By Judd Matsunaga, Esq.
This week, the Beverly Hills Bar Association sponsored a webinar titled “A Guide to Property Damage Claims Following a Natural Disaster.” The webinar was aimed to inform homeowners that by following the 10 immediate steps in making an insurance claim (below), most can handle their claims on their own without needing an attorney.
Every day is now fire season. All of us have reason to be concerned about wildfires. Fire season traditionally runs from May through October, but some now say that fire season is year-round in California, driven in part by climate change. The fire outlook for this year predicts “above normal significant fire potential is forecast for much of California,” according to predictive services for the National Interagency Fire Center.
Even if you were lucky enough to be far from danger when a wildfire strikes, you’ll still need to grapple with the poor air quality that can extend hundreds of miles from the flames. All of us need to protect our lungs. Hopefully, only a few Rafu Shimpo readers have lost their homes. Before I get to the 10 immediate steps that speaks to a “few,” let’s first address something that affects all of us, i.e., breathing in sooty, smoky air.
When the skies turn that eerie shade of orange and ash starts accumulating on car hoods, take these precautions (Source:?www.laist.com, “Every Day Is Now Fire Season,” Jan. 7, 2025):
- Head indoors, and keep doors and windows closed. Ensure vulnerable individuals — the elderly, those with respiratory ailments, children and pregnant women — do the same.
- Limit outdoor activity — Avoid burning candles or using every burner in the kitchen to cook, which all add pollutants to the environment you are trying to keep sealed. This is also not the time to be running on a bedroom treadmill and sucking in big gulps of air.
- Run air purifiers. Dr. Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences with the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, recommends shopping from this list of air purifiers compiled by the California Air Resources Board. (This list is massive. You might want to shop around at your favorite local store first, identify some options that fit your budget, and then check if they’ve made the CARB cut.)
If that list feels overwhelming, here’s another resource that is more modest in size, but also quite helpful: Consumer Reports’ 2023 list of Best Air Purifiers for Wildfire Smoke. ? - Take the time now, before disaster strikes, to have a cache of N95 masks on hand, for their ability to filter out airborne particles. Yes, they can be uncomfortable, Zhu says. But they are absolutely what you want to use when the air is particularly sooty. (KN95s are considered a more comfortable alternative.)
If you are with a group of people who cannot wear these kinds of masks for health reasons, such as asthma, relocating sooner rather than later is probably your best bet.
Next, for some Rafu readers who own their own homes. California case law states that if the property owner is not the insured named on the Declarations page, they may not recover insurance proceeds from an otherwise covered loss (Bonaparte v. Allstate Ins. Co., 9th Circuit, 1994, 486, 489). I do not trust insurance companies and believe they will use any excuse to deny coverage.
Here’s a potential problem — some insurance companies try to “wiggle off” paying a legitimate claim because the homeowner has transferred ownership of their homes into their living trusts. They argue that the “insured” on the policy is not the trust, thereby invalidating the claim.
Therefore, all Rafu readers who own homes that have been transferred into their living trusts should call their insurance agent and obtain an endorsement to their policy, or possibly add the trust as an “additionally insured” on their policy. California Insurance Codes state: “To collect on a homeowners insurance policy, a person must be the named insured and have an insurance interest in the subject matter of the insurance policy” (Sections 280, 281).
Lastly, if you have suffered a loss, the attorneys who presented the insurance webinar for the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) provided the following “10 immediate steps” to help you navigate the claims process. As always, the following is provided for informational purposes only and are not intended as legal advice. Information at the end (in italics) of some of the steps are added from speaker comments:
Step 1. Prioritize safety. Adhere to CalFire evacuation orders. Evacuate early. If you stay longer than you should, you not only put yourself in danger but you make the firefighters’ job much more difficult. They rightfully prioritize human life over property, so they can’t save homes until they have brought all the humans to safety.
Step 2. You should open a claim with your insurance company ASAP. You do not need a lawyer to help you do this. Make sure the insurance company has your current contact information. Get the name of your claims representative, and his/her email. The insurance companies will be inundated and tend to process claims on a first-come, first-served basis. It is better to have the claim open and not need it than to need it and be at the back of the line.
Step 3. In your initial claim conversation with your adjuster, ask for 4 months of living expenses, and 30% of your personal property limits (up to $250,000). Your insurer is required to provide you this under California law. Some displaced homeowners that move in with a family member should execute a “rental agreement” to give to the insurance company.
