Class Claims Farmers Insurance|Breaches Confidentiality Agreements

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Farmers Insurance routinely breaches confidential settlement agreements by disclosing the settlement to third-party claims information databases, a class action claims in Superior Court.

Named plaintiffs Harvey and Linda Plaks sued Farmers for bad faith in 2005, and the parties settled it, with a confidentiality clause, in February 2006, according to this complaint. The Plaks say the premium to renew their homeowners policy in December was "significantly higher" than before, and they paid it.

"Plaintiffs were later informed by their Farmers agent that the reason for the increased premium was due to the fact that information in a claims information database regarding plaintiffs' property reflected a large claims payment," the complaint states.

"Plaintiffs independently obtained a copy of the a (sic) claims database report for their property and learned that the large claims payment in the report was the exact amount that Farmers had paid plaintiffs pursuant to the terms of the confidential settlement."

The Plaks sued Farmers Group, Fire Insurance Exchange, Farmers Insurance Exchange, and the Fire Underwriters Association. They are represented by David Parisi and Steven Zelig.

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