Rani Gupta’s commentary was included in a Law360 article examining property insurance cases that practitioners should note in 2025.
Rani provides her insight on a case where California's top court revived a policyholder's case over State Farm's claims-handling practices, saying California's statute of limitations on unfair competition actions governed the timing of the case — something policyholder advocates say could help consumers fight insurers on a slew of tactics to avoid their coverage responsibilities.
The court said that homeowner Katherine Rosenberg-Wohl wasn't directly or indirectly trying to recover damages associated with a denial of her insurance claim, but instead sought declaratory relief regarding State Farm's claims-handling. That means the state's four-year statute of limitations for Unfair Competition Law claims governs her case, not a one-year deadline for filing suit outlined in her policy and the state's insurance code. Rani said the state supreme court's ruling to distinguish Unfair Competition Law claims from recovery claims was important, and that it could have a big effect, "particularly as the property market is so chaotic here in California," and given the relatively short one-year deadline for coverage claims.
"I think it will be interesting to see if there are more types of these unfair competition claims, and in particular whether attorneys and policyholders are looking harder at that, given what's been going on in the insurance market," Rani told Law360.
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