State Farm Loses Appeal in Totaled Car Value Class Action

State Farm Automobile Insurance Co. lost its bid to undo the certification of a class challenging how the insurer calculated the “actual cash value” of totaled vehicles.

The lower court didn’t abuse its discretion by certifying the class—Tennesseans who “after their cars were totaled, received a payout from State Farm that was calculated utilizing car valuation data generated by another company, Audatex"—the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said Thursday.

In the suit against State Farm, lead plaintiff Jessica Clippinger argued that adjusting the “actual cash value” payouts to account for the fact that buyers and sellers usually ...