In a major blow to the nation’s largest insurer, an Illinois Circuit Court judge has ruled that State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. pay $600 million in punitive damages for defrauding millions of policyholders by violating contract terms and using imitation parts to repair their customers’ vehicles.
In a ruling issued Friday afternoon, Williamson County Judge John Speroni also ordered the company to pay $130 million in compensatory damages for statutory fraud. It came only four days after a jury ordered State Farm to pay $456 million for breach of contract in the largest jury verdict in a class action on record.
