Marshall Fire victim Sandy Quiller can breathe more easily, she says thanks to a Denver Gazette story which featured her plight.
Quiller was feeling hopeless, as the clock was ticking on her ability to pay rent without help from her insurance company. She was insured for 12 months, but Safeco Insurance refused to budge on giving her an extra year of "additional living expenses" coverage, even though she had no control over the situation.
After The Denver Gazette wrote a story about Quiller's situation, her company called her Friday with the good news.
“Are you sitting down?” she said her adjustor asked her. Her Safeco representative, who is a wildfire specialist, then told Quiller that Safeco had reversed its decision. After refusing to pay Additional Living Expenses (ALE) past her 12 month policy, Safeco is going to pay for the Superior woman’s apartment and furniture rental for an extra year while she rebuilds.
Quiller felt no one would listen to her until she became a news story.
"Thank you thank you thank you!!!” she wrote in a text.
Quiller also faces the injustice of an homeowner's association that's charging her dues for a hole in the ground. It's a $362 drain on her bank account, syphoned as monthly dues by her Ridge at Superior HOA. It’s a battle she lost early on, even though her lot has no lawn to mow nor trash to haul.
ALE refers to coverage under a homeowner’s policy that pays the additional costs of living should a policyholder be temporarily displaced from their residence.
The 71 year-old lost everything except a suitcase full of clothes in the Marshall Fire.
In a county known internationally for its robust running scene, the Quiller name is royalty. Quiller’s late husband, Jerry, for whom the annual Pac 12 Quiller Classic track and field meet is named, coached the Colorado Buffaloes to three Big 8 championships and mentored 19 All-Americans before transferring to Army to finish his career. He died in 2012 at the age of 69.
“My sons asked if anything was found in the rubble from Dad,” said the widow who stayed in the home they bought 25 years ago. A Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team sifted through the what was left of it, intent on finding Quiller’s gold ring from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, an honorary sword meant for his sons, and family photos; but they came up short. Thirty paintings by Quiller’s brother, Stephen, a well-known artist, are also gone.
Quiller told The Denver Gazette that with the clock ticking, she was so stressed out about money, she was spending all of her time researching what to do when she got thrown out of her apartment.
The predicament of underinsured Marshall Fire victims is not uncommon, and in fact it’s been such a concern, Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway wrote a letter to insurance companies last December begging them to help fire survivors rest easier by granting a 12-month extension to victims who had signed up for a year.
“For policyholders in the Marshall Fire area with a total loss of an owner-occupied home and only 12 months of ALE, the Division is asking all insurers to grant an extension of ALE benefits for rebuilding, up to 24 months,” he wrote. Soon after that, Conway published a list of companies who had complied.
There’s no enforcement capability to compel companies to lift the rules, so insurance companies who bent those regulations were doing so because rebuilding was hard to do in a year’s time.
“I didn’t just leave a burner on my stove. This was a natural disaster!” said Quiller.
The Marshall fire swept through hundreds of acres in Boulder County Dec. 30, 2021, destroying more than 1,100 homes and businesses.
There may be other underinsured Marshall Fire victims who, like Quiller, are having problems navigating what can be a confusing system. If so, contact the Division of Insurance Consumer Services Team, 303-894-7490.
