California has certainly seen its share of fires in the past few years. Like the previous fires, the damage to land and homes from the recent fires around Los Angeles has been extensive. Homeowners needing to rebuild and repair are looking to their insurance companies to come through in their time of need - and to treat them fairly. Unfortunately, many times they don't.

California bad faith practices & Malibu fires

According to Bob Scott, a partner with the Advocate Law Group who has also practiced law in the insurance industry for over 30 years, he's already filed a couple of the Malibu fire cases this week pursuant to the California Fair Plan. He explained, "Each state has a Fair Plan which insures the primary coverage. They were sold with a wrap around of a commercial carrier putting a second layer on top of that coverage. So for example, if a house was worth $1,000,000, the Fair Plan would insure $500,000 and some other well-recognized big insurer would provide homeowner wrap around coverage for another $500,000, up to $1,000,000."

However, he says that there's been a real issue with this after the 1991 fires in California and that the companies did an adequate job of advising their insureds that they intend to change that wrap around and take away existing coverage. He continued, "It's our position that they have not done so and it's pretty hard to characterize that as anything other than fire coverage. The policies actually showed a line for Schedule A or for Coverage A, it showed an amount for the dwelling and it showed a premium. So again, it's pretty hard to say those aren't a reasonable expectation of insurance by an insured."

California's fire season - getting longer

California's fire season used to start at the beginning of summer and run through the rainy season. It would usually end in October or November and then the rain would come, according to Scott. He says that's not true anymore. "There's so much overgrowth in the forest because we haven't had the normal and natural burns and there's so much encroachment of new housing into otherwise forested or rural areas that the net effect has been that when the fires hit, they burn. In fact, they burned right through a trailer park of 500 trailers without even slowing down because when you get those winds and you have the encroaching big brush, it burns as fast as it can burn."

"In late November of this year, we had very high wind, high temperatures and dry climate conditions. That spawned two or three big fires in one day. One of them burned out of control right across three major freeways. So, fire has become a common enemy to us in California essentially all twelve months out of the year."

Unfortunately, more fires mean more insurance claims and more hassles for homeowners. If your homeowners' insurance company has denied your valid homeowners' claim or is not treating you fairly or in good faith, contact Bob Scott at the Advocate Law Group to discuss your situation and evaluate your options. Consultations are free, without obligation and are strictly confidential.

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