
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><b class=""><font size="4" class="">Liberty Mutual, other insurers start dropping risky clients</font></b></span></div><div style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">by <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/authors/lyle-adriano-22512/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/authors/lyle-adriano-22512/&source=gmail&ust=1532555406558000&usg=AFQjCNGK3JqOvMRzUE4i11B5pJ2qKSRGCw" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class="">Lyle Adriano</span></a></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">23 Jul 2018</span></div><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 19px;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">More homeowners in California could find themselves without insurance for their homes, as insurers continue to pull out of areas vulnerable to wildfires.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">In a feature story by<i class=""> The Press Banner</i>, one homeowner who had purchased coverage from <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/&source=gmail&ust=1532555406558000&usg=AFQjCNHD7L3jSLu1WwRwxOTsXuogWxzkyg" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class="">Liberty Mutual</span></a> some 35 years ago recently found out that the insurer chose not to renew his home insurance policy.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Bob St. Clair received a “notice of non-renewal” from <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/&source=gmail&ust=1532555406558000&usg=AFQjCNHD7L3jSLu1WwRwxOTsXuogWxzkyg" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class="">Liberty Mutual</span></a> that told him that his home – In the Whispering Pines neighborhood of Scotts Valley – was not only facing increased risk of wildfire but was also difficult for emergency vehicles to access. Therefore, the insurer informed him that it would not be renewing his policy.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">“I don’t really blame <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/&source=gmail&ust=1532555406558000&usg=AFQjCNHD7L3jSLu1WwRwxOTsXuogWxzkyg" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class="">Liberty Mutual</span></a>, it was a business decision, they gave me more than 60 days’ notice and handled it fairly,” St. Clair told <i class="">The Press Banner</i>. “If I have any advice for other homeowners facing the same situation, it would be to shop around.”</span></p><p style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class=""><span style="text-decoration: underline; -webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/companies/liberty-mutual/67020/&source=gmail&ust=1532555406558000&usg=AFQjCNHD7L3jSLu1WwRwxOTsXuogWxzkyg" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class="">Liberty Mutual</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""> is not the only insurer distancing itself from wildfire-prone homeowners in California; <a href="https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/catastrophe/ca-insurance-carrier-stops-policy-renewals-for-homes-in-highrisk-areas-104889.aspx" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/catastrophe/ca-insurance-carrier-stops-policy-renewals-for-homes-in-highrisk-areas-104889.aspx&source=gmail&ust=1532555406558000&usg=AFQjCNGRX_6AX3jeoE1RcTCBYZTeC93_KQ" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(4, 132, 170);" class="">earlier this month, AAA of Southern California announced that it would stop renewing insurance policies of “very high risk” homes</span></a> that present the highest exposure to wildfire.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13.5px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">The number of non-renewals among at-risk Californian properties has only increased, a report noted. According to a report by the State Department of Insurance published in December 2017, “there has been a significant increase in insurer initiated non-renewals in the California counties with the highest proportion of homes located in high-risk-for-wildfire areas.”</span></p><div class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class="">

<div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">=============================================</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">“Ten thousand years ago there were between 1 and 5 million people on the planet. There was plenty of room to expand and move, and resources seemed endless.” </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Niles Eldredge. Dominion. 1995. University of California Press.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">===========================================</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">“But we need to be clear. The large-scale predicament and the emergent socio-economic stresses that we are beginning to experience … has a lot to do with our human civilization running into limits.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><a href="http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-03-25/anger-complicity-in-a-time-of-limits" class="">http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-03-25/anger-complicity-in-a-time-of-limits</a></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

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