Insurer Payouts Now at $12B for LA Wildfires, Report Shows

Insurance companies have so far paid out more than $12 billion for losses from the two biggest of the Los Angeles-area wildfires that swept through the region and destroyed tens of thousands of homes in January.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday announced new figures as part of an update of the public consumer claims tracking system for the fires. The new figures are nearly double the $6.9 billion in claims paid out last month.

The bulk of yet-to-be-paid claims include property damage and debris removal, which will be paid when people begin the process of rebuilding and debris removal, according to the California Department of Insurance.

The CDI’s latest figures from the fires show:

• 37,749 insurance claims have been filed for home, business, living expenses and other disaster-related needs.
• 27,821 claims partially paid under laws requiring advance payments to speed recovery.
• $12.1 billion paid out to date to insurance policyholders.

Early estimates put insured losses at $8 billion for the Eaton and Palisades fire to $40 billion for all five fires that burned around the same time in the region at one point.

Lloyd’s this week said it will lose $2.3 billion from the L.A. wildfires, adding to the number of companies that have paid out more than $1 billion in losses from the catastrophe.

Munich Re said in February it expects about 1.2 billion euros ($1.26 billion) in claims resulting from the Los Angeles wildfires.

A few big reinsurers took sizeable hits, but those were far less than Lloyd’s and Munich Re. Zurich Insurance Group AG said it is expecting pretax losses of $200 million from the wildfires. Swiss Re said claims from the wildfires would be less than $700 million and would impact its first quarter results.

The Travelers Companies Inc. in mid-February said it will lose an estimated $1.7 billion from the wildfires, Allstate Corp. on Jan. 5 reported losses in excess of $1 billion from the fires and State Farm reported more than $1 billion paid out to customers. Chubb said the wildfires are expected to cost the insurer $1.5 billion in the first quarter.

Topics
Catastrophe
Natural Disasters
Carriers
Wildfire
Louisiana