Feinstein Doyle Payne & Kravec, LLC represented a certified class of California homeowners who were forced to pay for property insurance placed by their mortgage company with American Security Insurance Company (ASIC).
The force-placed insurance duplicated and waived borrowers’ existing coverage for the lender under the standard mortgage clause of their homeowner’s policy. The case was handled by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California., Joe Kravec and Jim Pietz served as co-lead counsel representing approximately 550,000 California homeowners against American Security Insurance Company (ASIC) for placing duplicative hazard insurance coverage and charging homeowners for this unnecessary coverage. The Court certified the class which ASIC’s lawyers called the largest litigation class ever certified for insurance policyholders. In 2011, the case settled for class-wide relief valued at $86 million, including prospective relief in the form of reduced premiums. Wahl v. American Security Insurance Company, 2010 WL 1881126 (N.D. Cal.).