Fire Victims Get Burned By Insurance
Victims Quickly Learn Homes Not Fully Insured
POSTED: 12:47 pm PDT April 23, 2004
SAN DIEGO -- Nearly six months since the start of San Diego County's worst wildfires in history, victims begin to feel its long-term effects, 10News reported.
Residents of Scripps Ranch, one of the communities hardest hit by the fires, thought their homes were fully insured. However, some victims quickly learned they were actually under-insured.Adam Richardson, a Scripps Ranch resident, lost his home in the October wildfires. He thought his insurance fully covered his home, but he learned after the fires that only half of the value of his home was covered."When my insurance company insured me, I believed that I was fully covered, because they told me that I was. Now, we find out that they really only insured my house for about half of what it was worth. I can't rebuild that house with what they paid out and they won't take any responsibility for their mistakes. So, while I may have survived the fire, I ended up getting burned by my insurance company," Richardson said.
Richardson said in order to rebuild, he will need help from the state, otherwise he will have to sell his lot.In the meantime, a renewed effort to help those victims kicked off Friday in Scripps Ranch.California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi visited Scripps Ranch Friday afternoon and El Cajon Monday to discuss the recovery from last year's wildfires. The town-hall meetings will give fire victims the chance to discuss their insurance concerns with Garamendi."The insurance companies know they're not going to mess with this commissioner. If they do, if that's even thought about by an insurance company, the CEO would be sitting before me and would be in deep, deep trouble," Garamendi told 10News.Garamendi encouraged fire victims to call the hotline at 800-927-HELP to discuss their insurance concerns.
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Residents of Scripps Ranch, one of the communities hardest hit by the fires, thought their homes were fully insured. However, some victims quickly learned they were actually under-insured.Adam Richardson, a Scripps Ranch resident, lost his home in the October wildfires. He thought his insurance fully covered his home, but he learned after the fires that only half of the value of his home was covered."When my insurance company insured me, I believed that I was fully covered, because they told me that I was. Now, we find out that they really only insured my house for about half of what it was worth. I can't rebuild that house with what they paid out and they won't take any responsibility for their mistakes. So, while I may have survived the fire, I ended up getting burned by my insurance company," Richardson said.
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