Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
Wildfire Wake-Up Call: How To Protect Your Home and Finances If Disaster Strikes
Thu, 27 Feb 2025
This week, Money Rehab is hosted by Pamela Maass Garrett, aka Law Mother, attorney and money expert. The recent wildfires in Los Angeles have forced many families to face the unimaginable reality of losing their homes. But even for those who still have a roof over their heads, this is a wake up call. If disaster strikes, will your insurance company actually have your back? Today, Pamela is joined by Susan Minamizono, a lawyer who helps homeowners fight for the payouts they deserve. Whether you've lost everything in the fires, or just want to make sure your policy is solid, this conversation is for you. Pamela Maass Garrett, aka Law Mother, is an attorney and money expert helping you grow and protect your wealth through her bestselling book Legally Ever After and her upcoming Wealthy Ever After book and app. Find Pam’s freebies here: https://www.lawmotherco.com/moneyrehab Follow Pam here: https://www.instagram.com/lawmotherco/ Learn more about Susan’s work here: https://lsw-legal.com/attorney/susan-minamizono/ The content in this episode is for entertainment purposes only, please consult an advisor before making any financial or investment decisions. All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Open to the Public Investing, member FINRA & SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1890144), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. Treasury accounts offering 6 months T-Bills are offered by Jiko Securities, Inc.,member FINRA & SIPC. Securities in your account are protected up to $500,000. For details: www.sipc.org. Banking services and the Bank Accounts are provided by Jiko Bank, a division of Mid- Central National Bank. For U.S. Investments in T-bills: Not FDIC Insured; No Bank Guarantee; May Lose Value. Treasuries risk disclosures, see https://jiko.io/docs/treasuries_risk_disclosure.pdf. See public.com/#disclosures-main.
Chapter 1: Who is the host of this Money Rehab episode?
Hi, money rehabbers. It's Pamela Moscarra, aka Law Mother. I'm a lawyer specializing in growing and protecting your wealth. And this week, I'm filling in for Nicole while she's out on maternity leave. The recent wildfires in Los Angeles have left many families devastated, facing the unimaginable reality of losing their homes. As you all know, this happened to Nicole.
But even for those who still have a roof over their heads, this is a wake-up call. If disaster strikes, will your insurance company actually have your back? Today, we're talking to an insurance lawyer who helps homeowners fight for the payouts they deserve. Whether you've lost everything in the fires or just want to make sure your policy is solid, this conversation is for you. Welcome, Susan.
Chapter 2: What should homeowners do immediately after losing their home to a wildfire?
Can you please introduce yourself? Sure. I'm happy to be here. Thanks, Pam. My name is Susan Minamizono. I've been an attorney since 2008, originally from Southern California, where I actually represented insurance companies. I made the move to Colorado in the last eight, nine years, and so I've been doing this
insurance coverage, and bad faith litigation work at the law firm of Levine Sitkoff since I've been here.
Thanks, Susan. Let's start by talking about homeowners who lost their homes. What should a homeowner do immediately after their house is destroyed?
Yeah, and that's a really important question, Pam. Before I start answering, I just wanted to insert a disclaimer, as we attorneys like to do. So What we talk about today is not offered as legal advice, but that our chat today really is for informational purposes only. So, yeah, to answer your question, Pam, what should a homeowner do immediately after their house is destroyed? Take a pause.
Surround yourself with all the support you need. And then as soon as possible. Number one, contact your insurance company, notify them of the loss and request a certified copy of the policy, which means essentially you want the complete copy of the policy. OK, so you could check for coverages and limits. Number two, start keeping receipts of all your expenses.
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Chapter 3: Why is obtaining a certified copy of your insurance policy crucial?
So for your hotel stays, meals, clothing, transportation, all that could be reimbursable under what's called ALE coverage that we'll probably touch on later. And number three, I would start getting rebuild estimates, especially if your home's been destroyed.
I know it's a really emotional time and it's hard to put everything together, but you should start contacting local licensed contractors, essentially because What I've seen, at least with the clients that I represented who were affected by the Marshall Fire here in Colorado, the clients that contacted contractors within weeks of the loss were one of the first ones to rebuild in their communities.
