Volcano Watch: Many forms of sulfur are found on Kilauea Volcano
Volcano Watch: Many forms of sulfur are found on Kilauea Volcano

For many Hawaii residents, interactions with Kilauea Volcano’s eruptions is through vog — a hazy mixture of sulfur dioxide gas and sulfate particles. However, sulfur on Kilauea is not limited to vog components. Sulfur is an exceptional element in that its atoms have a range…
Watts UP: Progress in Puna
Watts UP: Progress in Puna

United Policyholders has been guiding Hawai’i residents on insurance matters since the Kilauea volcano erupted and released burning lava that destroyed homes and neighborhoods in the Puna region of the Big Island. Over 220 people attended the first forum we co-hosted in the area, and…
Foundation announces $470,000 in grants to nonprofits supporting those impacted by fires
Foundation announces $470,000 in grants to nonprofits supporting those impacted by fires

This week, Community Foundation Sonoma County CFSC) announced grants to help people impacted by the fires who are struggling with insurance claims, legal issues and securing the resources they need to recover. These grants are funded through Community Foundation’s Sonoma County Resilience Fund, which was…
Regulators and the Predictive Modeling Challenge
Regulators and the Predictive Modeling Challenge

Big data, predictive models, neural networks — the world of insurance pricing is changing fast, as any actuary can attest. It falls to the regulators — some of them actuaries — to figure out how get the old rules to apply to this new world.…
Impact of Court Ruling Chubb Unit’s Crime Policy Covers ‘Spoofed’ Wire Transfer
Impact of Court Ruling Chubb Unit’s Crime Policy Covers ‘Spoofed’ Wire Transfer

In a closely-watched case on insurance coverage in an age of expanding cyber risk, a federal appeals court in New York has upheld a lower court ruling that a commercial crime insurance policy covers wire transfer losses resulting from a spoofing attack. The ruling is…
Sonoma County foundation gives $500,000 more for wildfire-recovery help with insurance, law
Sonoma County foundation gives $500,000 more for wildfire-recovery help with insurance, law

A Sonoma County nonprofit has announced nearly $500,000 in grants to two area organizations specifically to help victims of the October wildfires deal with the legal and insurance issues related to recovery. Community Foundation Sonoma County said the funding comes through its Sonoma County Resilience…
Postfires reconstruction hums along in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park
Postfires reconstruction hums along in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park

This story originally appeared on PressDemocrat.com. The morning sun had risen nearly to the top of three burned trees when Samuel Garcia began framing the wall for a new home in Coffey Park. The mustachioed Garcia, wearing a soft-brimmed hat and suspenders that held up…
Mind the gap – Fill the holes
Mind the gap – Fill the holes

Any time the topic of insurance catches your attention is a good time to check on yours. Exclusions and high deductibles cause major protection gaps. Once again a UP R2R survey documented that 2/3 of wildfire survivors don’t have enough insurance to pay for their…
Insurance Tips Post-1/9 Debris Flow Montecito Residents Gather for Practical Advice
Insurance Tips Post-1/9 Debris Flow Montecito Residents Gather for Practical Advice

Sixty Montecito property owners who suffered losses during the Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow got practical advice from United Policyholders, a San Francisco–based nonprofit firm whose motto is “Empowering the Insured.” “You’re not the first community to have to go through something like this,”…
Thomas Fire and Debris Flow – Roadmap to Recovery Workshop June 26, 2018
Thomas Fire and Debris Flow – Roadmap to Recovery Workshop June 26, 2018

Our next Roadmap to Recovery workshop for Thomas Fire Survivors will be held on: Tuesday, June 26th from 5:30-7:30pm Montecito Union School Auditorium 385 San Ysidro Rd., Santa Barbara This workshop will cover navigating your insurance claim, asserting your rights, and sources of help. This workshop…
Insurance workshop aims to help those affected by recent disasters.
Insurance workshop aims to help those affected by recent disasters.

MONTECITO, Calif. – A non-profit organization is helping those who are affected by the Montecito mudflow and Thomas fire as they deal with a huge part of recovery. United Policy Holders hosted a workshop Tuesday night at the Montecito Union School. Its goal is to…
Hurricane Season Has Begun. Do You Need Flood Insurance?
Hurricane Season Has Begun. Do You Need Flood Insurance?

New York Times – The Atlantic hurricane season is here, and with it the threat of storm-related flooding. So homeowners may want to buy flood insurance, if they don’t already have coverage. Hurricane season runs from June through November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…
Below the law, below the belt
Below the law, below the belt

Liability insurance is considered such an essential protection in our society that anyone who drives is required by law to buy it in every state except New Hampshire. Renters and homeowners buy it. Businesses buy it. Why? Because accidents happen, people get hurt, property gets…
California Supreme Court Finds Valid Insurance Coverage Claim Even If Employee Intentionally Caused Injury
California Supreme Court Finds Valid Insurance Coverage Claim Even If Employee Intentionally Caused Injury

The California Supreme Court has ruled that when a third party sues an employer for the negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of an employee who intentionally injured that third party, the suit can allege an “occurrence” under the employer’s commercial general liability insurance policy. The…
Hawaii Big Island UPdate
Hawaii Big Island UPdate

SPECIAL ALERT FOR PUNA RESIDENTS: Organizations to host insurance forum for residents affected by lava flows PUNA, HAWAII (HawaiiNewsNow) – As the number of homes lost to lava since eruptions began climbs to 87, many lower Puna residents are uncertain about what — if anything — they’ll have to…
Rebuilding Sonoma County: Sonoma Valley grapples with slow recovery, big housing gap
Rebuilding Sonoma County: Sonoma Valley grapples with slow recovery, big housing gap

Ramona Nicholson was awake late on Oct. 8 listening to the wind blow. Upon hearing that fires had broken out in Napa, she drove from her Sonoma-area house, on the grounds of her family’s Nicholson Ranch Winery, over the hill to Old Sonoma Road to…
Improve disaster recovery through insurance reform
Improve disaster recovery through insurance reform

Insurance funds can and should fuel an individual’s or business’s ability to repair, rebuild, and regain financial health after a disaster. But as our surveys show, these funds don’t always flow as they should. Overly detailed proof requirements, bureaucratic delays, confusing depreciation, and unreasonably short…
Interview: The Fire Rebuild Poll Recently Conducted by United Policyholders and What It Says About the State of the North Bay
Interview: The Fire Rebuild Poll Recently Conducted by United Policyholders and What It Says About the State of the North Bay

Executive director of United Policyholders, Amy Bach, details what was discovered in the Fire Rebuild Poll her organization recently conducted, what surprised her about the results, what homeowners are dealing with as far as getting insurance to pay, the percentage of people reporting that they…