Blog
State Farm Conspires to Funnel Money to State Supreme Court Candidate
State Farm has reached a preliminary settlement for $250 million in a federal class-action lawsuit. The settlement comes in response to a suit filed in the U.S. District Court in East St. Louis which alleged that State Farm secretly funneled money to the campaign of an Illinois State Supreme Court candidate, Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier while he was a candidate for the high court in 2004.
The correlation between Karmeier and State Farm was easy to connect, when 1 year later, Karmeier made a crucial decision in State Farm’s favor. Karmeier cast the deciding vote in the 2005 case of Avery v. State Farm, which reversed a 1999 $1.06 billion dollar judgment against State Farm. The Avery judgment resulted from State Farm’s use of aftermarket car parts, without the knowledge of State Farm policyholders.
Upon learning of State Farm’s support of Karmeier, a group of former and current State Farm policyholders filed a federal class-action lawsuit claiming State Farm conspired to defraud 4.7 million current and former customers out of the $1.06 billion award by Karmeier in Avery. While State Farm agreed to settle the case, they released a statement that claims that the lawsuit was “without merit” and “in the best interest of all parties to settle.”