Disaster Insurance Dispute & Recovery Advisory

Pre-event: Kendall audits existing insurance policies to identify coverage gaps, undervaluation, and exclusions that routinely leave organizations dramatically underinsured. Post-event: She advises on insurance negotiation strategy, challenges bad-faith settlement practices, and litigates where necessary. Her landmark Journey’s End case — a $686,786 federal settlement establishing smoke damage as constructive total loss under California law — created precedent that has since benefited thousands of California wildfire survivors statewide.

Common Questions

How does disaster insurance coverage typically fail California organizations?

Four failure modes are most common: (1) undervaluation — replacement cost coverage set years before current construction costs, now 30–50% below rebuild cost; (2) sublimit surprises — debris removal, code upgrades, and additional living expense sublimits that are far below actual costs; (3) exclusion gaps — flood, earthquake, and debris flow exclusions that become relevant in California disasters; (4) business interruption disputes — insurers contesting the duration and scope of covered interruption. A pre-event policy audit by qualified counsel catches most of these before a claim is necessary.