A California woman is suing Liberty Mutual for canceling her home insurance after claiming she spotted mold on her roof using “unreliable” aerial photographs.
Maria Badin, 69, accused the provider of “maximizing profits” with the decision to withdraw coverage on her $1.8 million Poway home.
She filed a class action lawsuit including Liberty’s photo, which she said showed evidence of “algae/mildew/mold/moss.”
However, she also included a close-up photo she obtained herself after an independent inspection, which showed her roof was in perfect condition, the documents state.
“Driven by a desire to maximize profits, property and casualty insurance companies, including Defendants, are engaged in a disturbing trend of dropping California homeowners’ insurance policies like flies,” Badin’s attorneys wrote.
“California homeowners, who have dutifully paid their premiums for years, have been and continue to be blindsided by Defendants’ notices that their policies are not being renewed for reasons that are demonstrably false.
Badin is seeking unspecified damages and demanding a change in the way Liberty conducts such assessments.
The proposed class action would also include approximately 17,000 homeowners who lost their insurance after Liberty subsidiary Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company declined to renew in the wake of the devastating wildfires.
A California woman is suing Liberty Mutual for canceling her home insurance after she claims she spotted mold on her roof using these ‘unreliable’ aerial photos
The notices did not mention aerial imagery as part of the decision, saying only that the provider’s technology could no longer monitor the policy.
“They have insured these houses for years against the same risks as they did back then,” attorney Michelle Meyers told police San Francisco Chronicle.
“It seems pretty clear that (the decision not to renew) was done for money,” the higher premiums that could be charged for new policies, she said.
Badin said she was notified last August that her more than 30-year policy was coming to an end.
She received the long-distance photo and began her own inspection, which revealed that the roof was “in incredible condition,” according to her lawyers.
However, Liberty stood by its original decision and refused to renew its policy.
The use of aerial photographs, sometimes taken from up to 3,000 meters away, is not unusual in the insurance world.
Maria Badin accused the provider of ‘maximizing profits’ with decision to withdraw coverage on her $1.8 million Poway home
She had her own inspection done, which she says was completely clear, and is now pursuing a class action lawsuit against Liberty Mutual
Badin is seeking unspecified damages and demanding a change in the way Liberty conducts such assessments. Pictured: Timothy Sweeney, CEO of Liberty Mutual
But many people have reported problems with the method, including cases of their neighbors’ houses being mistaken for their own.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has already proposed a series of reforms to address California’s insurance crisis, which has seen several major providers refuse to renew policies due to previously undetected flaws.
A growing list of companies have limited or even halted operations in the Golden State — many citing the rising risk of climate disaster.
As a result, more than half of Californians say they have been hit by rising property coverage premiums or been dropped by their insurer in the past year, according to stark data from Redfin last year.
Anyone who moves without insurance risks having to rebuild their entire home if it is damaged by floods, fires or earthquakes.
Liberty Mutual declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.