Maui residents: Here’s what to do if your wildfire insurance claim was denied

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Some property insurance experts say they’re already getting reports of Maui fire victims being denied home insurance claims because of policy coverage.

Hawaii Public Adjustors held a town hall in Wailuku on Saturday to give the public tips on how to deal with filing their claim. They say some insurance adjusters are using Hurricane Dora passing south of the island chain on Aug. 8 to deny coverage because it’s not covered in their policy.

“One of the things being spread around right now is, ‘is this an act of God?’ No, there’s no such thing in policy or that insurance is allowed to say ‘act of God,’ and we don’t owe anyone anything. We are saying that’s misinformation,” said Robert Joslin, of Hawaii Public Adjusters Corp.

Experts say almost every home insurance in Hawaii has some form of fire coverage.

They say some red flags from insurance companies can cause delays on your claim.

They recommend documenting all communication with home insurance adjusters via email — so you have it available in case legal action needs to be taken.

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