California's insurance department has launched a formal investigation into State Farm over its handling of claims from the Los Angeles County fires.

The investigation, expected to take months, will allow for a more comprehensive regulatory review, the department said.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said the review will help determine whether State Farm has complied with the state's consumer protection and claims handling laws.

Lara said no one should be left in uncertainty, forced to fight for what they are owed, or face endless delays that often lead consumers to give up.

Survivors of the January fires and lawmakers who represent them had urged the commissioner to open the investigation into the state's largest provider of property insurance.

Pasadena and Altadena residents have complained about delays in payments, being assigned multiple claims adjusters, having to fight to be reimbursed for smoke damage, and more.

Lara said his staff will also investigate inconsistent management of similar claims and poor record-keeping.

State Farm said it is cooperating with the investigation and that it has paid more than $3.96 billion on more than 12,000 claims by its California customers as of June.

The insurance department asks State Farm customers to keep submitting complaints.

Formal investigations by the insurance department have resulted in correcting insurance companies' practices.

Investigations of a handful of insurers, including State Farm, resulted in about $158 million more in claims recovered after the 2015 and 2017 wildfires.

State Farm recently received approval to raise the premiums of its California customers and is seeking additional rate increases.

For CalMatters, I'm Levi Sumagaysay.