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Sanders Pressures Insurance Commissioner to Pay Out For Fire Damage

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published February 21, 2008 at 1:04 PM PST
This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders says many families who lost homes during the wildfires are having problems with their insurance companies. He’s called on State Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner, to

Sanders Pressures Insurance Commissioner to Pay Out For Fire Damage

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders says many families who lost homes during the wildfires are having problems with their insurance companies. He’s called on State Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner, to live up to his promise to push insurance companies to pay up.   KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Here’s what Commissioner Poizner told fire victims at a town hall meeting after the wildfires.

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Poizner : The insurance companies are very healthy, they've done quiet well in the California markets, so push them as far as you can, work with us at the department of insurance, we'll push them.

Now, Mayor Sanders says some San Diego homeowners are being offered as little as 70 percent of their homes value by insurers, even in cases where the contract promised 100 percent coverage.

Sanders : I've asked Commissioner Poizner to ensure that our neighbors are not taken advantage of by our insurance providers.

A spokesman at Poizner’s office says complaints like this typically surface four to six months after a disaster. He says the office is ready to assist consumers having problems.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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