Your insurance company knows more about you than Facebook
Your insurance company knows more about you than Facebook

Congress may have forced Mark Zuckerberg to reveal more about personal data gathered on Facebook FB). But consider this: Your insurance company likely knows a lot more about you. Insurers’ cache of private information includes credit reports, the market value of your home, age, marital…
Business groups urge high court hearing for Opry Mills flood dispute
Business groups urge high court hearing for Opry Mills flood dispute

Appeals court earlier this year slashed mall’s insurance payout by $150M Industry groups and prominent Tennessee businesses are urging the Tennessee Supreme Court to take up Opry Mills Mall owner Simon Property Group’s appeal of a lower court decision that cut its insurance payout for…
Many questions, resources at fire loss meeting
Many questions, resources at fire loss meeting

Welcome, everybody,” Susan Gorin said. “I’m sorry you’re here.” The county’s First District Supervisor addressed 30-plus residents who attended a town hall meeting at the Kenwood Depot on a chilly, rainy Thursday evening, April 11. Gorin had assembled county and private experts to talk about…
Transformed by October fires, Sonoma County takes stock, bracing for ‘a learning year’
Transformed by October fires, Sonoma County takes stock, bracing for ‘a learning year’

Two sisters. Two paths to recovery. Susan Komar and Lynn Van Fleit each lost a home last fall when the Tubbs fire ravaged northern Santa Rosa. Six months later, Komar and her husband, Chris, said they plan this year to start rebuilding their home in…
Homeowners struggle to rebuild six months after devastating wildfires
Homeowners struggle to rebuild six months after devastating wildfires

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Retired Air Force combat fighter pilot Scott Rooks and retired military medic Laney Wall lost their home in Santa Rosa to the firestorm. When they bought their home, 4 years ago, Rooks said he wanted more insurance than USAA, an insurance…
The Results Are In…
The Results Are In…

The bad news: Inadequate insurance and loss valuation disputes are slowing recovery from the devastating 2017 wildfires in Northern CA, according to UP’s most recent Roadmap to Recovery survey. A full 6 months after losing their homes, 80% of survey respondents have NOT settled the…
Editorial: The heartbreaking reason why many victims won’t rebuild
Editorial: The heartbreaking reason why many victims won’t rebuild

For many homeowners, the full extent of the devastation from the October fires is still unfolding — on their calculators. As Staff Writer Bill Swindell spelled out in his front-page story a week ago “Painful insurance reality,” Sunday), the number of people in Sonoma County…
Insurance shortfalls hamper Sonoma County fire victims’ ability to rebuild
Insurance shortfalls hamper Sonoma County fire victims’ ability to rebuild

Josh Nix thought he was doing everything right in August when he renewed the insurance policy for his Mark West area home just east of Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Nix answered the questions posed by his carrier, USAA, in an online form used…
Wildfire Mitigation & Insurance Project
Wildfire Mitigation & Insurance Project

If you take action to make your home less likely to be seriously damaged or destroyed in a wildfire, your insurance company should reward you with a discount on your premium … or at the very least keep you as a customer and not drop…
Mandatory arbitration, common foe of car buyers, bank customers and porn stars, under attack
Mandatory arbitration, common foe of car buyers, bank customers and porn stars, under attack

Mandatory arbitration, common foe of car buyers, bank customers and porn stars, under attack By L.M. Sixel March 22, 2018 0 Photo: SCOTT MCINTYRE, STR / NYT IMAGE 1 OF 5 Some auto dealers are opting out of mandatory arbitration, finding that the courts offer…
Insurance companies ease inventory requirements for Sonoma County fire victims
Insurance companies ease inventory requirements for Sonoma County fire victims

Kitty Loberg said she could only devote minimal blocks of time to remember all the personal items she lost when the October wildfires destroyed her Redwood Valley home. “When your body is still in a shocked state in trying to deal with the reality of…
NFIP Reforms Implemented by FEMA, March 2018
NFIP Reforms Implemented by FEMA, March 2018

AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Federal Emergency Management Agency announces the Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Assistance/Subsidy Arrangement for private property insurers interested in participating in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Write Your Own Program. DATES: Interested insurers must submit intent…
While Congress kicks it down the road, FEMA implements it’s own NFIP reforms
While Congress kicks it down the road, FEMA implements it’s own NFIP reforms

Congress has again reauthorized, not reformed the National Flood Insurance Program in another in a series of short-term extensions that began in September, 2017 when the program expired. FEMA instituted some reforms of it’s own via the agency notice/rulemaking process and will be accepting public…
4 Important Insurance Decisions To Watch For This Spring
4 Important Insurance Decisions To Watch For This Spring

Insurance companies and policyholders will be keeping an eye out this spring for courts’ guidance on a slew of key insurance issues, including the Florida Supreme Court’s decision on the requirements for holding an insurer liable for bad faith claims handling and a federal court’s…
2017 North Bay Wildfire Recovery Survey is underway
2017 North Bay Wildfire Recovery Survey is underway

ATTENTION HOUSEHOLDS IMPACTED BY THE 2017 WILDFIRES IN THE NORTH BAY, CALIFORNIA: Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey.  The purpose is to gather information about insurance and recovery, progress and problems.  The information we collect through this survey will help our…
Calif. Justices Set To Tackle Key Liability Insurance Query
Calif. Justices Set To Tackle Key Liability Insurance Query

California’s high court will hear arguments Tuesday in a builder’s lawsuit over its insurer’s refusal to cover allegations that it negligently failed to supervise a former employee who sexually assaulted a middle school student, a case that raises the broader question of whether liability coverage…
Bach Talk: Impressive stats on the value of investing in mitigation
Bach Talk: Impressive stats on the value of investing in mitigation

According to recently released findings of the National Institute of Building Science, 23 years of federal mitigation grants provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Economic Development Administration (EDA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), resulted in a national benefit of $6 for every $1…
Northern California wildfire victims learn ‘your insurance company is not your friend’
Northern California wildfire victims learn ‘your insurance company is not your friend’

Four months after a ferocious firestorm devastated communities in California’s wine country, those who lost their homes are still struggling. Animal feeding stations remain on roadsides, monitored by volunteers searching for pets left behind when their owners fled. Cats that had been feared dead continue…