A Fairer California Fair Plan
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…
Is The FAIR Plan unfair at it’s core?
Is The FAIR Plan unfair at it’s core?

Oakland, California – In the wake of increasing non-renewals and outright cancellations, the Insurance Commissioner ordered an independent study of California’s home and business insurer of last resort; the so-called Fair Plan. California’s FAIR Plan, was created by the state legislature more than a half-century…
Sonoma County homeowners jolted with insurance hikes as a result of wildfire risk
Sonoma County homeowners jolted with insurance hikes as a result of wildfire risk

Lesley Muller said her jaw dropped when she got her renewal notice from the carrier that insures her Cloverdale home. The bill increased by $700 annually to $2,200. “When I got it, it shocked me,” said Muller, a retiree whose insurer also covers her family’s…
Smoke Damage Claims – Are insurers properly handling smoke claims and trying to reduce smoke coverage with new policy language? | Property Insurance Law Blog
Smoke Damage Claims – Are insurers properly handling smoke claims and trying to reduce smoke coverage with new policy language? | Property Insurance Law Blog

Smoke damage claims are unique. Proper and safe regulation of smoke losses requires special training. Most policyholders are completely unaware of the dangers posed by smoke. These statements are often forgotten and not reported due to ignorance. United Insurers and his executive director defended policyholders on a special hearing…
If you lost everything, would you remember all of your items? How to make a home inventory.
If you lost everything, would you remember all of your items? How to make a home inventory.

Don’t wait. It sounds overwhelming, but here are some easy ways to do it. Imagine that all your belongings are destroyed in a house fire. Thankfully, you have insurance. But to file a claim and get reimbursed, you have to make a list of everything…
FAIR Plan insurance criticized for expense, lack of coverage in insurance commissioner hearing
FAIR Plan insurance criticized for expense, lack of coverage in insurance commissioner hearing

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) — In California, if no insurance company will sell you a homeowner’s policy, you can get coverage though the California FAIR Plan. This insurer of last resort is a state mandated association run by insurance companies. Plagued with problems, an investigative hearing…
How to File a Homeowners Insurance Claim
How to File a Homeowners Insurance Claim

Filing a home insurance claim in a timely fashion can put money in your pocket faster. Maybe it’s a loud crash overhead. Maybe it’s shattering glass. Maybe it’s a steady drip of water from your kitchen ceiling. Any of these sounds could mean that you…
Can AI Predict If Your House Is Going To Burn To The Ground?
Can AI Predict If Your House Is Going To Burn To The Ground?

As summer fire season looms in California, Zesty.ai is using machine learning to help insurers and homeowners to make realistic risk assessments—and reduce damage to homes and property. Standing on the outskirts of Oakland, California, Attila Toth takes in the nearby forested hills. The CEO…
Marshall Fire Survivors Tell Coloradans What They Need to Know to Protect Themselves
Marshall Fire Survivors Tell Coloradans What They Need to Know to Protect Themselves

Six months after the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history ripped through the Boulder suburbs, we checked in with those who experienced the tragedy. They told us what they’ve learned—and what they think other Centennial Staters should know. It Really Could Happen To You My…
BACH TALK: Whoomp! (there it is)
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…
Breaking through indecision…
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…
Catch UP on Colorado Insurance Consumer Law with Brad Levin
Catch UP on Colorado Insurance Consumer Law with Brad Levin

In this Catch UP segment, long time policyholder Attorney Brad Levin of Levin Sitcoff Waneka shares insights on the laws that govern insurance claims and consumer rights in the State of Colorado, and lawsuit logistics and costs to those who want a remedy for unfair…
Paradise rolls out new wildfire prevention standards available to all California homes
Paradise rolls out new wildfire prevention standards available to all California homes

A Paradise home received the state’s first Wildfire Prepared Home designation, kicking off a new program meant to reduce the damage from wildfires. The newly-constructed home is tucked in the burn scar of the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California’s history, on a road…
Paradise home becomes first in the U.S. to be designated a ‘wildfire-prepared home’
Paradise home becomes first in the U.S. to be designated a ‘wildfire-prepared home’

The designation is certified by the Insurance Institute for Home and Business Safety and provides proof that a homeowner has taken scientifically proven steps to mitigate risk for total loss in a fire. PARADISE, Calif. —As the town of Paradise continues the long rebuilding process…
Catch UP on Public Adjusting with Steve Severaid
Catch UP on Public Adjusting with Steve Severaid

In this Catch UP segment, California Public Adjuster Steve Severaid, President at The Greenspan Co./ Adjusters International (Northern California) sits down with Amy Bach to talk about what a Public Adjuster can and can’t do for you if you have a property loss and want…
Insurance Whirlwind: From Naperville to Willow Springs, Homeowners Fight for Repairs A Year After Tornado
Insurance Whirlwind: From Naperville to Willow Springs, Homeowners Fight for Repairs A Year After Tornado

Nearly a year after a tornado ripped through Chicago suburbs, some homeowners tell NBC 5 they’re still in the eye of a storm with their insurance carriers over repairs. It has been a turbulent year for the residents of Chicago’s southwestern suburbs, as some homeowners…
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…
‘We’re going to run out of cash’: 2017 North Bay fire victims’ trust administrator talks fund gap, public criticism
‘We’re going to run out of cash’: 2017 North Bay fire victims’ trust administrator talks fund gap, public criticism

The Fire Victim Trust has the systems in place to settle the financial claims of long-suffering victims of the 2017 North Bay firestorm and the 2018 Camp Fire by the end of the year — if it only had the money — the fund’s administrator…