Los Angeles, California — ACTS Law is representing California homeowners whose homes survived the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades wildfires but who now face a second disaster: insurance companies that refuse to fully investigate, restore, or pay valid claims for dangerous smoke and ash contamination.

Their homes are still standing. But what’s inside them — embedded in the walls, circulating through the ducts, settled into every porous surface — has the potential to make their families sick. And the insurance companies they’ve paid premiums to for years don’t want to deal with it.

“These families did everything right,” said Kevin Pollack, a partner at ACTS Law who heads the firm’s insurance bad faith litigation department. “They reported their claims promptly. They hired qualified professionals to test their homes. They submitted the documentation their policies require. And many of their insurers responded by ignoring the evidence, hiring biased vendors, and telling families to go home — without any qualified health professional ever evaluating whether its safe to do so.”

A Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight

While national attention has focused on homes destroyed by wildfire, a quieter crisis is unfolding in the thousands of homes that didn’t burn. As the New York Times documented, families returning to intact homes after the January fires found interiors choked with hazardous residue — stinging air, chemical odors saturating furniture and bedding, and contamination invisible to the naked eye. Independent testing in fire-affected neighborhoods has since confirmed elevated levels of soot, heavy metals, asbestos, lead, and cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in homes that appear undamaged from the outside.

Some families have already returned to these homes — with their children — because they had no other option. Others remain displaced, caught between insurers who refuse to pay for proper restoration and the reality that most families cannot afford to fund it themselves. When carriers deny testing, reject qualified expert reports, or cut off Additional Living Expenses, they leave homeowners with an impossible choice: move back into a home that may still be contaminated, or go broke trying to stay out of it.

Mr. Pollack, who has represented hundreds of families across multiple California fire events said the pattern is unmistakable. “We’ve watched these same carriers deploy the same playbook after every fire — deny the contamination, ignore the lab results, hire their own biased experts, and pressure families to accept inadequate restoration methods that leave hazardous materials in place. The only thing that’s changed is the scale.”

ACTS Law represents homeowners pursuing first-party insurance claims for failures including:

• Refusal to authorize or accept independent contamination testing
• Inadequate or incomplete restoration that leaves hazardous materials in place
• Denial of HVAC system replacement despite contaminated ductwork
• Failure to properly address contaminated contents, furniture, and porous materials
• Wrongful denial or premature termination of Additional Living Expenses (ALE)
• Emotional distress and punitive damages in cases involving insurer bad faith

These are breach of contract and bad faith claims against the homeowners’ own insurance companies — not negligence lawsuits or utility liability cases.

Holding Insurers Accountable

A San Francisco Chronicle investigative series revealed that major carriers used hidden internal guidance to systematically reduce the scope and cost of wildfire claims — routing estimates through review layers designed to cut payouts before policyholders ever saw them. The California Department of Insurance has launched a market conduct examination of State Farm, taken enforcement action against the California FAIR Plan for unlawful smoke claim denials, and issued formal directives requiring insurers to fully investigate and pay legitimate smoke damage claims.

ACTS Law is pursuing coordinated litigation against carriers that have engaged in a pattern of denying, delaying, and underpaying legitimate smoke contamination claims, including State Farm, Farmers Insurance, AAA, Mercury Insurance, and California FAIR Plan, among others.

Mr. Pollack has been at the forefront of regulatory advocacy on this issue. He has presented before the California Department of Insurance Smoke Claims & Remediation Task Force, submitted formal communications to regulators that preceded broader investigations into insurer conduct, and secured favorable court rulings in active litigation challenging the denial of smoke damage claims. He has also been consulted by major media organizations investigating insurer handling of smoke contamination.

ACTS Law represents homeowners across fire-affected regions, including:

• Eaton Fire zone
• Palisades Fire zone

A home does not need to have burned to qualify. In many cases, the structure is intact — but the contamination is real.

Some of the cases involved in this litigation include:

• Bottega v. National Surety, United States District Court, Northern District: 21-cv-03614-JSC
• Hamilton v. Allstate, Los Angeles County Superior Court – Stanley Mosk Courthouse: 20STCV38853
• Nolte v. Allstate, Los Angeles County Superior Court – Stanley Mosk Courthouse: 20STCV41595
• As well as a coordinated Action, Los Angeles County Superior Court – Spring Street Courthouse: 25STCV10670

Why Homeowners Should Not Wait

Many families displaced by smoke contamination are currently relying on Additional Living Expenses (ALE) benefits to cover temporary housing while their homes are evaluated or remediated. Insurers are already moving to terminate these benefits — in some cases, before any qualified professional has certified that the home is safe to occupy.

Without legal intervention, most families have no way to challenge a termination before the financial pressure forces their hand.

“Insurers know that if they cut off living expenses, most people can’t afford to keep fighting. That’s not claims handling — it’s coercion. And it’s exactly the kind of conduct the law was designed to prevent,” Mr. Pollack added.

Mr. Pollack and his team work with homeowners who already have independent testing reports and can also arrange qualified professional inspections where appropriate.

Homeowners in the Eaton and Palisades fire zones affected by smoke and ash — who believe their insurance company has denied, delayed, or underpaid a valid contamination claim should seek legal guidance promptly.

Contact Kevin Pollack at ACTS Law: 833-810-0330.