Jury Faults Insurer for Firing Claims Adjuster

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Tuesday awarded $9 million in punitive damages to a former Farmers Insurance adjuster who alleged the company fired him for refusing to underpay claims after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, his attorney said.

Kermith Sonnier was also awarded $1.46 million in compensatory damages after jurors found that Farmers supervisors unfairly fired him for resisting Farmers directives to reduce loss estimates on quake-damaged homes, attorney Steven Ball said.

“Farmers argued that Mr. Sonnier was let go because the work was running out,” Ball said in a statement. “But the evidence showed Farmers, to this day, has kept every other adjuster who didn’t complain about their orders from Farmers.”

Farmers officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sonnier worked as a commercial claims adjuster for Farmers from January 1994 to August 1997 and handled some of the largest quake claims, including those of apartment complexes and condominiums, according to Ball.

But as payouts mounted, Ball said, Farmers insurance officials started to pressure adjusters to lower loss estimates.

In one instance, a loss first estimated at $20 million was lowered to less than $10 million, Ball said

Sonnier was fired for urging that a loss estimate at a condominium complex, where asbestos was found, be adjusted upward, Ball said.