjuster choice.
53
REIAP word tracks standardized the message
The State Farm Wind/Hail Playbook rollout paired REIAP word tracks with customer infographics, leader huddles, and survey monitoring. Policyholders received a centrally designed explanation intended to reduce calls after the initial building settlement.
54–56
98% approvals triggered the old roof plays
After seeing 98% approval of team-manager reviews, Moss said the number did not match prior-year findings. Christensen ordered oversight of overturn reviews and told the quality team to “go back to what worked in the past,” exposing pressure to reproduce earlier roof outcomes.
57–58
Claims entered the “Fix Profit Task Force”
State Farm’s weekly Fix Profit Task Force was repurposed to claims and reviewed a $100 million-plus favorable variance, severity trends, and a 39% property-damage closed-without-payment ratio. Claim outcomes were discussed beside financial forecasts at the highest level.
59–65
“Target” became “Selection” in the profit deck
State Farm editors replaced “Target” with “Selection,” removed some percentages and glide paths, and folded average-estimate and overturn material into a Fix Profit Task Force presentation. The measurable claim goals remained while the language shown to leadership became less blunt.
66–67
Claim “opportunity sizing” joined profit meetings
State Farm leaders built checkpoints to size each peril, ask whether tactics should pivot, and integrate the work with Fix Profit Task Force meetings. Decisions affecting claim payments were placed inside a recurring profit-management process.
68–71
“We now pay really low”
Twenty-year State Farm agent Tracy Haus told top leadership that customers had to fight, said eight out of ten disputed roof claims eventually received what should have been paid first, and called the system “broken.” Customers lost time and trust because the initial repair estimate was only the start of the fight.
72–76
The roof “philosophy change” drove complaints
A State Farm sales leader reported a “larger than normal” volume of complaints, said Claims felt like a “secret society,” and warned that mistakes took an uphill escalation to fix. Customers were left chasing answers while agents waited for leadership to explain the new roof philosophy.
77–79
Claims sought the first roof-damage decision
State Farm’s Wind and Hail Claim Handling presentation tells agency leaders not to send customers for a roofer inspection before filing and to let Claims determine whether covered damage exists. Because customers “rarely get on their roofs,” State Farm sought first control of the evidence and the damage decision.
80–86
The claim was “reclosed in error”
State Farm’s internal review found that inaccurate instructions delayed an engineer, follow-ups were missed, available contact information was overlooked, and the file was reclosed by mistake. The policyholder reached a replacement decision only after months of calls and an executive complaint.
87–96
The first inspection supported a full roof
The contractor objected immediately, but State Farm issued two partial payments before reviewing the file. Leadership then found that the original test squares supported replacement and accepted the contractor’s scope, after the customer spent months fighting for the decision the first inspection justified.
97–100
Claim changes created agent distrust
State Farm’s 2021 Market Area and Fire Claims deck admits the changes “created a distrust of agents in our claim handling,” then prescribes briefings, reports, escalation routes, and education on the new model and philosophy. Policyholders would meet a better-managed explanation around the same claim process.
101–123
Full-roof intervention was a tracked tactic
State Farm’s April 2021 Quarterly Business Review lists pre-settlement team-manager intervention for small-hail and light-wind roof replacements, dashboard monitoring, and “Art of the Conversation” training. A full-roof estimate went before a manager while staff learned how to explain a reduced result.
124–125
Oklahoma agents were called after damaging hail
The State Farm notice establishes a statewide claims call the day after the April 21–22, 2020 Oklahoma hail catastrophe and identifies the executives and claim leaders involved. It places State Farm’s statewide response and named claims executives in the timeline; the notice contains no account of what agents were told.
126–130
HAAG training without a “mandatory” paper trail
A State Farm draft says all claim handlers should attend HAAG wind-and-hail training but warns against writing “mandatory” in case someone fails to complete it; the same exchange asks for completion tracking. The training could shape roof decisions without a clear written promise that every handler had received it.
