Protesters Urge Insurance Company to Settle Quake Claims

Each arrived at 20th Century Insurance Co.’s headquarters in Woodland Hills with an individual tale of woe: an earthquake-damaged house unrepaired after 900-plus days, furniture and rugs ruined by asbestos, an insurance claim of $175,000 that remains unsettled.

All 40 members of the Northridge-based group CARe, or Community Assisting Recovery, identified a common culprit: 20th Century.

Chanting, “Be fair, settle our claims,” CARe members asked for relief from 20th Century, which had the second-largest number of claims resulting from the 1994 Northridge quake. The claims total $1 billion.

More than 1,000 of 46,368 claims are unresolved, the company estimates.

Ron Brown, the company’s assistant vice president of claims, said most of the unresolved claims involve additional living expenses due to continuing reconstruction or with “legal issues of applications of coverage and damages.”

“20th Century has attempted to equitably resolve claims from the Northridge earthquake,” Brown said. “It is our continuing hope that these remaining situations can be resolved.”