She was heartened, but she has yet to see her money.
Despite the judgments in her favor, Zilisch's case is still unresolved.
Kim Zilisch lost her fiancé and normal use of her left eye in a car accident 10 years ago. She is still waiting for State Farm, her own insurance company, to pay her what she's owed.
Paolo Vescia
Kim Zilisch lost her fiancé and normal use of her left eye in a car accident 10 years ago. She is still waiting for State Farm, her own insurance company, to pay her what she's owed.
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"I can wait," says Zilisch, now 33. "I've waited 10 years, I can wait longer."
Others who have been fighting State Farm for years are just as determined to keep up their efforts.
Ina De Long says that after a decade of fighting and traveling around the country, she's getting tired. But she's not ready to give up, even though her crusade is more difficult these days.
In May, she was in an auto accident. Her motor home -- which she used to travel around the country -- was run off the highway near Barstow, California, by a semi-truck. She suffers from chronic pain and must use a cane to walk. So far, De Long says, State Farm has been good about paying her medical bills satisfactorily. But her motor home has yet to be repaired.
Weary of the battles to reform State Farm through industry legislation or courtroom rulings, she nonetheless remains optimistic. She welcomes the national investigation by NAIC into State Farm's paper review practices and other individual state investigations but says they are too narrow in focus -- each addressing only one part of the company's behavior.
Still, De Long hopes such probes will lead to a more general investigation into what she believes is a widespread pattern of hurting consumers for the sake of profit, whether it's in earthquake coverage, auto repair or medical claims.
"Every time somebody comes out doing an investigation, I always have high hopes that this is the one," De Long says. "One of these days, I might have to say, 'It's just not going to happen.' But I'm not willing to admit that just yet."
Nor is the local snake killer. Cal Thur is pleased with this year's rulings in the Zilisch and Olson cases. He doubts that any meaningful reforms will come out of the NAIC investigation or congressional promises to investigate State Farm's medical documents review practices.
A spokesman for California's Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which calls itself the leading insurance watchdog group in the country, agrees. Doug Heller says he doesn't expect much to come from the NAIC investigation, calling it a toothless group that is proposing less, rather than more, regulation of the industry.
Thur believes the legal system might eventually have an impact on State Farm. He hopes the Zilisch and Olson cases help in future litigation and lead to State Farm reforming its business practices. Someday, he says, a judge might see fit to sanction State Farm with a sum large enough to make a difference.
He's not holding his breath.
Sitting in the conference room of his law office, facing a framed copy of a newspaper editorial cartoon skewering State Farm for using generic parts in auto repairs, Thur notes that he will turn 69 early next year.
Ever the capable attorney, he anticipates the next logical question. It remains unspoken, but he answers it anyway: "I do not plan to retire."
