This section works differently from the rest of the site. Every article here is built on a public, verifiable record: a state Department of Insurance enforcement action, a court filing, a market conduct examination, or an official regulatory report. Every source is identified: which body issued the record, what kind of record it is, and where you can obtain it.
We do this for two reasons. First, because invented stories are both dishonest and illegal — the Federal Trade Commission's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials prohibits fabricated accounts, including AI-generated ones, with substantial civil penalties. Second, because real regulatory records are more useful than anecdotes: they show patterns, they name the conduct that regulators actually sanction, and anyone can check them.
What you'll find in this section
- Enforcement actions. What state regulators found when they examined claim-handling practices, in their own words.
- Market conduct examinations. The periodic reviews regulators run on insurers, and what they typically uncover.
- Complaint data. How to read the NAIC complaint index and what it can and cannot tell you about a company.
- Court records. Publicly filed disputes over valuation, depreciation and delay.
Our standard
No article appears in this section unless it rests on a public record that we identify and that you can obtain yourself. If a document is removed or superseded, we note it. If a company disputes our reading of a public record, we publish their response.
Published guides
How State Regulators Investigate an Insurer
Complaints are data. Enough of them, pointing the same way, start something.
Market Conduct Exams: What They Reveal
Not about whether the insurer is solvent. About whether it treats policyholders fairly.
Notable Regulatory Actions and What Changed After
Two cases from the public record, and what each one changed.
Reading a Public Enforcement Action
The difference between an allegation and a finding is the whole document.
What NAIC Complaint Ratios Actually Measure
1.00 is the median, not a grade. What matters is what sits behind the number.
Where to Look Up an Insurer’s Complaint Record
Four separate public records, and most people have never opened any of them.
Before you act on this
This page explains a general process. It is not advice about your specific policy or claim. Insurance rules vary by state and by policy, and they change.
Read your own policy documents, and for anything with money or deadlines at stake, talk to a licensed agent, a licensed public adjuster, or your state Department of Insurance — contacting your Department of Insurance is free.