January 30, 2023 Catch UP on water and mold damage with Kris Griffith In this Catch UP segment, restoration and remediation contractor Kristofer Griffith of Anderson Group International shares insights on water and mold damage repairs and insurance.
January 24, 2023 Businesses and Residents Hope for Post-Storm Relief Costs continue to add up even with assistance from FEMA and flood insurance When Watsonville resident Amy Thomas reached out to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for help, she had already paid thousands of dollars to repair damages caused by a spate of recent…
January 20, 2023 Video: Why few California homeowners have flood insurance Something doesn’t compute. Some 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow has fallen in California since Christmas. Yet, only about 2% of properties are covered against flooding, according to the Associated Press. Thats means only 230,000 homes and other buildings have flood insurance policies, which…
January 11, 2023 FEMA can help California communities recover under the Stafford Act When disaster hits, FEMA can help communities recover under the Stafford Act (Disasterassistance.gov). If a Disaster Declaration is issued, it can be either a Emergency Declaration (to supplement state, local, and tribal government efforts to provide debris removal and emergency protective measures or to lessen/avert…
December 12, 2022 Ain’t no Sunshine When Policyholders’ Leverage is Gone It looks like the Florida legislature is about to pass a set of radical amendments that will deprive property owners in the Sunshine State of the power to enforce the laws that give them the right to be treated fairly by insurance companies…and with no…
October 4, 2022 Who can home and business owners impacted by Hurricane Ian trust? The amount of destruction, dislocation and loss of life caused by Hurricane Ian is still being calculated, but it’s horrendous, record-breaking and very sad. Wind damage is bad enough, but when combined with water, repairs are challenging and drying out is essential. Qualified and reputable…
September 9, 2022 Guest Blog: Florida Joins the Reinsurance Business As Florida residents, we learn to expect rain on our parade. But Florida policyholders are enduring rising insurance premiums and a drought in available insurance while lawmakers deliver mixed results. Why is this happening? REINSURANCE An insurance rating company, Demotech Inc., recently reviewed Florida’s legislative…
August 11, 2022 Guest Blog: Mobile Inspections for Property Claims When most people file a property claim with their insurer, their insurance company will typically send out an insurance company employee (staff adjuster or claims representative) or a 3rd party insurance company representative (independent adjuster, or other representative), to perform an initial damage inspection. While…
July 20, 2022 BACH TALK: A Fairer California Fair Plan State and Federal public officials have protected homeowners by creating insurers of last resort that people can turn to when they’re unable to find a company willing to insure their property. Well known examples are Florida and Louisiana Citizens Insurance Corporations, the National Flood Insurance…
July 5, 2022 BACH TALK: Whoomp! (there it is) In a recent blog, a Texas lawyer revealed an industry secret that is common knowledge to policyholder advocates and claimants but rarely publicly revealed or admitted by insurers: By dragging out claims and failing to timely pay benefits owed, insurers can pressure policyholders to accept…
June 29, 2022 Breaking through indecision… When you’re under stress and need to make major decisions, it can be paralyzing. After Don and Lee Lehrman lost their home to a wildfire, they used a “forced-choice decision matrix” to decide how to replace it. You make a list of your wants, then…
June 1, 2022 Bars and restaurants lose COVID insurance decision at Wisconsin Supreme Court Bars and restaurants that counted on business insurance to help cover major losses from 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns are out of luck, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has found. To the layperson, the forced closures due to the pandemic would seem to meet the definition of a…
May 31, 2022 Misunderstood California law could protect your home’s fire insurance. How does it work? Your insurance company may be required to maintain your fire coverage if you live in a high-risk area in California — but the law that protects your home can be misinterpreted, as was the case for a Shasta Valley resident after she received a premature…
May 9, 2022 Waiting On Wheels? Call Kurtis Investigates How Supply Chain Issues Are Impacting Car Repairs ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — After waiting five months to get a new gas tank, a Roseville viewer called Kurtis to investigate cars that aren’t getting fixed because of supply chain issues. Vicki Robinson was out to dinner in Roseville last November when a thief drilled a…
May 6, 2022 Mind the Gap This is your friendly reminder that earthquake damage is NOT covered by your home or renters insurance policy unless you’ve paid extra for that protection. UP keeps tabs on earthquake insurance options and we recently moderated a National “Mind the Gap” Earthquake Insurance Forum in…
May 4, 2022 Two-Thirds of Homeowners Underinsured for Wildfire Loss Regulators, insurers & advocates work to close gap in wildfire loss coverage By: ELIZABETH FESTA As wildfires continue to grow in size and expense while ravaging or threatening residential areas, insurers and policy advocates are warning that roughly two-thirds of homes are underinsured. This means…
April 12, 2022 Taken to the Cleaners: The Importance of Insuring Environmental Pollution Cleanup and How Some Insurers Try to Avoid Coverage Accidental environmental pollution is virtually unavoidable in our industrialized society, and insurance coverage for liabilities and cleanup plays a critical role in the economic and environmental health of the country. Small, medium, and large businesses throughout the United States rely on their insurers to help…
April 12, 2022 Small home fixes can have a big impact on safety By Liz Weston of Nerdwallet | AP If it ain’t broke, maybe you should fix it anyway. That’s the message consumer advocates and insurance experts want you to hear about your home’s hidden dangers. Too often, they say, people put off relatively inexpensive repairs or improvements that could…
