Know Your Rights:

1. Trouble Getting Your Insurance Provider to Cover Pre-remediation Testing?

On 3/7/25 Insurance Commissioner’s Office issued a bulletin securing homeowners access to insurance cover indoor environmental testing. In short the bulletin said: 

• recent court cases did not remove coverage for smoke damage claims and insurance companies need to cover losses for smoke damage.

• it is not reasonable for the insurer to require the insured to incur substantial costs to investigate their own claim. If professional testing is warranted* for a specific claim, the CA Department of Insurance expects the insurance company to contract and pay for these services. If you have concerns about whether your home has contaminants, you need to document your concern in an email to your adjuster.

* Use the EFRU Contamination Map to help you identify contaminants found in your neighborhood.


2. Insurers Hiring Second Opinion Industrial Hygienists

Residents are raising concerns about insurers using firms like Clark Seif Clark (CSC) to dispute previous industrial hygienist (IH) reports. If this applies to you, consider two steps:

• Watch the 5/2/25 EFRU Speaker Event featuring attorney Dylan Schaffer for guidance available at efru.la/speaker-events.

• Submit your contaminant testing reports to Dr. Andrew Whelton of Purdue University, an expert on wildfire-related contamination. He’s conducting a study on contamination testing, including indoor air, surfaces, pool water, drinking water, soil, and can identify inconsistencies between your original and insurer-commissioned reports. Learn more about the study he’s conducting on the practices of contaminant testing and submit your test to WUI fire expert Dr. Whelton by clicking here.

3. Contact United Policyholders
United Policyholders is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization whose mission is to be a trustworthy and useful information resource and an effective voice for consumers of all types of insurance in all 50 states. Learn more about United Policyholders by going to www.uphelp.org. Contact United Policyholders via email: info@uphelp.org.

4. Eaton Fire Survivors Network
EFSN is leading the effort to expose the bad faith practices of State Farm in providing for Eaton Fire and Palisades claims. To follow their efforts, sign up for the EFSN newsletter here: efsurvivors.net.

How to Report Your Insurer:

1. CA Dept of Insurance
You can file a complaint with the CA Dept of Insurance by reaching them on their toll‐free Hotline at (800) 927‐4357 or visit them online at www.insurance.ca.gov.

2. Assemblymember Harabedian
Assemblymember Harabedian's office has invited anyone whose insurance provider is denying their request for pre-remediation testing to contact District Director Declan Floyd in Harabedian's office at (626) 351-1917 or email at Declan.Floyd@asm.ca.gov.

3. California Watchdog Fire
If your insurer is not being fair, provide the evidence public advocates need to hold our insurers accountable. File a complaint with the Consumer Watchdog Fire.

4. American Policyholder Association
You can join the American Policyholder Association for no cost and report insurance fraud for the APA to investigate. Join the APA for free and report fraud with the American Policyholder Association.

Media Wants to Hear From You

1. The San Francisco Chronicle wants your story if your insurer chose your industrial hygienist or hired a second opinion.

If your insurance company wouldn’t let you chose your industrial hygienist or is challenging the results of your first test report by hiring their own chosen industrial hygienist, the reporting team of Susie Neilson susan.neilson@sfchronicle.com and Megan Munce megan.munce@sfchronicle.com want to hear from you.

2. The NY Times wants to hear from you.

Was Your Home Damaged by the L.A. Fires? We Want to Hear About Your Home Insurance Claim.
Go to this link to fill out their inquiry and help NYT investigate testing protocols and insurance practices:

Evidence Reporting your Insurer & Reaching Out to Media Works

1. The State Farm investigation
Commissioner Lara has launched an investigation into State Farm’s handling of wildfire claims. The New York Times covers the central role survivors played.