Tubbs Fire State Farm Insurance Claims Attorney

Help for Northern California homeowners who have lost everything in the October, 2017 Tubbs wild fire.

If you or a loved one has been forced to evacuate your home, lost it completely, suffered injury, or were killed as a result of the Tubbs Wild Fire, do not attempt to deal with your insurance company alone.  Even in the face of the Tubbs Fire tragedy, your insurance company will likely engage in significant delays and denials of claims.

One of the most notorious insurance companies for doing this is State Farm. State Farm is the largest provider of Homeowners Insurance in the United States, accounting for 19.2 percent of all premiums written in 2016.   They are also the leading homeowners’ insurance provider in California, with nearly 20 percent of the market  – and provide nearly 2 million Californians with fire insurance for their homes.

State Farm is one of the leading providers of homeowners and fire insurance in the Santa Rosa, Sonoma and Calistoga area.  Yet, despite State Farm’s size, they have been ranked as the third worst insurance company in the United States by the American Association for Justice.

About the Tubbs Fire

The Tubbs Fire broke out near Tubbs Lane in Calistoga on October 8^th, 2017 and raged through Santa Rosa, killing at least 22 people and burning well over 44,000 acres.  The cause of the fire is still unknown, but many reports place the blame squarely on downed PG&E powerlines.  So forare more than 5,100 structures have been completely destroyed by the fire, including more than 2,800 in Santa Rosa alone. In the city of Santa Rosa, more than five percent of housing was incinerated.

Decimated Neighborhoods include:

• Fountain Grove – Hundreds of homes and structures destroyed.
• Coffey Park – Nearly destroying the entire area.
• Journey’s End Mobile Home Park – Completely destroyed.
• Oakmont of Villa Capri – A complete loss of the senior living complex
• Larkfield-Wikiup – At least 500 homes destroyed five miles north of Santa Rosa.
• The home of late Peanuts creator Charles Shultz

The fire continued to rage on leading to the evacuation of the entire town of Calistoga, part of Sonoma and the community of Boyes Hot Springs.

State Farm will Deny, Delay, Defend

Insurance industry experts have estimated that losses from the 21 Northern California Wild Fires could top $6 billion.

While publicly, the insurance industry has said the right things and maintained that they will be there for those homeowners in Santa Rosa devastated by the Tubbs Fire, our experience with insurance companies tells us that no one should expect them to deal with policy holders fairly.

Don’t believe us?  Let’s use another large scale disaster to illustrate.  State Farm is notorious for the way they handled homeowner’s claims  after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Despite the devastation that homeowners suffered, Sate Farm routinely denied claims without basis, altered damage reports to avoid paying claims and offering much, much less than homes were worth.

State farm also repeated this same behavior after tornadoes caused billions of dollars of damage in Oklahoma.  The fact is, State Farm – and all insurers – are working for stock holders, not policy holders.  If expect them to treat you fairly, you will end up in a very disadvantageous situation.

What Should Homeowners Affected by the Tubbs Fire Do?

1. After evacuating and making sure that all loved ones are safe, the clock starts to tick on your fire claim.  Save all your receipts for hotel rooms food and rentals, as your insurance should  cover additional living expenses (known as ALE coverage).
2. Start making a record of your possession, find video, receipts and whatever proof you can (which admittedly may be difficult after a fire destroys your home).  This is where cloud based photo and video storage and bank and credit card records can really help.
3. Contact your insurer as soon as possible so an adjuster can assess the damage.
4. Contact and retain an attorney.

What a wild fire attorney can do for you

1. Bring their own adjuster. Having an adjuster who is not employed by the insurance company can insure that you don’t get short changed on your home’s value.
2. Push for a bigger payout. An experienced attorney can force State Farm to pay you what your home and possessions are really worth, often securing hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they may initially offer you.
3. Handle the entire process so you can focus on putting your life back together.
4. Hold other parties accountable. For the Tubbs Fire, PG&E may be at fault for starting the blaze.  A Tubbs fire state farm insurance claims attorney can help hold Pacific Gas and Electric responsible and secure compensation from them as well.

Don’t wait, if you or a loved one lost your Santa Rosa, Calistoga, Napa or Sonoma home to the Tubbs Fire, contact an experienced California wildfire claim attorney today.  Don’t let insurance companies like State Farm get away with bad faith insurance practices.