When a pipe burst in a home in Paramus, New Jersey, that had been in Tara Setmayer’s family for generations, she never imagined it would ultimately cost them the property altogether.
The former CNN political commentator and former GOP communications director has spent weeks updating the public through social media posts about what she says has been her family’s ongoing battle with State Farm after filing an insurance claim in March 2025.
“I just got some devastating news,” she began in an emotional video that has since been widely reshared.
Setmayer went on to explain that after the pipe burst and flooded her family’s century-old home, State Farm spent more than a year delaying and refusing to pay what she says was a fully covered insurance claim needed to repair the damage. According to her, those delays left the home sitting with water damage for months, destroyed irreplaceable family heirlooms, and ultimately pushed the property into foreclosure, leaving the family with no choice but to lose or sell the home.
More than a year later, the family is still battling State Farm, she said. While the situation is every homeowner’s worst nightmare, Setmayer also stressed that her family is far from alone. Across the country, homeowners are increasingly struggling to obtain insurance payouts after disasters or even losing coverage altogether, as denials and non-renewals are on the rise, with many industry experts citing increasingly severe weather as driving more claims.
“I know we’re not the only victims of how these insurance companies screw people over,” she said. “There are so many people from the California wildfires to other states who are going through similar experiences with State Farm not doing right by their people.”
Since the historic wildfires that tore through Los Angeles County in January 2025, devastating hundreds of thousands of acres, many residents of the historically Black Altadena neighborhood have still not been able to return home, with some facing foreclosure as they navigate insurance disputes and the staggering costs of rebuilding.
The problem extends well beyond California. According to a May report by The Wall Street Journal, nearly half of homeowners’ insurance claims result in no payout. The newspaper found that more than 44% of claims filed with five of the nation’s largest insurers—State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, USAA, and Farmers Insurance—ended without a payout, leaving many homeowners scrambling to cover expensive repairs themselves. Others have found themselves dropped by their insurers altogether.
In Chicago, where ABC News reported in March that insurance denials and policy cancellations are outpacing the national average, longtime Chicago Lawn resident Vivian Jones said she was dropped by her insurer while trying to have her roof repaired.
She was told by The Hartford, “You do not qualify for coverage with our program due to the existing unrepaired damage hazard on your property. A recent claim inspection of the property indicates the roof needs to be replaced.”
While industry experts point to increasingly destructive weather fueled by climate change as one of the biggest driving forces reshaping the homeowners’ insurance market, rising construction costs and inflation have also prompted many insurers to tighten underwriting standards, raise premiums, limit coverage, or exit high-risk markets altogether.
For homeowners facing a denied claim or a nonrenewal, consumer advocates recommend acting quickly. Filing an appeal, documenting every interaction, keeping a detailed paper trail, requesting written explanations for decisions, and escalating disputes to a state’s insurance commissioner have all helped some policyholders reverse decisions. Others advise staying informed about evolving policy requirements and common reasons claims are denied before disaster strikes.
Even when those efforts succeed, they can still take months or years to resolve. Housing advocates warn that those delays can be devastating for families already displaced by disasters, particularly in communities that face greater climate risks and have fewer financial resources to absorb the prolonged repair costs.
Many consumer advocates argue that the growing crisis underscores the need for stronger consumer protections, greater oversight of insurers, and broader reforms to prevent homeowners from losing generational wealth while waiting for claims to be resolved. Without those changes, they warn, more predominantly Black communities could face losses similar to those experienced in Altadena and by families like Setmayer’s.
For now, Setmayer’s family says the fight continues. The family launched a GoFundMe seeking $75,000 and, in a Threads post on Thursday, July 9, Setmayer said they were still working to save the property.
“A huge thank you to everyone who’s supported our GoFundMe. Because of you, we’re still in this fight,” she wrote.
“But we haven’t reached our goal yet. Many of you were outraged when you learned how badly State Farm continues to mistreat my family after a pipe burst destroyed our 100-year-old family property and we lost everything,” she continued. “Now, we’re in a legal battle to try to save our family home. Before my grandfather died, I promised him we’d never sell the property he built.”
