I love the feeling of when attorneys in our law firm are becoming masters of something better than me. Our policyholder clients and referral sources get better service than any other law firm because we share information, ideas, and methods for full recovery focusing on one area of law—first-party property insurance claims. Other law firms simply do not have the ability or inclination to invest time and money. We become subject matter experts and better than we could if we were not in our firm.
One great aspect of good conferences is the high quality of the audience. At yesterday’s First Party Claims Conference West, insurance claims expert Sandra Moriarity was in the audience. She commented that California law places insurance companies on the hook when they suggest or recommend contractors to do repair work.
The First Party Claims Conference West is underway. One of California’s premier property insurance attorneys, Joel Gumbiner, is discussing the topic of causation and concurrent causation in California.
Continue Reading Concurrent and Proximate Cause of Loss in California
The California Department of Insurance just provided its 2023 Annual Notice of the most significant laws pertaining to residential property insurance policies. The notice starts with the following introduction, which warns insurers that they must provide the notice to claimants suffering from a declared state of emergency:
Beginning January 1, 2023, public adjusters in California, and other insurance professionals required to be licensed in the state, must include their license numbers on emails involving “an activity for which a license is required.” This will allow consumers to easily confirm that the representative they are dealing with maintains an active license with the California Department of Insurance.
If you own a condo in California, it’s a safe bet you are not covered against damage caused by an earthquake (“EQ”). EQ damage is typically an excluded peril under HO-6 and similar condo policies. EQ coverage is required to be offered, but only about 15% of condo owners choose to pay an additional premium to cover this peril despite reports1 that within the next 30 years, there is (1) over a 99% chance that one or more M6.7 or greater EQs will strike somewhere in California; (2) a 75% chance one or more M7.0 or greater EQs will strike Southern California; and (3) a 76% chance one or more M7.0 or greater EQs will strike Northern California.
Continue Reading Make Sure Your California Condominium Is Covered Against Earthquake Damage
Stemming from the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, insurance is regulated by the states. Knowing variations of the law and regulations is a necessity for insurance professionals crossing state lines. These state-by-state variations in law include the basics, such as determining replacement cost and actual cash value.
Continue Reading Calculating Actual Cash Value and Depreciation in California
In this installment of Know the Regs to Use the Regs, we examine additional excerpts from the California Code of Regulations’ Fair Claims Settlement Practices, Sections 2695.4 and 2695. To read more about California Code of Regulations 2695.7 in a past blog, click here, and for California Code of Regulations 2695.9, click here.
Continue Reading Know the Regs to Use the Regs – a look at California Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations (10 CCR 2695.4 and 10 CCR 2695.5)
This blog follows up last month’s “Know the Regs to Use the Regs” on 10 CCR 2695.9. The purpose is the same – one of the most impactful, if not the most impactful course of action a policyholder or policyholder advocate can take to add value to a claim is knowing and enforcing your legal rights.
Continue Reading Know the Regs to Use the Regs – a look at California Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations (10 CCR 2695.7)
We’ve all heard some iteration of the phrase, “knowledge is power.” No matter what source you attribute the quote, its application in the first-party insurance context holds true. One of the most impactful, if not the most impactful course of action a policyholder or policyholder advocate can take to add value to a claim is knowing and enforcing your legal rights. To be clear, to “add value” means to maximize payment of policy benefits owed in the most efficient manner possible, and to “enforce” means to speak up when you are being treated to the contrary, or at the onset of a claim to remind an insurer of its obligations to you. While it is important to know your rights when dealing with in-state insurance adjusters, out-of-state adjusters may pose a higher risk of being unfamiliar with your state’s rules and guidelines, especially following widespread and catastrophic disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes.
Continue Reading Know the Regs to Use the Regs – a look at California Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations (10 CCR 2695.9)