Tyler Perry Slams Insurance Companies for Canceling Plans Ahead of L.A. Fires
Following the wildfires engulfing Los Angeles area homes and causing mass evacuations, Tyler Perry took to Instagram to express his frustration with home insurers that did not renew policies ahead of the natural disaster. The Madea franchise director described the “gut-wrenching” feeling of watching a daughter use a garden hose to tame a fire swallowing her 90-year-old parents’ home, after their insurance was canceled.
“Does anyone else find it appalling that insurance companies can take billions of dollars out of communities for years and then, all of a sudden, be allowed to cancel millions of policies for the very people they became rich on,” Perry wrote in a social media post Sunday.
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California’s largest home insurer, State Farm General, announced in March it would not renew 30,000 homeowner and condo policies when they expired. In 2021, insurance company Chubb stopped writing new policies for high-priced homes with high wildfire risk, the Los Angeles Times reported, while Allstate halted new policies in 2022.
“People who have paid premiums all of their lives are left with nothing because of pure greed,” he wrote. “As I am in the process of trying to figure out what steps to take to do all I can to help as many as I can, I am keeping everyone in my prayers.”
Tokio Marine America Insurance Co. and its subsidiary Trans Pacific Insurance Co. stopped offering policies in the state last year, with Mercury Insurance stepping in to try to fill in the gaps, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Palisades fire, which first erupted in the coastal area west of Los Angeles, is 11 percent contained, while the Eaton fire is 27 percent contained as of Sunday night. As insurers have declined coverage to those affected by the wildfires, Califronia’s Fair Plan has stepped in to provide basic property coverage. The Fair Plan estimates that its claim exposure in the Pacific Palisades is nearly $6 billion.
Estimates for total damage and economic loss from the wildfires scorching Southern California have risen to more than $250 billion as of Monday, according to AccuWeather. The fires have also hit the area between Santa Monica and Malibu, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the U.S., with median home values exceeding $2 million. Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley called the fire the “most destructive natural disaster in the history of Los Angeles.” in a press conference last week. More than 12,000 structures have been damaged, and the death toll has climbed to at least 24 people, as of late Sunday. Stars including Paris Hilton, Jhené Aiko, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Billy Crystal, along with more than 30,000 other residents, have lost their homes.
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