Insurance Steps Following Los Angeles-Area Wildfires

The January 2025 Palisades, Altadena/Pasadena, and other wildfires in the Los Angeles area have fundamentally altered the lives of our clients, colleagues, friends, and family members, causing destruction and damage to homes, businesses, vehicles, educational and religious institutions, community centers, and other property. Affected people and businesses will be relying on their insurance companies to pay their loss and help them rebuild their lives. Insurance companies may respond to the wave of claims by looking for ways to deny and/or limit coverage.

In the aftermath of the fires, many policyholders may be unfamiliar with the first steps to consider taking from a best practices perspective after suffering a loss like this. A non-exhaustive list of initial steps to consider is as follows:

• Put your insurance company on notice immediately of any claim or potential claim related to fire damage, such as from the Palisades fire. Depending on what has been damaged (i.e., structures or vehicles), multiple policies and insurers may be implicated. It is common to give notice of your loss through your insurance broker and/or agent.
• Take time to locate and review complete copies of your insurance policies now. They may be available through your agent or broker or on the insurer’s website.
• Review all applicable coverage and consider discussing with your broker or with insurance coverage counsel to understand the policy benefits to which you are entitled.
• To the extent possible and once safe to do so, document all loss and damage from the fire, including both photos and videos. Preserve documentary evidence necessary to support your insurance claim.
• Take an inventory of your personal property, furniture, appliances, etc., including gathering pictures and electronic or paper receipts documenting purchases.
• Track and keep receipts of your extra living expenses while you are displaced, including receipts of meals, transportation, and hotels and other paid accommodations, etc.
• Consider demanding that your insurance company advance all available policy benefits immediately, including but not limited to benefits for alternative housing or business interruption. Generally, alternative housing should be comparable to your living arrangements prior to the loss and damage. Many policies also cover debris cleanup and various other coverage relevant to fire damage.
• Expect the insurance company to try to minimize its financial obligations in response to your claim. Take time to thoroughly evaluate and consider all communications from your insurance carrier carefully and do not agree to their adjustment of the claim without fully understanding their methodology and logic.
• Even if your home or business has not been destroyed, smoke in and of itself can cause recoverable damage under the meaning of property policies. Insurers often take the position that smoke damage alone is not covered. A best practice is not to accept this at face value.
• Property policies often contain a shorter deadline to sue than other types of policies and contracts, which deadline can be as short as one or two years from the date of the loss. Consider carefully evaluating the deadline to sue in case any disputes with insurers arise.