Insurers seek to surcharge U.S. California homeowners for LA County fire costs

NEW YORK, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Insurers are seeking to charge homeowners across the U.S. state of California for some of the costs of the catastrophic Los Angeles County fires the companies were burdened with when the state's insurer of last resort needed a bailout, reported the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

The California FAIR Plan Assn., with the approval of state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, assessed its member carriers 1 billion U.S. dollars on Feb. 11 when the plan was swamped with thousands of claims after the Jan. 7 fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and Sylmar, according to the report.

The plan, operated and backstopped by the state's licensed home insurers, said it has made 2.75 billion dollars in claims payments as of Friday and expects its costs for the fires will total 4 billion dollars, which it could not cover with its limited surplus and reinsurance funds.

"Now, under a policy Lara put in place last year that is being challenged in court, insurers are filing applications with the state Department of Insurance seeking to surcharge their policyholders statewide for half the costs of that assessment," noted the report.