Increasingly Unavailable and Unaffordable’: Home Insurance Threatened Amid Wildfire Crisis
Increasingly Unavailable and Unaffordable’: Home Insurance Threatened Amid Wildfire Crisis

David Bevacqua never had trouble insuring a home in California, but he was in for a rude surprise after recently buying a house in Bass Lake, in the Sierra Nevada foothills. “None of the insurance companies would quote me,” he said. “I didn’t know what…
Paperwork, Pain, and the Long Road Back: The Ins and Outs of the Post-Wildfire Insurance Tango
Paperwork, Pain, and the Long Road Back: The Ins and Outs of the Post-Wildfire Insurance Tango

By Ethan Stewart December 10, 2009 In the past 13 months, the foothills above Santa Barbara and Montecito have seen two ferocious fires tear through their countryside. Ravaging storied neighborhoods such as Mountain Drive, Coyote Road, and San Roque Canyon, the Tea and Jesusita fires…
Poizner Hails Recovery From Fires, Says Most Claims Are Resolved
Poizner Hails Recovery From Fires, Says Most Claims Are Resolved

ESCONDIDO — Standing in front of an Escondido home that rose from the ashes of the 2007 wildfires, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said yesterday that the pain of post-fire recovery and rebuilding has finally ended for most of the victims. Poizner, who is running…
UP Press Conference Highlights Ongoing Insurance Claim Problems
UP Press Conference Highlights Ongoing Insurance Claim Problems

“TWICE BURNED” WHAT: 2008 Freeway Complex Fire Survivors from Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills hold press conference as they face one-year fire anniversary to discuss insurance obstacles to rebuilding and call for action WHEN: Friday, November 13, 2009 at 10:00 am WHERE: 475 S. Laureltree…
Wildfire Victims Find Rebuilding Hard
Wildfire Victims Find Rebuilding Hard

First came the fire, jumping the freeway and moving with such ferocity that Brian Stanley and his then-4-year-old son didn’t have time to put on shoes as they ran out of their burning house. The looters came next, combing the ashes for jewelry and valuables,…
2008 Freeway Express Fire Survivor Community Calls For Action As They Face The One Year Fire Anniversary
2008 Freeway Express Fire Survivor Community Calls For Action As They Face The One Year Fire Anniversary

“TWICE BURNED” Press Conference Speakers: Karen Reimus, ’03 Cedar Fire Survivor and Outreach Coordinator for United Policyholders, a nonprofit organization Patrick Craft, ’08 Freeway Complex Fire Survivor – Anaheim Hills Karla Rinskopf, ’08 Freeway Complex Fire Survivor – Yorba Linda Edward Pajarito, ’08 Freeway Complex…
On The Road To Recovery
On The Road To Recovery
’08 Wildfire Victims Insured with AIG Get $$$ Help from CDI and UP
’08 Wildfire Victims Insured with AIG Get $$$ Help from CDI and UP

Survivors to receive an average $100,000 to $125,000 in Additional Coverage Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner today announced that the California Department of Insurance CDI) has secured between $37 million and $46 million in additional coverage from AIG for Sayre Fire survivors in Sylmar. Commissioner Poizner…
California AIG Sylmar Wildfire Survivors To Receive Additional Coverage
California AIG Sylmar Wildfire Survivors To Receive Additional Coverage

The California Department of Insurance CDI) has secured between $37 million and $46 million in additional coverage from AIG for Sayre Fire survivors in Sylmar. Commissioner Poizner was joined by Los Angeles City Councilmember Richard Alarcón; Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders and a…
Disappearing Disability Insurance Fails Family
Disappearing Disability Insurance Fails Family

There’s no question that Jay Thompson is disabled. Three years, at age 44, he developed ALS — Lou Gehrig’s disease. Now he lays immobilized in a hospital bed. So the question is: What happened to his disability insurance? “We believed that it would take care…
Fire Insurance Explained
Fire Insurance Explained

With stories ranging from “My insurance company is just being too good to be true” to “I’ve been with my insurance company for 21 years, never made a claim, just lost my house, and now they’ve cancelled me,” about 50 Jesusita and Tea fire survivors…
For a Yorba Linda family, fighting fire with paperwork
For a Yorba Linda family, fighting fire with paperwork

The wildfire survivor profiled in this Orange County Register article has been attending United Policyholders’ Roadmap to Recovery meetings and was pictured in our spring newsletter receiving her copy of the Disaster Recovery Handbook and Household Inventory Guide. Readers mourned and complained when we ended…
Four Things You Should Know About Your Fire Insurance Claim
Four Things You Should Know About Your Fire Insurance Claim

California’s burning, again; the flames north of Los Angeles, also known as the Station Fire, have already killed two people, and are threatening tens of thousands of homes, causing the governor to declare a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Monterey counties. So of…
Hundreds of insurance lawsuits still pending in MS. at 4th anniversary of Katrina
Hundreds of insurance lawsuits still pending in MS. at 4th anniversary of Katrina

OCEAN SPRINGS — It was just another in the rush of federal suits against Mississippi insurers last August, just before the three-year statute of limitations after Hurricane Katrina expired. Except it wasn’t. Without a lawyer, then-77-year-old Maralou Richards of Ocean Springs filed a handwritten complaint…
Insurance Commissioner Poizner Secures Close to $46 Million in Additional Coverage for AIG Customers Who Suffered Losses in Sylmar Wildfire
Insurance Commissioner Poizner Secures Close to $46 Million in Additional Coverage for AIG Customers Who Suffered Losses in Sylmar Wildfire

Insurance Commissioner Poizner Secures Close to $46 Million in Additional Coverage for AIG Customers Who Suffered Losses in Sylmar Wildfire Survivors to receive an average $100,000 to $125,000 in Additional Coverage Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner today announced that the California Department of Insurance CDI) has…
Long, Difficult Road To Recovery For 2007 Fire Victims
Long, Difficult Road To Recovery For 2007 Fire Victims

Just one third have rebuilt; one half submitted plans for reconstruction Two years after the 2007 firestorm, the path to recovery continues to be slow and arduous for hundreds of San Diego County residents who lost their homes. Only one-third have finished rebuilding. And nearly…
Oakridge park fire victims fight AIG and win with state’s help
Oakridge park fire victims fight AIG and win with state’s help

SYLMAR – Oakridge resident Joanne Nadeau, who lost her mobile home in November’s Sayre Fire, can now rebuild thanks to additional money secured by the state’s Department of Insurance. Instead of getting $165,000 from her AIG insurance policy, Nadeau will receive nearly $300,000. “Now I…
Policyholders limited in how low they can go with contents coverage
Policyholders limited in how low they can go with contents coverage

Keith Brannon has been living a minimalist’s life since Hurricane Katrina. Like many New Orleanians, Brannon dragged the entire contents of his house to the curb when his Broadmoor-Fontainebleau area home flooded and moldered in the storm. He has replaced only the bare essentials. “We…