Upfront: Fair Questions
Upfront: Fair Questions

High-risk fire insurance pool grapples with new normal of urban wildfires Homeowners insurance is not mandated by the state of California, but is a requirement for anyone who wants to get a home mortgage from a bank. As the historic North Bay fires are brought…
Public adjusters can help consumers with fire claims, but tread cautiously
Public adjusters can help consumers with fire claims, but tread cautiously

People who lost homes in the Wine Country fires might be approached by public adjusters offering to represent them in their insurance claims. While some disaster victims have had good experiences with public adjusters, consumer advocates and the California Department of Insurance warn against rushing…
Be Prepared to Push Insurance Companies for Fair Treatment After Hurricane Harvey, UP Advises
Be Prepared to Push Insurance Companies for Fair Treatment After Hurricane Harvey, UP Advises

United Policyholders Offers Texans Free Home Inventory App, Provides Guidance to Residents for Before and After the Storm As Gulf Coast communities brace for Hurricane Harvey, the national insurance consumer non-profit United Policyholders UP) has a special message for Texans: “Be prepared to push for…
Insurers must pay even if home damage exceeds property value
Insurers must pay even if home damage exceeds property value

Insured homeowners in California whose homes have been badly damaged, but not destroyed, are entitled to coverage for the cost of repairing them, even if that cost far exceeds the property’s market value, under a ruling that has now become final. The state Supreme Court…
Delaware Governor Carney Signs Insurance Consumer Fairness Bill
Delaware Governor Carney Signs Insurance Consumer Fairness Bill

On Tuesday, August 1, 2017, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law House Substitute 1 for House Bill 80 (HS 1 for HB 80), a consumer fairness bill that targets unfair discriminatory practices by automobile and homeowners insurance companies to determine premium costs. “Insurance rates…
Minnesota Insurance Commissioner Acts to Protect Drivers from Unfair Auto Insurance Prices
Minnesota Insurance Commissioner Acts to Protect Drivers from Unfair Auto Insurance Prices

Insurance giant Farmers has been ordered to refund money, pay a penalty, and change its pricing practices in Minnesota by Insurance Commissioner Mike Rothman after the state’s Commerce Department found that the company charged higher auto insurance premiums to drivers who did not own their…
This family lost everything in one of California’s worst wildfires. Now, they’re almost home
This family lost everything in one of California’s worst wildfires. Now, they’re almost home

COBB MOUNTAIN The wooded path between Maya Leonard’s house and the elementary school where she is a sixth-grader remains scarred and blackened, a reminder of the epic wildfire that stole so much from this community on a September afternoon in 2015. But as she has…
Delaware Ranks High Among States for Homeowners’ Insurance Protections
Delaware Ranks High Among States for Homeowners’ Insurance Protections

Dover, DE – Delaware homeowners are among the most protected in the nation against having their homeowners insurance non-renewed or rates raised due to filing or even inquiring about a claim. This is according to a recent study by the Rutgers Center for Risk and…
Texas Senate Bill 10 Would Adversely Affect All Insureds
Texas Senate Bill 10 Would Adversely Affect All Insureds

All Texas businesses should be concerned about the potential passage of Senate Bill 10 (SB 10). While several lawmakers tout SB 10 as tailored legislation to curb “hailstorm lawsuit abuse,” SB 10 is much broader and impacts all policyholders. Indeed, SB 10 fails to reference…
Fire Safe Council gathering data on homeowner’s insurance – Take the survey
Fire Safe Council gathering data on homeowner’s insurance – Take the survey

NEVADA CITY, Calif. March 15, 2017 – The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County FSCNC) is participating in the State’s Tree Mortality Task Force. Our local group is looking to gather data to make a case that insurance companies are not following state law when…
ConsumerWatch Weekend: Flood Insurance
ConsumerWatch Weekend: Flood Insurance

Consumer reporter Julie Watts spoke with Emily Rogan, with consumer advocacy group United Policyholders, about resources available to flood victims without insurance.
Help with flood insurance claims
Help with flood insurance claims

There are things you can do to make life easier when it’s time to file your insurance claims. We talked to the consumer advocacy group, United Policyholders and they said you should take pictures before and after the evacuation, document how much water entered your…
Press Release: United Policyholders Praises California Supreme Court Decision That Will Help Underinsured Wildfire Victims
Press Release: United Policyholders Praises California Supreme Court Decision That Will Help Underinsured Wildfire Victims

Insurance Companies now held to higher standard for setting homeowners policy limits; Court finds Insurance Commissioner has authority to regulate replacement cost estimates SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 23, 2017 – United Policyholders (UP), a nonprofit insurance consumer organization, today praised a California Supreme Court…
Consumer Watchdog collects millions, but does it lower your insurance rates?
Consumer Watchdog collects millions, but does it lower your insurance rates?

Nearly 30 years ago, consumer activist Harvey Rosenfield wrote and helped qualify Proposition 103, the November 1988 ballot measure that overhauled state regulation of home and auto insurance rates. The initiative, dubbed by supporters as the “Voter Revolt to Cut Insurance Rates,” also contained a…
Florida Supreme Court rejects shift in insurance claims law
Florida Supreme Court rejects shift in insurance claims law

The Florida Supreme Court has overturned a lower-court ruling that would have made it harder for policyholders to collect on insurance policies when there is more than one cause for their losses. At issue in Sebo v. American Home Assurance Co. was competing doctrines for…
Court rules against insurer in property damage fight
Court rules against insurer in property damage fight

In a case watched by insurance-industry groups, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against an insurer in a dispute about paying for damage to a multimillion-dollar Naples home that had to be demolished after a combination of construction defects and water intrusion. The case…
Window Maker Gets Support In Coverage Battle At 7th Circ.
Window Maker Gets Support In Coverage Battle At 7th Circ.

Nonprofit policyholder advocacy group United Policyholders on Tuesday asked the Seventh Circuit to order two insurers to cover window maker Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork Co. Inc.’s costs to defend a class action over defective windows, arguing that the lower court’s ruling is contrary to Wisconsin…
Oakland hills My Word: Preventing repeat of 1991 fire begins with you
Oakland hills My Word: Preventing repeat of 1991 fire begins with you

This month — Thursday of this week to be exact — is the 25th anniversary of the Oakland/Berkeley hills firestorm. Many of you were here that day. Some of you — like my husband and me — escaped the flames with just the clothes on…