On Wednesday, November 16, Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles Judge Lawrence P. Riff issued final approval of a $75 million settlement in the case of Parry, et al. v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, et al., Case No. BC683856.
In this case, Plaintiffs claimed that under California law they and other Farmers® agents are or were employees of Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange, Truck Insurance Exchange, and Farmers Group, Inc. (collectively “Defendants”), and that California law required Defendants to reimburse them and other Farmers® agents for certain necessary business expenses they paid. Defendants denied these claims. The parties agreed to a settlement earlier this year and Judge Riff’s final approval of that settlement resolves the class action claims
The settlement, which was designed to protect the agents’ classification as independent contractors, will provide $75 million in monetary benefits and commits Farmers to agree to specific business model and contract changes. These changes include eliminating both the right to terminate the agent agreement without cause and the one-year post-termination non-solicitation provision previously in place.
Plaintiffs in this case are represented by Kara A. Elgersma of WBE, as well as attorneys from the firms of Wallace Miller, Crueger Dickinson LLC, Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, and Nelson & Fraenkel LLP.
For additional settlement information, please visit https://californiainsuranceagentssettlement.com/.