The California Department of Insurance implemented a new state law Wednesday that prohibits state regulated insurance companies from not renewing insurance policies in zip codes in or adjacent to fire disaster zones. This policy is in force for a full year after an area was declared a disaster.

This is what consumer protection looks like! The insurance company took premiums when times were good and when things turned negative they wanted to eliminate as much risk as possible and go elsewhere. All forms of insurance are based on shielding the policyholder from potential risk. This applies to auto, homeowners, liability, life, health and even catastrophic loss. State lawmakers looked at this important consumer issue and determined that state regulated companies needed to take the good with the bad. Do you receive an insurance rebate when there were fewer than expected insurance company losses?

In August of this year the department released data showing that non-renewals are a growing threat in response to wildfire risk. Non-renewals rose by 10% last year in the seven counties most impacted. This forced a scramble by homeowners to even find the coverage their mortgage holders mandated with many people reporting talking to seven or more companies to find insurance and then finding prices inflated to an unaffordable level. In other cases homeowners were forced to find new insurance two years in a row due to non-renewal notices.
The insurance companies are blaming much of the increases on climate change and regulation and Insurance Commissioner Lara rejects that argument. Insurance companies must do a better job of assessing risk and base reasonable premiums on actual risk and not a hypothetical which may never happen. We support this new state law along with the protection and peace of mind it provides.

We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others. At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when they refuse to follow the law. We help with serious issues that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth. We have almost 60 years of experience in our plaintiff’s only law firm. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com We Can Help!