State Farm New Mexico Settlement: Eligibility, Payments, Deadlines

If you had a State Farm auto policy in New Mexico with uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage at any time between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2021, you are part of the State Farm New Mexico UIM settlement and can file a claim for a share of the $20.93 million fund. The deadline to submit a claim is July 2, 2026. Payments are calculated from the UIM premiums you paid during the class period, up to 21% for minimum-limits coverage and up to 13% for other UIM coverage.¹

Who Is Covered

The class includes anyone (and their heirs, executors, and successors) insured under a New Mexico State Farm auto policy that carried uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage at any point from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2021.¹

Three groups are excluded:

Anyone who separately sued State Farm over the reduction or denial of benefits based on a “Schmick Offset” before the notice date.
Anyone who already settled such a claim and signed a final release before the notice date.
The judges assigned to the case.¹

How Much You Can Receive

Individual payments are a percentage of the premiums you paid for UIM coverage during the class period. If your coverage was at New Mexico’s minimum limits, the payment is up to 21% of those premiums. For non-minimum-limits UIM coverage, it is up to 13%.¹

The total available for class member payments is capped at $20,925,000. If valid claims exceed that amount, payments are reduced proportionally. Generally only one payment is made per household.²

Attorney fees do not come out of the class fund. Class counsel have asked the court to approve up to $4,250,000 in fees, costs, and expenses, plus a $25,000 service award for named plaintiff Dana Schwartz, all paid separately by State Farm.¹

How To File

You can file online at SchwartzUIMClassSettlement.com or download a paper claim form from the same site and mail it to the settlement administrator at P.O. Box 4359, Portland, OR 97208-4359. Online submissions and mailed forms must both be in (postmarked, if mailed) by July 2, 2026.²

To file online, you need the Unique ID and PIN printed on the notice the administrator sent you by email or mail. Lost the notice? Call 1-877-748-7791 and the administrator can help you recover the credentials. After you submit online you will receive an email confirmation code; keep it.²

If a class member has died, an authorized legal representative can file on their behalf using that person’s Unique ID and PIN.²

Deadlines To Know

Exclusion (opt-out) deadline: May 18, 2026.
Objection deadline: May 18, 2026.
Final fairness hearing: June 8, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., Pete V. Domenici U.S. Courthouse, Albuquerque.
Claim filing deadline: July 2, 2026.¹

If you did not opt out by May 18, 2026, you have released State Farm from all legal claims covered by the settlement, whether or not you file for payment.¹

What The Lawsuit Was About

The case is Schwartz v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, No. 1:18-cv-00328-KWR-SCY, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Named plaintiff Dana Schwartz alleged that State Farm sold underinsured motorist coverage in New Mexico without adequately explaining an offset rule known as a “Schmick Offset.”¹

The name comes from the 1985 New Mexico Supreme Court decision Schmick v. State Farm, which held that a UIM payout is calculated by subtracting the at-fault driver’s liability payment from the policyholder’s UIM limit.³ For a driver carrying only New Mexico’s minimum limits, that math can wipe out the UIM benefit entirely: if both drivers carry the $25,000 per-person minimum, the offset leaves the policyholder with nothing from the UIM portion of the policy they paid for.⁴

In October 2021, the New Mexico Supreme Court held in Crutcher v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. that while minimum-limits UIM coverage is not technically illusory, it is misleading to average consumers, and insurers must explicitly disclose that a policyholder might never actually receive UIM benefits because of the offset.⁵ The Schwartz complaint asserted negligence, intentional misrepresentation, violations of the New Mexico Unfair Trade Practices Act and Unfair Insurance Practices Act, and breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing.¹

State Farm denies all allegations and says it did not violate any law. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.⁶

When Payments Will Be Sent

The final fairness hearing was held on June 8, 2026, and no class members formally objected. On June 11, 2026, Judge Kea W. Riggs ordered supplemental briefing on the settlement approval motions, so a final approval order had not yet been entered as of the most recent docket activity.⁷ Payments will not be distributed until the court resolves the remaining issues and grants final approval, so file your claim by July 2, 2026 and expect a wait before any check arrives.⁶

1
SchwartzUIMClassSettlement.com. Frequently Asked Questions
2
SchwartzUIMClassSettlement.com. Submit a Claim
3
CaseMine. Schmick v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
4
FORC. Schmick Offsets and Crutcher Disclosure Requirements
5
FindLaw. Crutcher v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
6
SchwartzUIMClassSettlement.com. Settlement Home Page
7
PACER Monitor. Schwartz v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company