NBC featured the antitrust lawsuits filed on behalf of California property owners by Larson LLP and Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP on both the Nightly News program and its news website. The lawsuits allege that California insurance companies colluded together to cancel and deny coverage in high-risk areas, forcing homeowners to turn to the significantly limited CA FAIR Plan.
“They knew that they could force people, by dropping insurance, into that plan which had higher premiums and far lower coverages,” said partner Robert Ruyak in an interview. “They realized that they could take this device, which is to protect consumers, and turn it into something that protected them.”
The lawsuits were brought on behalf of California homeowners who found themselves underinsured after they were forced onto the FAIR Plan, with many suffering losses far beyond the limited coverage provided by California’s insurer of last resort.
For more coverage of these lawsuits:
- Bloomberg Law: California Insurers Hit by FAIR Plan Antitrust Suit After Fires
- San Francisco Chronicle: California home insurers colluded to create insurance crisis
- Los Angeles Daily Journal: Homeowners sue insurers, allege boycott to push substandard fire coverage
- Law360: Calif. Homeowners Say Insurers Colluded to Limit Coverage
- The Recorder: Southern California Homeowners Sue Insurance Carriers, Alleging Antitrust Violations in Wake of Wildfires
- Insurance News Net: Lawsuits target to 25 Calif. Insurance carriers, allege wildfire coverage collusion
