A Northwest Oklahoma City couple locked in a two-year legal fight with State Farm Insurance has sued the state's own insurance commissioner, demanding a judge force him to release a long-awaited investigation into how the company handles roof claims. Craig and Elizabeth Gutierrez, who live in the Rose Creek neighborhood, filed the lawsuit against Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready this month, arguing the report could reveal critical information to bolster their case against the insurer.
According to News 9, the Gutierrezes say State Farm denied them a new roof after hail damage in 2024, and they've been fighting the company ever since. Their lawsuit asks a judge to order Mulready to make the state's investigation into State Farm's roof-claim practices public, calling the report overdue. The couple's petition, as detailed in a discussion on r/oklahoma, alleges Mulready had previously promised to release the report by March 31, 2026, and accuses him of withholding it for political reasons until after the state's August runoff election.
A Two-Year Probe Still Not Finished
The investigation itself dates back further than most homeowners realize. Per an audio recording obtained by Oklahoma Watch from a November 2023 department meeting, Mulready opened the market conduct examination after annual roof-claim complaints against a single, unnamed carrier jumped from a typical range of 10 to 13 complaints a year up to 53 in a single year. That spike, reported by KGOU and Oklahoma Watch, is what set the years-long review in motion.
Mulready has acknowledged the investigation is unusual in scope. In a December 2025 statement from the Oklahoma Insurance Department, he revealed the department took the unprecedented step of dispatching third-party engineers into the field to inspect insurance adjusters' work as part of the review. As of the Gutierrez filing, Mulready has said an independent examiner has not yet submitted the final report to the insurance department, according to News 9's reporting.
Why the Report Is Still Sealed
State law complicates the couple's demand. Under Title 36, Section 309.4 of the Oklahoma Statutes, working papers, recorded information, and preliminary findings produced during an insurance market conduct examination are statutorily confidential and exempt from public records requests until a final administrative order is issued, according to legal analysis published on Property Insurance Coverage Law. That means Mulready's public acknowledgment of the investigation and his earlier suggestion that a report could arrive by early 2026, cited in the same Reddit discussion of the Gutierrez petition, sit uneasily against a legal framework designed to keep such probes confidential until they formally close.
Hundreds of Oklahomans Suing State Farm
The Gutierrez family is far from alone. Law firm Whitten Burrage, which represents the couple, reported in March 2026 that it represents around 600 Oklahoma policyholders in bad-faith roof lawsuits against State Farm, with the total number of pending homeowner suits against the insurer statewide estimated between 800 and 900 by August 2026, per reporting from Oklahoma Watch and InsuranceNewsNet.
State scrutiny extends beyond the commissioner's office. In June 2026, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed an independent enforcement lawsuit against State Farm Fire and Casualty Company in Cleveland County District Court, alleging the insurer used a covert internal Hail Focus Initiative to systematically underpay or deny legitimate wind and hail roof claims in violation of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act and state RICO law, according to the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office. That case builds on earlier action; Hoodline previously reported that Drummond won court approval to intervene in a separate homeowner lawsuit against State Farm over the same Hail Focus Initiative allegations. In July, he expanded the campaign further by suing Allstate Insurance Company over what he called a Disaster Payment Minimization Scheme, as Hoodline reported at the time.
State Farm and Regulators Push Back
State Farm has defended its record. In a March 2026 corporate statement carried on its newsroom site, the company said it serves over 500,000 policyholders in Oklahoma and paid out more than $1 billion to state customers for wind and hail damage over the preceding two years. That same month, the Oklahoma Insurance Department noted State Farm issued a $101.5 million dividend return to nearly 1 million Oklahoma auto policyholders, which Mulready publicly commended as evidence of financial stability and responsible rate management.
The broader fight over storm claims has also pushed the state toward prevention. In July, the Oklahoma Insurance Department opened applications for its Strengthen Oklahoma Homes program, offering grants of up to $10,000 for homeowners to fortify roofs against high wind and hail, a step Hoodline covered as part of the state's effort to curb future losses. For the Gutierrez family, though, the immediate fight remains about what regulators already know and when the public gets to see it.