131–134
The internal water-shedding roof-damage test
State Farm Operational Guide 75-160 defines roof damage as reduced water-shedding ability or life expectancy, then applies test squares, cost thresholds, and a repair-versus-replace analysis slope by slope. Those internal rules determined whether a policyholder was offered shingles, one slope, or a full roof.
135–153
Yearly HAAG training for claim handlers
State Farm’s 2021 Fire Claims Quality Plan requires at least two hours of HAAG refresher training for every claim handler and team manager, plus the full series for new staff. The same outside framework was repeatedly reinforced for the people deciding whether customers received roof repairs or replacement.
154–160
MyBlock tracked HAAG completion
State Farm managers could set deadlines, pull MyBlock reports on completers and non-completers, and verify individual HAAG training records. This was a monitored enterprise program, not optional reading left to individual adjusters.
161–163
The new wind repair-replace calculator
State Farm’s eight Wind Hail Claim Handling sessions covered the contract, small hail, light wind, a new repair-versus-replace calculator, and management review. Policyholders’ roof scopes were standardized through a company tool and a second layer of supervision.
164–166
Dallas roof-control pilot went nationwide
State Farm’s Fire Model Enhancement deck traces a June 2020 Dallas County test to Texas and then all states by December, with team-manager review of full-roof recommendations, weekly monitoring, and targeted reinspections. What began as a local pilot became the nationwide gate a policyholder’s roof recommendation had to pass.
167–177
The Hail Reconciliation Unit redesign
State Farm’s 2023 HRU Stewardship Redesign test shifted inventory management and file ownership after roughly 4,200 claims arrived or were reassigned at launch. It confirms hail files were being centralized and redesigned at enterprise scale, but not how any individual roof claim was decided.
178
No document matches that search.
Source files
Complete 285-page filingMotion, 31 released records, court order, and other court papersPlaintiffs’ response and counter-motionFiled August 21, 2026 · pages 1–19August 20 court orderThe order that removed the confidentiality label · pages 179–188Download the collection as a ZIPAll 31 individual records, the motion, and the court orderHow these records became public
State Farm gave the plaintiffs many records during the lawsuit and marked them confidential. The plaintiffs challenged that label. On August 20, 2026, Judge Grant Sheperd removed the label from 31 exhibits. The plaintiffs filed this set publicly the next day.
The order made the records available to the public; it did not decide whether the plaintiffs’ claims are true. The Oklahoma Insurance Department says it is reviewing the material. State Farm says it disputes broad conclusions about its claim practices and evaluates each claim on its own facts and policy.
Questions
What are the State Farm secret documents?
They are 31 internal State Farm records filed publicly in West v. State Farm after an Oklahoma judge removed their confidentiality label. They cover the Wind/Hail program, roof decisions, manager review, training, agent complaints, and reviews of individual claims.
Why do these documents matter to my claim?
They let you compare State Farm’s internal claim-handling system with what happened in your own file. Your estimate, photographs, policy, communications, and deadlines still decide your claim. The documents give you better questions to ask and better records to preserve.
Can I download every document separately?
Yes. Every released exhibit has its own PDF. The complete filed packet, court order, plaintiffs’ filing, and a ZIP of the collection are also available without a login.
Does Friedman & Associates take State Farm claims that are not roof claims?
Yes. We review every kind of State Farm property claim. The evidence needed depends on the loss and the policy.
Did the judge rule that State Farm did what the plaintiffs allege?
No. The judge removed the confidentiality label from these exhibits. That made it possible for the plaintiffs to file them publicly. The plaintiffs’ motion explains why they believe the records prove their case; State Farm disputes those conclusions. The lawsuit has not been decided.
We know the playbook. Send us the State Farm estimate. We review every kind of State Farm property claim. Put the estimate, denial, or payment in front of a licensed public adjuster. The review is free; no fee unless we recover.
Open my claim review 877-650-3515