Few insurance companies are complying with California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s request that they cover 100% of the personal property lost by policy holders in the Los Angeles fires by his February 28 deadline.
Of the many challenges facing the victims of the L.A. fires, perhaps one of the most difficult for those who lost everything is the need to remember and document every single possession that was lost along with their homes, in order to prove to insurance companies that they deserve the full amount of their personal possession caps.
The New York Times referred to that challenge in an article titled “Trying to Remember Everything Lost in a Fire.” The subheadline read: “After the wildfire comes the emotional toll of listing every object inside a destroyed home.”
One Palisades resident told Breitbart News, “This process is beyond painful…to sit there with a spreadsheet at such a devastating time and to be reminded, item by item, of what you lost when your home is gone is beyond comprehension … if you can even remember everything that you had. A total loss is a total loss. It feels like the insurance companies are trying to break our collective will, so we give up and they don’t have to pay out.”
A few companies have provided residents with 100% coverage for personal property lost in the fire — without the dreaded task of itemization, known as “the list.” Pacific Specialty is reportedly providing 100% of the covered amount without requiring their clients to go through itemization. So, too, are Chubb, Cincanitti, and Lloyds of London.
Earlier this month, Lara issued a notice asking all insurance companies to “follow the lead of other insurers who are providing up to 100% of Contents (Personal Property) coverage limits without requiring the policyholder to undertake the onerous task of completing a detailed personal property inventory.”
State law requires a minimum of 30% compensation be provided up front before policy holders must make an itemized list to receive 100%.
Lara added:
Due to the large scale of these wildfires, many policyholders are overwhelmed with the tasks of dealing with housing, family, and construction issues and other major adverse changes in their daily lives. These fires, taken together, are the largest and most destructive fires in California history. The fires have destroyed whole neighborhoods and devastated communities. My Department has received numerous complaints from policyholders about the monumental task of attempting to identify every item of personal property they may have amassed over years or decades in order to collect replacement cost.
…
The Department is aware that some insurers are going above and beyond the law and have made significant efforts to accommodate their policyholders by offering 75%, 80% or, in some cases, 100% of Contents limits without an inventory, with the ability to recover additional benefits if the insured subsequently completes a full inventory up to their Contents coverage limits. I applaud these insurance companies for putting their customers first and request that all other insurers, including the California FAIR Plan, follow suit by providing a similar accommodation of 100%, but no less than 75% of Contents limits to policyholders without requiring an inventory.
Lara gave the insurance companies until February 28 to comply, without specifying any particular consequences. He also later endorsed legislation by State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) to require insurers to compensate consumers for 100% of personal property losses in wildfires without making them fill out an extensive list of their possessions.
However, few companies surveyed by Breitbart News are complying with the 100% requirement. Some are only meeting the 30% requirement under current state law; others are offering 50% or even 80%, but not the full 100%.
State Farm, for example, is providing 50% before itemization; USAA is providing 75% before itemization.
It is unclear why Lara’s recommendation has not been followed be all. Lara’s office did not reply to a request for comment.
Lara said last week that he was tired of being “white mansplained” by a fellow Democrat about how to do his job.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.