You're going to be stuck in a queue if there are hundreds or even thousands of homes that were destroyed in a fire. Better yet, if your whole neighborhood was affected by the fire, find a mass builder with your neighbors who might be able to rebuild multiple homes at a lower price. So those are the three things that come to mind.
Very helpful. I think one thing that you mentioned was a certified copy of your policy. And for those who don't understand what that means, could you just maybe expand on what that is and why that's so important?
Yeah, because... Oftentimes, when you access your insurance company portal, you'll get a summary, right? Or maybe you'll just get the policy declaration pages, which is essentially the first two or three pages of the policy that lists the policy limits and the types of coverages you have.
What you don't have is the bulk of the policy language that lists all the exclusions and conditions and payout arrangements, that sort of thing. So when you ask your insurance agent or broker or the insurance company directly, hey, I want to certify a copy of the policy, they're obligated to send you the entire policy.
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Chapter 4: How can you document damage effectively for an insurance claim?
And then the other thing you mentioned is if you are in a neighborhood, and I know the Marshall fires here in Colorado, and we've been talking about Nicole, who is in Los Angeles with the LA fires, you mentioned the tip about getting together with your neighbors and
If there are larger builders who will build kind of the homes together, does it matter that multiple neighbors might have different types of insurance carriers? Like, does it have to all be the same insurance carrier? Or can you explain, expand a little bit more on that?
Yeah, it doesn't have to be, right? It's essentially, yeah, every homeowner has to approach their insurance company separately. But what a mass builder will typically do is because they're building multiple homes within a close proximity at the same time, their prices go down. And oftentimes insurance companies like that, right?
It's closer to probably their low ball estimates that they issued at the beginning.
What's the best way to document damage for an insurance claimant?
I can't stress enough, Pam, put everything in writing. You want to avoid, as she said, they said situation. I've seen folks keep journals, for example. So they would write down every conversation, phone call with the insurance company, noting dates and names and details of the conversation.
For the really important conversations with the claims adjuster, you should email a summary of your phone conversation after you had it. and include at the very end of the email, please confirm in writing as soon as possible if my understanding is incorrect. That way, the adjuster would, I believe, feel compelled to respond as quickly as possible if, in fact, your summary was incorrect.
Another thing is take clear photos and videos of your home, your property. I know that could be a tough one. So ask a friend, ask a family member if they're able to take their phones and take pictures of the neighborhood, of the home, whatever's left standing. And then start... An inventory list, if you don't have one already.
Document the items that you had, the rough purchase dates, brands, estimated values. Again, get family and friends involved and just spend a few minutes every day on that because that is a really, really big task. So you really want to chip away at it a little at a time.
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Chapter 5: What are the common mistakes to avoid in email and social media during claims?
You mentioned kind of your emails to the adjuster. your claims are gesturing. You have a phone call with them, send them a summary of what you did. I guess something that comes to mind or a mistake that I've seen is people not realizing that what you put in email could become evidence down the road in a trial.
So can you touch base on maybe what you wouldn't want to include in the email and some tips around that if you are sending summary emails afterwards, some do's and don'ts?
Yeah, such a great point. I think it's I usually take the step away from the computer rule for every email that I send, especially to opposing counsel. We know we do this. And so if you're feeling extremely emotional, right, about a conversation, go ahead and type it, but don't send yet. Keep the tone as professional as you can. Don't insert too much of your opinion of how this claim is going.
I wouldn't also actually bring up, oh, well, this is what an attorney told me and this is bad faith conduct and blah, blah, blah. Simply write down what exactly the adjuster told you with respect to the claims handling and keep it as factual as possible.
Yeah, you touched on that for a moment and it made me think about social media and the mistakes people make where they're then posting on social media certain things about what happened and what people have said.
Can you touch on that as well? That's a really tough one, right? Because unfortunately, I know, and I've seen it with the martial fire survivors, that's their community, right? They're all going through extremely devastating event, and they're doing it together. And so I Interestingly enough, sometimes, though, the clanging bell does get the attention, right?
And so, yeah, there needs to be a balance. And I'm not sure how I can really suggest what that balance be. But certainly, yeah, I think... You do want to be careful.
