March 25, 2018 Wildfire Mitigation & Insurance Project If you take action to make your home less likely to be seriously damaged or destroyed in a wildfire, your insurance company should reward you with a discount on your premium … or at the very least keep you as a customer and not drop…
March 24, 2018 Insurance companies ease inventory requirements for Sonoma County fire victims Kitty Loberg said she could only devote minimal blocks of time to remember all the personal items she lost when the October wildfires destroyed her Redwood Valley home. “When your body is still in a shocked state in trying to deal with the reality of…
March 16, 2018 4 Important Insurance Decisions To Watch For This Spring Insurance companies and policyholders will be keeping an eye out this spring for courts’ guidance on a slew of key insurance issues, including the Florida Supreme Court’s decision on the requirements for holding an insurer liable for bad faith claims handling and a federal court’s…
March 6, 2018 Calif. Justices Set To Tackle Key Liability Insurance Query California’s high court will hear arguments Tuesday in a builder’s lawsuit over its insurer’s refusal to cover allegations that it negligently failed to supervise a former employee who sexually assaulted a middle school student, a case that raises the broader question of whether liability coverage…
February 28, 2018 Northern California wildfire victims learn ‘your insurance company is not your friend’ Four months after a ferocious firestorm devastated communities in California’s wine country, those who lost their homes are still struggling. Animal feeding stations remain on roadsides, monitored by volunteers searching for pets left behind when their owners fled. Cats that had been feared dead continue…
February 26, 2018 Homeowners insurance customers in Oklahoma still paying high rates Residents of the state are still seeing costs that are among the highest in the United States. Property owners in Oklahoma are already paying some of the highest homeowners insurance rates in the country due to the state’s high risk of severe weather such as…
February 14, 2018 Oakland Hills homeowners finding it harder to get fire insurance OAKLAND, Calif. KGO) — Homeowners in the Oakland Hills have joined those in the Wine Country in expressing fears about the increasing difficulties they’ve faced getting fire coverage. It’s part of 7 On Your Side’s continuing investigation into the non-renewal of home insurance policies. As…
January 30, 2018 Insurers should be on the hook for Montecito mudslide damage, commissioner says Montecito residents who are hoping that insurance will cover damage to their homes from recent mudslides received a word of support from an important ally on Monday. California insurance commissioner Dave Jones issued a notice to insurers outlining his office’s position that they should be…
January 30, 2018 It’s unclear if homeowners’ insurance covers mudslide damage Pamela Jameson Boehr and her husband own a home and two rental properties in Montecito. Each site was affected by the devastating mudslides that recently swept through the area. Boehr, 77, told me her personal residence wasn’t significantly damaged, but one of the rental properties,…
January 27, 2018 After losing homes in the Thomas Fire, the next challenge is insurance Carl Zaid wasn’t sure how to tell his wife their house had just burned to the ground, so he did it with the help of a flamingo. Her name was Miss Pink, and she was perched in her usual spot in the front yard the…
January 25, 2018 Advocates guide Napa Valley fire survivors seeking insurance payouts YOUNTVILLE — The North Bay wildfires obliterated homes, belongings and keepsakes within hours or even minutes. But for many survivors, the journey toward repayment for their losses is still in its early days – and advocates for policyholders are hoping to guide some of them…
January 24, 2018 Conversations Around the Fire’ Turns to Insurance Strategies for Resilient Rebuilding Yesterday, we heard a presentation from “Conversations Around the Fire” – an initiative hoping to guide local residents to greener, safer and more just ideas about rebuilding our community. One speaker at the conversation Monday night represented a group that helps answer questions about insurance,…
January 23, 2018 Cleanup and healing after Montecito mudslides According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, only 58 of the some 3,200 homes in Montecito have flood insurance. That means many homeowners will either be getting a lawyer to argue the Thomas Fire caused the mudslides and should be covered by fire insurance, or…
January 22, 2018 Life-Saving Baby Formula Denied By Insurance Company Heather Wiechert was very concerned that her daughter Mia was not growing. At 11 months old, she weighed just 14 pounds. “A mother’s desire to feed her child runs deep,” said Wiechert. Unable to keep food down, Mia started losing weight and ended up in…
January 17, 2018 California lawmakers propose bills to beef up disaster insurance coverage State legislators have introduced a package of bills that would beef up or extend insurance coverage to policyholders following declared disasters, but only one would be retroactive and apply to victims of the recent wildfires. Critics say the bills could drive up insurance premiums and…
January 17, 2018 Safe Houses – Rebuilding in fire zones requires new thinking Tragic losses from the October firestorms are still very fresh in our hearts and minds. Discussions about how to rebuild are difficult and sensitive. Dan Wade of United Policyholders says, “Rebuilding in a fire ecology can present unique challenges in the insurance process. Knowing how…
January 17, 2018 Lawmakers unveil bills to protect wildfire victims Local lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a flurry of bills that would strengthen consumer protections for homeowners in the aftermath of the North Bay wildfires, where local residents have found themselves underinsured and overly burdened attempting to itemize their personal property destroyed in the blazes. “Californians…
January 14, 2018 Gullixson: Having to relive the October fires — one pot at a time It’s hard enough thinking about what things we would, or did, grab when our houses were threatened. It’s another to have to remember everything — every pot, every package of food and every keepsake — that was left behind when our houses were lost. Then…