Step 4. Open a P.O. box and forward your mail to the P.O. box. Use this address until you relocate permanently or move back into your rebuilt home.
Step 5. Call all your utility and service providers (electric, gas, water, TV, land-line phone) and either freeze or cancel service. If you have newspaper or other delivery subscriptions, either cancel or update to P.O. box.
Step 6. First and foremost, remember that you have a contract with your insurance company, and you pay premiums. They are legally required to treat you in good faith and deal with you fairly. Don’t let them forget that. Ask your insurance claims representative for a copy of your entire policy, not just the declarations page. This will show what coverage you have, and what you and the insurer are each required to do under the contract. The law requires your insurance company to provide this to you free of charge within 30 days of your request.
Ask your agent or insurer representative to explain how much coverage you have (1) to rebuild or repair your home, (2) for your personal belongings, and (3) for living expenses.
Step 7. In the immediate days after you evacuate from your home, you will face displacement expenses. Your homeowner’s insurance should cover much of these expenses. Ask your insurance claims representative to tell you the limits of your coverage for additional living expenses/loss of use, including the monetary cap, all the items that can be reimbursed under this coverage, and the time limit.
Save your receipts. Receipts may fade over time. Good idea to take a photo.
Step 8. You do not need a lawyer or a public adjuster at the start of your claim. If you run into problems as your claim is adjusted, retaining a reputable public adjuster may be helpful in pushing back on delays and communication issues. Public adjusters work for and represent insurance claimants. They do charge a fee. Generally, the fee is a percentage of your entire insurance settlement amount, usually 10-25%. Attorneys generally do not handle insurance claims, and their rates will be considerably higher than a public adjuster’s rates.
Consult an attorney if your insurer is seeking to rescind your policy, if your insurer believes your coverage lapsed before the fire, if your insurer declines to pay coverages you believe are covered, or if you believe you are significantly underinsured and either you had previously asked your insurer to confirm the adequacy of the coverage, or you never received a replacement cost estimate from your insurer.
Document all your conversations with your insurer/adjuster about your claim and policy limitations in a dedicated “claim diary.” If your adjuster says something is excluded, limited, or subject to certain conditions, ask the adjuster to point out the specific provision in your policy being cited.
Step 9. If you have not already evacuated but expect to and believe your home will be at risk, do a video walk through of your home. Go room by room and into closets and drawers. In the unfortunate situation that you lose your home, this video will help you create a personal property inventory if your insurer requires it.
Step 10. If your insurer requires that you submit a personal property inventory, you can group your personal property into categories if it is too impractical to list each item individually.
a) Go room by room. Visualize the property that was in each room and check with family and friends about their recollections. Think about what was in the drawers and closets in each room. Do not omit any items, even if you exceed your policy limit. Your insurer may depreciate items, lowering their value.
b) Create a separate list for each room, going back to the room as you recall another item that was in it. If you have access to Excel, creating a separate worksheet for each room, with columns for the item, condition, and value, is an efficient way to create a personal property inventory.
c) Check your email folders and online purchases like Amazon, which may show items you owned, as well as the purchase price and date.
d) Ask family and friends for photos of events at your home that may show the items in your house.
e) Take breaks because thinking about the items you lost will take a toll on you emotionally. Remember, you don’t have to do this all at once.
In conclusion, watch out for scams. The California Department of Insurance has a website,?www.insurance.ca.gov, which says that in the aftermath of wildfires, there’s often an increase in fraudulent activities targeting vulnerable homeowners. The website gives the following tips to protect yourself:
Be Wary of Unsolicited Offers: Be cautious of individuals or companies that approach you unsolicited with offers of assistance.
Verify Credentials: Always check the credentials of any adjuster or contractor before agreeing to work with them.
Don’t Sign Under Pressure: Never sign documents under duress or without fully understanding them.
Be Cautious of Out-of-State Adjusters: Be wary of adjusters who may not be familiar with California’s consumer protection laws.
Finally, if you believe that you are being treated poorly by your insurance company, the California Department of Insurance has an online form that homeowners can use to file complaints. If you would like to contact the Department of Insurance Hotline to file a complaint or ask for help, you can reach them at (800) 927-4357.
Judd Matsunaga, Esq., is the founding partner of the Law Offices of Matsunaga & Associates, specializing in estate/Medi-Cal planning, probate, personal injury and real estate law. With offices in Torrance, Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Pasadena and Fountain Valley, he can be reached at (800) 411-0546. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those ofThe Rafu Shimpo.