Eighteen months after devastating wildfires destroyed thousands of homes across Los Angeles County, many survivors say the biggest obstacle to returning home is the insurance process.
Standing before dozens of displaced homeowners Thursday at Palisades Charter High School, the Every Fire Survivor's Network (EFSN) announced what it described as a first in California history: a petition seeking formal legal standing in the California Department of Insurance's enforcement proceeding against State Farm.
If granted, the unprecedented request would allow the nonprofit to conduct discovery, present survivor testimony and evidence, cross-examine witnesses, participate in settlement discussions and advocate directly for remedies affecting thousands of wildfire policyholders.
For many in attendance, however, the legal filing was only part of a much larger story. "It has been death by a thousand paper cuts," said Diane Brigham, a longtime Pacific Palisades resident whose home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire, describing months of delays while attempting to document the family's personal property losses.
Brigham said her family painstakingly cataloged more than 8,100 belongings, complete with photographs and links to comparable replacement items, after seeking guidance from State Farm to ensure the inventory met the company's requirements.
Instead, the family repeatedly had to resubmit documents because State Farm claimed it could not access files or attachments it had requested. After months of additional documentation requests, Brigham said the insurer's final inventory contained numerous errors and depreciation calculations that could not be adequately explained. "We followed every direction," Brigham said. "Meanwhile, State Farm repeatedly urges us to rebuild, but it's their own convoluted processes that have slowed us down."
Survivors said the prolonged delays have left many families uncertain about whether they have enough insurance proceeds to rebuild, prolonging recovery for entire neighborhoods.
Executive Director Joy Chen said the Every Fire Survivor's Network has spent the past 18 months building a coalition of more than 10,000 wildfire survivors and allies while collecting more than 1,600 firsthand accounts from State Farm policyholders across Los Angeles. "This is about ensuring the people most affected have a seat at the table," Chen said. "Insurance companies should honor the contracts they sell, and government officials whose job it is to regulate those companies should work on behalf of the people."
Chen said survivors never expected to become advocates"We never asked for this fight," she said. "But when the company we trusted robs our families, robs our children of the future we've worked so hard to build, we have no choice but to fight back. We will not stop until State Farm, and every insurer, pays what it owes so Los Angeles fire survivors can finally get back home."
The organization also left an empty chair at Thursday's event for State Farm's newly appointed Los Angeles recovery executive, Axel Del Cid, who organizers invited to hear directly from survivors about what it means to be a "good neighbor."
Beyond the Department of Insurance proceeding, Chen said wildfire survivors are also pursuing legislative reforms in Sacramento aimed at strengthening consumer protections.
Just one day before Thursday's announcement, Chen testified in Sacramento as two insurance reform measures Senate Bills 877 and 878 advanced out of the Assembly Insurance Committee.
According to advocates, SB 877 would increase transparency by requiring insurers to disclose original loss estimates and explain significant revisions made during the claims process, while SB 878 would strengthen requirements for timely claims handling and payment of undisputed benefits following disasters.
Chen also highlighted SB 1301, expected to be heard next week, which seeks to address insurance availability and provide additional protections against unfair policy non-renewals for homeowners rebuilding after catastrophic fires. "These are legislative issues that affect every Californian," Chen said. "From the thousands of accounts we've gathered, we've identified patterns. We're working on both insurance accountability and insurance availability."
Attorneys representing the organization said the California Department of Insurance is expected to determine within approximately 15 days whether EFSN will be permitted to intervene in the State Farm enforcement proceeding.
If approved, advocates say the decision could establish an important precedent by giving wildfire survivors a formal voice in regulatory enforcement actions while shaping how catastrophe insurance claims are handled throughout California for years to come.
As the case moves forward and lawmakers consider new consumer protections, survivors say the outcome will determine far more than insurance policy. For many families, they say, it will determine whether they are ever able to rebuild their homes and return to the communities they lost.