Advocacy Win! New Rights for Colorado Insurance Consumers (HB 22-1111)
Advocacy Win! New Rights for Colorado Insurance Consumers (HB 22-1111)

UP is pleased to share the great news that we succeeded in securing new rights for CO insurance consumers that will improve future disaster recovery when Governor Polis today signed CO HB 22-1111 into law. UP was instrumental in the negotiations and testimony that led…
Bars and restaurants lose COVID insurance decision at Wisconsin Supreme Court
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…
Misunderstood California law could protect your home’s fire insurance. How does it work?
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…
The dilemma of property insurance on the Hill
The dilemma of property insurance on the Hill

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) is rolling out new regulations mandating that insurers in the state offer discounts to policyholders who undertake fire hazard mitigation and structure “hardening.” The rules are intended to make decisions about rate and risk more transparent and more tuned…
Taken to the Cleaners: The Importance of Insuring Environmental Pollution Cleanup and How Some Insurers Try to Avoid Coverage
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…
COVID: Year Two UPdate
COVID: Year Two UPdate

Have the conversation…  As businesses across the nation learned the hard way when their pandemic interruption claims were summarily rejected by insurers…one can’t blindly trust paid-for property insurance to come through in the worst of times. Throughout the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began…
Guest Blog: Fire Resistant Building Materials for New Home Construction
Guest Blog: Fire Resistant Building Materials for New Home Construction

With the climate crisis in full effect, it appears that wildfires are on the rise. Especially in states like California, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Montana, and others, wildfires are a huge issue. Every year there are multiple dangerous outbreaks of fire that spread across countries threatening…
Regulators unveil wildfire safety plan. Will it fix rural California’s insurance crisis?
Regulators unveil wildfire safety plan. Will it fix rural California’s insurance crisis?

State regulators rolled out a “Safer from Wildfire” program Monday to encourage rural residents and business owners to gird their properties as a way of fixing the insurance crisis that’s plagued the Sierra foothills and other fire-prone areas of California the past few years. The…
Should wildfire victims get more insurance money up front? Some lawmakers think so.
Should wildfire victims get more insurance money up front? Some lawmakers think so.

When wildfire struck Grand County, Marjorie Cranston and her husband lost their home of 15 years. The loss was hard enough, Cranston said, without spending months scouring her brain to remember every single item lost in the flames. The 2020 East Troublesome Fire destroyed an estimated 366…
Wildfire risk: Marin homeowners face increasing insurance woes
Wildfire risk: Marin homeowners face increasing insurance woes

Marin homeowners are seeing an increase in insurance policy rates and dropped policies in the pandemic era due to wildfire risk. Statewide, a new report from the California Department of Insurance released last month found the number of California homeowners whose policies were not renewed…
National Association of Insurance Commissioners Names 2022 Consumer Liaison Representatives
National Association of Insurance Commissioners Names 2022 Consumer Liaison Representatives

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners issued the following news release: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently named 40 consumer liaison representatives for 2022. The 23 funded and 17 unfunded consumer representatives began their terms January 1. Nineteen of the funded consumer representatives participated in the program in…
“Friends of Court” Take Key Role in COVID Coverage Appeals
“Friends of Court” Take Key Role in COVID Coverage Appeals

‘Friends Of Court’ Take Key Role In COVID Coverage Appeals – Law360
The Wildfire List: 13 Home Improvement Steps to Harden Your Home
The Wildfire List: 13 Home Improvement Steps to Harden Your Home

After a year of work, our WRAP working group issued a list of 13 home improvement steps that we believe should be the official standards for a wildfire prepared home. Here are the 13 recommendations from an array of experts in residential wildfire risk reduction.…
Insurance Commissioner Lara Protects Additional California Wildfire Survivors from Insurance Non-Renewals
Insurance Commissioner Lara Protects Additional California Wildfire Survivors from Insurance Non-Renewals

November 10, 2021 – SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today ordered insurance companies to preserve 209,881 residential property insurance policies held by wildfire survivors included in an October 22 emergency declaration, bringing the total statewide to 618,700 policyholders across 31 counties who have temporary protection from…
Thwarting insurers’ campaign to duck interruption compensation obligations to businesses
Thwarting insurers’ campaign to duck interruption compensation obligations to businesses

Fill in the blank and you’ll understand the public relations campaign the insurance industry uses over and over to maintain record profits by shirking obligations to their premium-paying customers and pass the buck to  taxpayers: “If you make us pay ______ claims we’ll go bankrupt.” …
The shrubs across the street nearly cost him his home insurance
The shrubs across the street nearly cost him his home insurance

It’s not yet common, but in high-risk fire neighborhoods, Berkeley Hills residents may find that keeping their home insurance depends on how well their neighbors prune their property. At the end of August, wildfire prevention advocate Dan Grassetti opened a letter from Allstate, his home’s…
‘Almost everyone is getting screwed’: After climate disasters, homeowners find their battle with insurers is just beginning
‘Almost everyone is getting screwed’: After climate disasters, homeowners find their battle with insurers is just beginning

[Please note the complete article is behind a paywall.]   A grant from the NIHCM Foundation helped fund reporting for this story. Even against the backdrop of the past 18 months, and epic levels of American suffering, John and Jodi Philipp have had a rough…
Some California homeowners in fire-prone areas face steep insurance increase
Some California homeowners in fire-prone areas face steep insurance increase

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Across the state, homeowners are preparing for what could be another long wildfire season. Last year broke records for fires in the state, with more than four million acres burned, and this year has already seen hundreds more fires than the…