Did Your Carrier Underpay Your Commercial Property Wildfire Claim?
KBK Lawyers represents California commercial property owners — restaurants, retailers, hotels, office buildings, multifamily, manufacturers — whose insurance carrier denied or underpaid the property damage claim after a wildfire. Free, confidential review. No fee unless we recover money for you.
Holding Insurance Companies Accountable
$5.7 million commercial property bad-faith settlement on a condominium complex hurricane damage matter. $5.2 million Hurricane Florence beachfront commercial recovery. $2.68 million Nevada windstorm commercial bad-faith settlement. We have brought commercial property bad-faith cases against major carriers and won. (Attorney Advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)
Why Carriers Underpay Commercial Property Claims
Commercial property claims are often more complex than residential claims, creating additional opportunities for insurance carriers to underpay losses. Common issues include:
- Building damage estimates that fail to account for current commercial construction costs
- Underpayment of contents claims involving fixtures, equipment, inventory, and computer systems
- Smoke, soot, and ash contamination characterized as “cosmetic” despite significant commercial impacts
- Failure to apply available code-upgrade coverage, even when modern building codes require substantial upgrades
- Exclusion of diminished property value from the carrier’s loss calculation
- Use of concurrent-causation defenses to deny otherwise covered losses
- Aggressive application of sublimits and coinsurance penalties
- Disputes over restoration cost overruns and individual line-item expenses
A California commercial property insurance lawyer who has handled these disputes can work with commercial restoration estimators, equipment valuation experts, contents specialists, and other professionals to develop the claim the insurance carrier should have properly evaluated from the beginning.
We Pursue Substantial Commercial Recoveries
KBK Lawyers focuses on California commercial insurance disputes involving substantial unpaid policy benefits. Our 20% contingency fee is among the lowest in the California plaintiffs’ bar for this kind of work. No fee unless we recover money for you.
What KBK Lawyers Has Recovered
$5.7M
bad-faith settlement on a condominium complex hurricane matter
$5.2M
Hurricane Florence beachfront commercial recovery
$2.68M
Nevada windstorm commercial bad-faith settlement
$250M+
Northridge earthquake bad-faith matters, including commercial
property losses
$9M+
Station Fire smoke-damage class settlement for over 1,000 policyholders
Our founding partner, Brian Kabateck, is a past President of Consumer Attorneys of California and a past President of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, and he has been quoted in the Los Angeles Times and on national news on California insurance and consumer cases.
What We Recover for Commercial Property Owners
Depending on the facts of your case and the terms of your policy, you may be entitled to recover:
- Full Replacement Cost Value of the building and contents
- Equipment, fixtures, computer systems, and inventory at actual replacement cost
- Code-upgrade coverage for commercial code compliance
- Restoration cost overruns from carrier-caused delay
- Smoke and ash remediation at actual cost
- Bad-faith damages where the carrier crossed the line
- Statutory penalties under the California Insurance Code
- Punitive damages in cases of egregious conduct
Speak With Our Experienced Team
Deadlines
Commercial property policies impose contractual suit limitations of varying lengths. Bad-faith tort claims usually run on the two-year personal injury limit. We map every deadline at the first call.
Frequently Asked Questions
My building is still operational but contents and equipment were damaged. Do I have a case?
Yes. Partial commercial property losses are covered under standard policies. Carriers often underpay contents, equipment, and restoration costs — that is exactly the underpayment pattern we fight.
What about my business interruption coverage running parallel to the property damage?
Most commercial property losses have a coordinated business interruption claim running alongside. We handle both inside the same firm so the discovery, experts, and timeline are coordinated.
Do you handle multi-tenant commercial buildings?
Yes. Office buildings, multifamily, mixed-use commercial — all routinely produce wildfire claim disputes that require sophisticated valuation and coordination across tenants, owners, and lenders.
Attorney Advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.