FEMA can help California communities recover under the Stafford Act
FEMA can help California communities recover under the Stafford Act

When disaster hits, FEMA can help communities recover under the Stafford Act (Disasterassistance.gov). If a Disaster Declaration is issued, it can be either a Emergency Declaration (to supplement state, local, and tribal government efforts to provide debris removal and emergency protective measures or to lessen/avert…
Preschool and neighbors in San Francisco’s Mission facing major storm damage repairs
Preschool and neighbors in San Francisco’s Mission facing major storm damage repairs

One of the biggest impacts from the pouring rain is now showing up as damage to private property. For a preschool in a residential neighborhood in San Francisco’s Mission District, damage to a retaining wall has left young students without a playground and neighbors without…
Sneaky ways inflation affects your money in 2023
Sneaky ways inflation affects your money in 2023

Here are a few of the less well-known changes this year — some that could hurt your wallet, and others that could help. By now, you’re probably familiar with the more obvious ways inflation affects your finances. Your money doesn’t go as far at the…
Are Home Insurers Abandoning Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change?
Are Home Insurers Abandoning Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change?

The U.S. Department of the Treasury makes an unprecedented move to find out if home insurers are abandoning communities vulnerable to climate change Dozens of environmental and consumer groups are rallying behind the Biden administration’s plan to collect information from property insurance companies to determine…
Bay Area residents dealing with insurance coverage, flooding damages
Bay Area residents dealing with insurance coverage, flooding damages

Ben Marcus is a landlord dealing with storm-related repairs in Oakland who has run into issues finding crews available to clean up damage following the Bay Area’s recent storms. One of Marcus’s apartment units is temporarily unlivable for his tenants. He said the carpets had…
10th Circuit says COVID-19 not a basis for Aspen restaurant’s insurance claim
10th Circuit says COVID-19 not a basis for Aspen restaurant’s insurance claim

COVID-19 did not cause an Aspen restaurant to suffer income losses that entitled it to compensation from its property insurer, the federal appeals court based in Denver ruled on Tuesday. L’Hostaria, a since-closed restaurant, filed suit against The Cincinnati Insurance Company in December 2020, alleging…
Business insurance battle for Covid losses shifts to state high courts
Business insurance battle for Covid losses shifts to state high courts

Every federal appellate court to consider the question so far has ruled that commercial all-risk property insurance policies do not cover income lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but policyholders’ lawyers say the fight is just getting started on the battlegrounds that matter the most:…
Louisiana regulators continue allowing weak insurers to take on risky policies
Louisiana regulators continue allowing weak insurers to take on risky policies

Shaky companies welcomed in the state’s distressed market After four insurers failed in late 2021, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon put the fate of thousands of Louisiana homeowners in the hands of little-known Safepoint Insurance Co. The Florida-based firm took on 30,000 risky policies after three…
A year after the Marshall Fire, homeowners are still slowly piecing together money to rebuild
A year after the Marshall Fire, homeowners are still slowly piecing together money to rebuild

Colleen and Greg Ehrnstrom finally broke ground on the plot where their five-bedroom home once stood in Louisville earlier this month. After a year of dealing with their mortgage company, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, builders, architects, the Colorado Division of Insurance, and, of course,…
Insurance bailout fund crippled by lawsuits, claims as Louisiana policyholders wait for relief
Insurance bailout fund crippled by lawsuits, claims as Louisiana policyholders wait for relief

Debt from collapsed insurers will weigh on LIGA for years If it weren’t for a healthy savings account, Rosanna “Roshi” Mason might still be living in a cramped disaster relief trailer in her front yard with her husband and two kids. Maison Insurance Co. was…
Tis the Season to Get Prepared
Tis the Season to Get Prepared

Need a last minute holiday gift? Give the people you love peace of mind by helping them be financially resilient and prepared. This Give Peace of Mind Gift Catalog is full of free tips to help spark important discussions and actions around disaster preparedness. Whether you are traveling…
Home insurance availability, affordability AND quality is shrinking: States and the Feds must coordinate and take action to protect homeownership in the US
Home insurance availability, affordability AND quality is shrinking: States and the Feds must coordinate and take action to protect homeownership in the US

  We support the Federal Insurance Office in their efforts to gather national data to get a clear picture of how insurers are adapting their operations in response to climate change, and how their actions are impacting property insurance affordability and availability across the nation. …
Maryland Joins 10 State High Courts in Rejecting Coverage for COVID Losses
Maryland Joins 10 State High Courts in Rejecting Coverage for COVID Losses

The Maryland Supreme Court joined high courts in 10 other states in ruling that coronavirus did not cause a direct physical loss or damage covered by an all-risk commercial property policy. The high court on Thursday released a unanimous decision that answered a certified question…
After latest insurance reforms, what rights do policyholders have left?
After latest insurance reforms, what rights do policyholders have left?

Hemorrhaging losses, Florida’s property insurance industry has finally convinced the state Legislature to abolish practices it blames for skyrocketing premiums, carrier failures and plummeting availability of private-market coverage. But while insurers and Republican legislators say the reforms enacted last week will stabilize the private insurance…
Clock ticks on Marshall fire victims’ insurance coverage of living expenses as rebuilding gets started
Clock ticks on Marshall fire victims’ insurance coverage of living expenses as rebuilding gets started

Colorado’s insurance commissioner asks providers to extend coverage ahead of Dec. 30 anniversary Scores of homeowners who lost their houses in the Marshall fire will run out of insurance next week to cover their temporary living expenses while they rebuild, and now Colorado’s insurance commissioner…
2022…it’s a WRAP*
2022…it’s a WRAP*

As another productive work year draws to a close for Team UP, we can celebrate the holidays knowing we’ve helped many people overcome disaster recovery and insurance challenges in 2022 and been an effective champion for consumers on many fronts. Through our work with elected…
More Homeowners Getting Dropped by Insurance Companies Due to Wildfire Risk
More Homeowners Getting Dropped by Insurance Companies Due to Wildfire Risk

Cynthia Marino and Dio Lokes are longtime neighbors in a condominium complex in Pomona. Their homeowners insurance company recently dropped them, and pointed to the hills that surround their condos, and said the fire risk is too high. Marino and Lokes said there haven’t been…
Ain’t no Sunshine When Policyholders’ Leverage is Gone
Ain’t no Sunshine When Policyholders’ Leverage is Gone

It looks like the Florida legislature is about to pass a set of radical amendments that will deprive property owners in the Sunshine State of the power to enforce the laws that give them the right to be treated fairly by insurance companies…and with no…