No two wildfire damage claims are identical and there are many types of damage that your property can suffer. If you are a homeowner and make homeowners insurance payments, you might not have full protection. If you only lost a portion of your assets in the wildfire, you can file a claim of partial loss. However, you should not take on the insurance company on your own. A California Wildfire Insurance Lawyer at McDonald Worley is here to help.
YOUR PROPERTY VALUE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE
The first step after being affected by a wildfire is to file a claim with your insurance company immediately. Below is the information you should have when filing your insurance claim:
- Loss dates
- Type of damage
- Location of damage
- Related injuries
- People involved
- Home condition
- Damaged belongings
- Repairs that need to occur
- Police report
FACTORS TO CONSIDER AFTER A WILDFIRE
There are many factors to consider when filing your insurance claim. Your home or business may have great damage during the California wildfires. Also, your entire community may have damage and rebuilding in the same location may not be a possibility. There may have been zoning and environmental changes to take into consideration if and when reconstruction can take place.
The rebuilding process is dependent upon guidelines that your home or business may be subjected to. So, it may impact the original value of your structure. Family-owned vineyards have been affected uniquely by these wildfires as they can no longer grow on the land since it has been charred and grapes can no longer absorb nutrients from the soil.
Fire damage tends to make your home or business more prone to mudslides. These can affect entire neighborhoods and communities. The additional destruction these cause create delays in the rebuilding process.
Furthermore, your home or business may be at a lower value as insurance adjusters work to provide low-cost claims to the insurance companies that employ them. The value these adjusters place on your property will never provide you enough funding to rebuild to the same home or business that you lost. Above all, you deserve more for your suffering and losses from these fires.
DO I NEED A CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE INSURANCE LAWYER?
If it is discovered that Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) or its contractors have been involved in the cause of the fire, you may need an attorney to represent you. When the utility companies (including their contractors) wrongfully cause catastrophic destruction that harms others, they very often use their significant amount of resources to impact the claims process. They can use these resources to prevent having to pay those who suffered losses or to argue for minimal payments to the survivors.
Our firm has attorneys who have worked in similar wildfire or other catastrophic destruction cases and already know how to fight these resources to prove that the utility or other company was responsible for the loss. Our attorneys also work on your behalf to set a true value for the losses, which may be well beyond the amount for which you are insured. These losses can your hardship from the fire.
With the resources our firm has available, a California Wildfire Insurance Lawyer at McDonald Worley can engage experts in areas including fire investigation, estimation of tree values, personal property and rebuilding costs, plus hydrology, metallurgy, and erosion. These fields are particularly important to the family-owned vineyards whose soil requires specific assessment. Based on the discoveries of the experts, a law firm will have a much greater ability to get you accurate funding for property losses and personal suffering, well-beyond insurance coverage.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T HAVE HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE?
Although insurance is recommended, we as lawyers can help the uninsured homeowner as well as renters without insurance. Both the uninsured and insured victims can have recovery per the state law of California.
If the cause of the wildfire is due to the negligence of a utility company, you have entitlement to reimbursement for the loss. Our California Wildfire Insurance Lawyer will work aggressively for your reimbursement.
HOW CAN I START MY CLAIM?
Contact a California Wildfire Insurance Lawyer to learn your legal rights. There is no obligation and we offer a no-cost consultation. Many victims who lost their property now know that their insurance policies do not cover them for catastrophic loss. Many policies come nowhere close to covering losses. We handle property insurance claims for any type of economic or property loss. These are life-changing legal matters and you have entitlement to your full policy limits and compensation. Our experienced team of lawyers understand that it is not only important to rebuild your home or business but your life as well. Call us at 877-721-3423 to talk with an attorney today.