You don't want to, again, I would just step aside, even if you're about to post something because you're so mad, right, on Twitter or Instagram, just step aside and just think, okay, is this going to affect claims handling moving forward? And honestly, I think there are some claims adjusters who do react to how the homeowners may communicate to them, right? And they could
And I've seen it in communications and the claims that I've helped or suits that I've helped handle where you have a difficult client, you have a difficult homeowner. And the responses by the adjusters are pretty astounding. I think they're probably pissed off and taking things personally. And so if you could tone down that. As hard as it is, right?
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Chapter 6: What are the typical reasons for insurance claim denials or delays?
Are there any deadlines homeowners need to be aware of when filing a claim?
It really is dependent on your policy. And that's why I can't stress enough how important it is to get a complete copy of your policy. There might be a claim filing deadline. Oftentimes, policies will just say file your claim within a reasonable amount of time. What does that mean? So, yeah, just check for a certain language.
Some insurance policies might require you to file a kind of more formalized proof of loss, which is essentially a one or two page document that you may or may not have to notarize. Essentially just saying, yeah, I lost my home. Right. With the date. And when the event of a declared state of emergency like this, the one currently in LA. There are laws.
Again, this differs state by state, but there may be laws that would extend certain deadlines for things like collecting benefits for additional living expenses, or allowing additional time to capture depreciation while you're rebuilding. So yeah, and I think it's as a layperson, the best way to find out again, is going to your Department of Insurance, the state's Department of Insurance website.
And oftentimes, insurance commissioner will post summaries of laws that might be applicable to your loss.
What are the most common reasons insurance companies deny or delay wildfire-related claims?
I think the problem really comes down to, number one, the dispute between the insurance company and the homeowner regarding the extent of the damage, right? And so insurance companies from the get-go, typically, they'll undervalue rebuilding costs. They use cost-estimating software that... may or may not be accurate in the event there is a total loss.
And of course, this will lead to a lot of back and forth between the insurance companies and the homeowners and their contractors, right? Example, I do have family members who were affected by the LA fires recently. They had to push back against their insurance company because they were low-balling them. with respect to repairing the smoke damage at their home.
And I think like a lot of the smoke claims fall into this category as well, because of course there were a lot of homes destroyed in LA fires, but there were also what's called standing homes, right? The homes that got smoke damage, but are still standing. A lot of insurance companies will say, oh, Yeah, it wasn't destroyed, but we all, it just only needs a light cleaning, right?
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Chapter 7: How can you identify if your insurance company is acting in bad faith?
Yeah, separate flags. obviously include the repeated delays. You're going to find yourself, unfortunately, especially after a wildfire or a mass disaster situation, multiple adjusters on your claim because there's just not enough staff to handle all these claims.
And so I think it's problematic, though, if these adjusters keep asking for more paperwork and sometimes for the same paperwork that you submitted previously. And the claim is barely moving forward. That's certainly a red flag. Another one is a claim denial with no clear explanation.
I've seen letters that look like someone just cut and paste policy language that doesn't apply to the reason of the denial, at least from my perspective. So if you're seeing a lot of that, certainly that could be a sign. And then again, like the lowball offers. Expect a low-ball offer at the beginning.
But if, again, the needle doesn't move too much, despite you submitting multiple contractor estimates, there's still an insurance company is still saying, nope, our vendor and our consultant is still saying it's the repair should take or should be $50,000 less. That could also be a sign.
You mentioned this relationship and documenting and that you might have lots of adjusters. And earlier, you mentioned this tip that I want to highlight here that keep records of everything you're all when you're talking to who what they're talking about, send an email afterwards summarizing.
And I just want to highlight it here because I don't think people really realize if they're not in your position that the insurance company is keeping detailed records. So there on their end, there's a claims file where they're every adjuster is documenting every interaction with you, what you say. And sometimes it might be right. Sometimes it might be wrong.
And until you get to the point with having a lawyer, there's no one on your side doing it unless you do it. And have you found that that's really helpful that people do that from the beginning? Yeah.
I found it extremely helpful. I've had very detail-oriented clients who, from the beginning, took copious notes. And you're correct. I think claims adjusters do try their best to accurately memorialize their conversations with homeowners. But I will tell you that
That there have been plenty of claim file notes that I've seen that are missing key information that are found somewhere else in the claim file, right? That aren't necessarily noted by the adjuster during the phone conversation or soon thereafter.
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