“It’s a victory for consumers that State Farm will have to make its case in a public hearing before an administrative law judge, and the judge will decide if a rate hike is justified,” said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog. The outspoken pressure group may well have been responsible, at least in part, for the exodus of insurers from the state, given its loud cries of outrage every time the industry has tried to raise permiums to cover escalating costs.