Los Angeles Wildfire Victims Attorney

As the Eaton and Palisades fires have destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles County and caused numerous deaths, tens of thousands of residents suddenly find themselves homeless. In a city already struggling with housing shortages, this will present a real challenge for both the displaced residents and the county, city, and state. Many people have suffered complete property loss or significant damage from the wildfires.

Compounding the problems, major insurers like State Farm, Allstate, and Farmer’s Insurance dropped many homeowners’ policies in the hardest-hit regions before the fires broke out. Many people have been left with little choice other than to turn to the state’s insurer of last resort, the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan (FAIR Plan), or a lesser-known but more expensive insurance company policy. Some homeowners chose to forego insurance after being dropped and are now struggling with what to do now that they’ve lost everything.

The wildfire attorneys at the Los Angeles law firm of Steven M. Sweat, Personal Injury Lawyers, APC are ready to fight for your rights to recover compensation for your losses. Whether you lost everything or suffered some property damage, we can help you identify potential recovery sources and work to recover the compensation you deserve. Even if you have insurance, it’s important to retain competent legal representatives to advocate for you with your insurance company. Unfortunately, history has demonstrated how aggressively insurers fight against wildfire claims, and you need to have someone advocating for you who understands their common tactics and how to fight against them.

Common Insurance Company Tactics

Insurance companies are for-profit corporations that sell policies to consumers. Homeowners and renters purchase policies and pay monthly or annual premiums to keep their coverage. In exchange, the insurance companies agree to cover the policy’s terms.

When an insurance company has to pay out on a fire claim, it doesn’t make any money. However, it is legally required to process claims in good faith. When you file a claim against your homeowners’ or renter’s insurance policy following a loss from the Eaton or Palisades Fires, your insurer will likely send a claims adjuster and use investigators to investigate your claim and the value of your losses.

Since insurance companies are in business to make profits, they commonly try to limit how much they might be forced to pay out by engaging in several tactics. One of these tactics is to provide an early low-ball offer for significantly less than the claim’s actual worth. For example, if your home was insured for $500,000 and was a total loss in the Eaton Fire, your insurance company might send an offer for $100,000 (or even less).

Insurance companies make low-ball offers for a couple of reasons. First, a low-ball offer might make the individual believe their claim isn’t worth as much as it is. Second, insurance companies know that people who have lost everything might be tempted to accept an unreasonably low offer just to get back on their feet.

If your insurer responds to your claim with an unreasonably low offer, your attorney will help you prove the claimed amount by gathering evidence. They will also carefully review the language in your insurance policy and how it applies to your case to negotiate with the company for a fair amount.

Understanding Insurance Bad Faith

Insurance companies are legally required to handle claims fairly and to be honest when they deal with their insureds. They must process claims this way even if they will lose money. Unfortunately, some insurance companies engage in bad faith insurance practices to reduce their claims and minimize how much they might have to pay out, including:

• Lying about what the policy does and does not cover
• Making other misrepresentations to claimants
• Manipulating or covering up their investigators’ findings
• Unreasonably delaying claims
• Denying claims without a valid reason

If you believe your insurance company is engaging in bad faith practices and only trying to deny or reduce your claim instead of honoring your policy’s terms, contact a wildfire attorney at the law firm of Steven M. Sweat, Personal Injury Lawyers, APC. In some cases, insurance companies will begin to act properly after they’ve been contacted by an experienced plaintiff’s wildfire lawyer. Our attorneys are prepared to fight for your interests and ensure you receive the compensation amount you deserve.

Potential Defendants

While the causes of the Eaton and Palisades fires haven’t been definitively determined, early evidence implicates Southern California Edison and the City of Los Angeles as potential contributors. Southern California Edison is supposed to de-energize electrical lines in dangerous conditions to prevent them from causing sparks when they contact trees or limbs. The utility filed reports with the Public Utility Commission that some plaintiffs’ attorneys who have reviewed them indicate the company failed to de-energize electrical lines running west into Altadena. This was despite the windspeed’s direction of the high-speed Santa Ana winds that caused so much destruction in the city with the Eaton Fire.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys are also evaluating the actions and inactions of the city of Los Angeles, including its failure to have enough water available to fight the fires, the potential of a downed power line operated by the Los Angeles Water & Power District contributing to the fires, the slashing of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget by more than $17 million, and poor placement of the department’s fire stations.

Potential Losses and What to Know

It is common for homeowners who experience a large, total loss in a wildfire to discover they are underinsured. Being underinsured means that your coverage is not enough to cover your losses and can be caused by policy limits that are too low, exclusions that result in coverage gaps, and sky-high deductibles.

At the same time, the California Supreme Court upheld a state regulation that requires insurers to provide accurate replacement cost values to their insureds when they sell them insurance policies. This means that if you find your coverage limits are too low to cover your costs, you are underinsured. If your insurance company failed to provide you with accurate replacement cost estimates for your home when you purchased your policy, you might be able to get your insurance company to pay you more than your policy’s limits through negotiations and settlement with the help of an experienced wildfire attorney.

You should also be aware of other insurance issues that can arise when you suffer a partial loss, including:

• Hidden damage from smoke, ash, water, and mold
• Air quality and duct issues
• Extreme heat damage
• Fire retardant damage

When you have repairs completed, they should return your home to a consistent and uniform appearance even if that requires the insurer to pay for replacing some items that weren’t damaged. Insurers have a legal duty to investigate all damage, which includes hidden damage. Since smoke and extreme heat can also contaminate soil and kill vegetation, it’s a good idea to keep your claim open and file supplemental claims if you notice these types of damage in the coming months.

Choose an Experienced Wildfire Attorney

Following a wildfire, you might suffer significant losses. Some of the types of losses fire victims might suffer include all of the following:

• Property damage or total loss
• Lost income
• Physical injuries
• Emotional anguish/psychological trauma
• Wrongful death
• Evacuation costs
• Other losses

Our attorneys understand the types of losses you might suffer following a fire and will do everything possible to help you recover all of the compensation you deserve.

We operate on a contingent fee basis, which means you won’t have to pay anything for your attorney’s fees until and unless we recover compensation for you. We can also help you file applications with FEMA and the state for emergency help and will work with you to find housing and other types of aid. To learn more about how we can help you, contact our wildfire attorneys at the law firm of Steven M. Sweat, Personal Injury Lawyers, APC today by calling us at 866.966.5240 for a free consultation.

Resources for Fire Victims

State Bar of California: Legal Help After a Disaster