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In a fiery press conference on Tuesday, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond lashed out at major insurance carriers for their controversial decisions to drop homeowners policies in high-risk fire areas across North County. Desmond accused the insurers of “abandoning” vulnerable communities and vowed to take legal action against them.
It’s an absolute travesty that these big insurance companies are turning their backs on the very people who need them most,
Desmond fumed.
Families in places like Fallbrook, Rainbow, and Valley Center have been ravaged by wildfires for years, and now they’re being left out in the cold by greedy corporations.[1]
The supervisor’s scathing remarks come on the heels of recent announcements by Allstate, State Farm, and USAA that they would not renew thousands of homeowners policies in areas deemed at high risk for wildfires. The companies cited escalating costs from climate change-fueled disasters as the primary driver behind their decisions.[2]
However, Desmond dismissed those justifications as
flimsy excuses
and argued that the non-renewals ran afoul of California’s Fair Plan laws, which require insurers to offer coverage to all qualifying applicants.
These companies are absolutely skirting the law, and we’re going to make them pay for it,
Desmond vowed, promising to work with the County Counsel to explore all possible litigation against the offending insurers.
The controversy has struck a raw nerve in North County, where traumatic memories of the 2007 Witch Creek Fire and 2014 Cocos Fire remain fresh. Those two conflagrations alone caused over $1 billion in insured losses and forced thousands to evacuate their homes.[3]
I was one of the lucky ones – my home survived Witch Creek. But so many of my neighbors lost everything,
recounted Ramona resident Sarah Keller, 67.
To have our insurance dropped now, after all we’ve been through? It’s a slap in the face.[4]
The threatened litigation isn’t Desmond’s only proposed solution, however. He also announced plans to lobby state lawmakers for tougher regulations on insurance pricing practices in fire-prone regions.
The current laws are too loose and give these companies way too much leeway to gouge people,
the San Diego County Supervisor argued.
We need standardized rates and stricter rules to keep this from happening again.[5]
Representatives from the targeted insurance firms pushed back against Desmond’s criticism. In a joint statement, they defended their policy changes as
necessary measures to maintain operational viability
and asserted they were acting within legal bounds.[6]
Still, their arguments have done little to assuage outrage among affected residents and local officials.
As Valley Center homeowner David Ross summed up:
Insurance is supposed to be there when you need it most – not run away as soon as the going gets tough.
With fire season looming and tensions inflamed, the high-stakes battle appears headed for a protracted legal showdown between the county and deep-pocketed insurance giants.
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