Were you recently evacuated due to fires near your home? Recent California wildfires have resulted in thousands of evacuations. Hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the state have burned and continue to burn. Thousands of structures have burned to the ground and many more continue to be threatened by the voracious flames of the multiple fires throughout the state. The death toll is expected to keep rising as experts continue to look through the debris left behind by the fires.
Many people successfully evacuated and survived the fires; many homes of those who evacuated no longer stand. However, many homes survived the wildfires, sustaining absolutely no burn damage. Those who are returning to their homes after adhering to evacuation orders might identify multiple signs of smoke and ash damage.
Smoke and ash resulting from fires can cause extensive damage to your home—even if there were never any physical flames on your property. Was your home damaged by the smoke and ash created by a wildfire? Was there visible damage to your home? If your home or any of your property was damaged by smoke and ash after a nearby wildfire, you might have grounds to file a smoke and ash damage claim.
Would you like to learn more about your right to pursue a property damage claim after your property was affected by smoke and ash? If so, you must seek legal assistance as soon as possible. The knowledgeable attorneys at Normandie Law Firm could provide you with the information that you need to pursue a successful claim against your insurance company and receive the compensation to which you are entitled. Do not hesitate to contact Normandie Law Firm today to discuss your smoke and ash damage claim with our knowledgeable smoke and ash damage lawyers.
About the Woosley Fire
The Woosley Fire has affected thousands in both the Ventura County and Los Angeles County, reaching as far as Malibu. There have been at least 3 deaths and many mild to moderate injuries. The fire has burned through approximately 100,000 acres—burning through everything that stands in its path. Hundreds of structures have been burned to a crisp and tens of thousands more are considered to be in danger. The Woosley Fire has been determined to be one of the largest fires in California history.
Without a doubt, the fire has burned down many residencies. However, many other residencies that were never subject to the Woosley Fire flames have been (and will likely continue to be) damaged by the smoke and ash created by the fire. If your property was damaged by the smoke and ash created by the wildfire, you might have grounds to pursue a smoke and ash damage claim against your insurance company.
How Could Your Property Be Affected By Smoke and Ash
Many people underestimate the damage that could be caused by smoke and ash. Your home might have been spared by the flames of the fire but remained vulnerable to the smoke and ash coming from the fire. Consider the following possible damage that could be caused by smoke and ash:
- Damage to outdoor areas (paint, windows, yards, lawns, garden, outdoor furniture, vehicles, etc.)
- Damage to personal belongings inside the property (furniture, clothes, family pictures, etc).
- Damage to ventilation and water filtration systems (air conditioning, heating systems, pool filters, artificial pond pumps, etc.)
- Damage to plumbing (drains, pipes, etc.)
- Damage to walls, windows, ceilings (including attics, closets, drawers, etc)
Regardless of the specific damage that your property sustained due to the smoke and ash created by the Woosley Fire, it is likely that you are left trying to figure out how to deal with the damage to your property. Could you address the damage on your own? Do you need to hire a professional cleanup service?
You might have tried to clean the visible smoke and ash on a few places throughout your property only to find that your efforts are in vain. Although it is possible for the parties affected to clean the smoke and ash independently, it is often a difficult and strenuous task. In many cases, it is recommended that a professional smoke and ash cleaning service comes into your property. What happens after your property is free from smoke and ash? What about the property that was not salvaged after the cleaning?
Undeniably, you could have the right to pursue an insurance claim against the insurance company that provides you and your family with coverage. For more information about your right to file a claim after your property was damaged by smoke and ash, do not hesitate to contact our law firm as soon as possible.
About Your Insurance Coverage
When you purchased or built your home, you likely looked into insurance coverage that could protect you during difficult times. Most standard homeowners’ insurance policies include coverage in case of fire (smoke and ash damage is generally included). Have you consistently paid your insurance premium? If so, you might think that your insurance company will be more than willing to compensate you after your property’s smoke and ash damage.
Ideally, you would contact your insurance company; they would then evaluate your claim and compensate you for your damages. In a perfect world, this would occur within a matter of weeks. Before you could realize it, you would be compensated and would have put this experience behind you. However, insurance companies rarely work this way; rather, they often make it very difficult for claimants to be rightfully compensated.
The Truth about Pursuing a Smoke and Ash Claim
What is the problem with your claim against your insurance company? Unfortunately, many insurance companies take advantage of claimants’ lack of information. Insurance companies do not want to pay for the damages to your property—for every claim that they pay off, they lose a significant amount of money. Compensating you for your smoke and damage claim represents a monetary loss for the insurance company; therefore, they will do everything within their reach to avoid paying you.
At least one of the following might apply to your smoke and ash damage claim against your insurance company:
- Your smoke and ash damage claim is taking too long to reach a conclusion; you have no news regarding your claim.
- You can never seem to reach an insurance representative to inquire about your claim.
- Your claim is taking too long to settle because there are constant excuses coming from the insurance company.
- Your insurance company is offering you an unreasonably low amount to settle your claim.
- Your insurance company denied your claim for an unknown reason.
- Your insurance company denied your claim because they did not believe that the damage to your property was substantial.
- Your insurance company denied your claim because of the conclusion that the damage to your property was caused by an unrelated incident or an intentional incident.
- Your insurance company denied your claim under the assumption that your claim was false.
What happens when property damage claims are delayed or denied? Insurance companies want claimants to either drop the claim because the process is taking too long or fail to submit an appeal after a denied claim. In many cases, especially those in which the process has been prolonged without a valid explanation, insurance companies make unreasonable offers; many claimants accept these offers because they are tired of waiting around to be compensated, and they want to conclude their claims once and for all.
What could you do to combat the tricks of your insurance company? The best thing that you could do to prevent insurance companies from trying to take advantage of you is to seek legal assistance and hire an attorney.
The Need for Legal Expertise
When you hire an attorney, you are hiring someone with experience dealing with insurance companies. You will have someone representing your interests and fighting to recover a settlement. Without a doubt, insurance companies can resort to many tricks to avoid paying for valid claims. Do not allow your insurance company to take advantage of your situation and your lack of experience with property damage claims. You must seek legal assistance at your earliest convenience to ensure that your insurance company takes your smoke and ash claim seriously from the start.
Our Law Firm
To prepare to file a smoke and ash damage claim against your insurance company, there are many things that you should do. For instance, you should take photographs of the damage and search for any preexisting photographs that show your property before the damage. You should document the value you associate with your damaged or lost property, searching for receipts, credit card statements, or bank statements, for example, that could prove the value of your property. You should also contact your insurance company to make them aware of your property damage and your interest in pursuing a claim. Most importantly, you should seek legal assistance.
The smoke and ash damage attorneys at Normandie Law Firm are ready to provide you with all the information that you need to pursue your claim against your homeowners’ insurance company. The lawyers at Normandie Law Firm have many years of experience and are ready to fight for your right to be compensated. When you contact our law firm, you could benefit from our free consultations and free second opinions. Whether you want to start or continue your claim, you could trust our lawyers to guide your smoke and ash damage claim towards a successful outcome. To schedule a free consultation or free second opinion, do not hesitate to contact our firm today.
When you contact our firm, you will have access to our free legal services as part of our Zero-Fee guarantee. You will never be required to pay any upfront legal fees. Our firm is also strictly based on contingency; therefore, you will not be required to pay anything until you are rightfully compensated. Do not hesitate—contact Normandie Law Firm today.
