The October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused severe damage in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Some 12,000 homes and 2,600 businesses were damaged. The quake caused an estimated $6 billion in property damage, becoming one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history at the time.

The earthquake caused massive damage in San Francisco’s Mission District. I took the claim of Hernandez Plumbing and Heating, who had a four-story commercial building damaged, but who had no earthquake insurance coverage.

I filed a claim for fire damage and falling object coverage, as the adjacent building had caught fire and fallen over and struck the client’s building. The client went from receiving no compensation to collecting a $450K settlement.

I had other earthquake clients, but this was my favorite case, as the building owners had resigned themselves to receiving no settlement until I got involved.

References available upon request for the cases above