Wildfire Litigation Lawyers
in California
Wildfire Litigation Is Personal
Chris and Kevin Moon come from a family of firefighters and lawyers. For this reason, Moon Law’s Wildfire Litigation Practice is not only grounded in our history, but it is deeply personal.
For years, Moon Law has fought the utility companies responsible for starting some of the largest wildfires in United States history. And we’ve won every time—securing tens of millions of dollars for our clients.
WHY
Why We Are Different
Client-Focused Approach
Unfortunately, many law firms choose to represent hundreds or thousands of wildfire victims at one time, which often means victims will rarely, if ever, speak with an attorney. This assembly-line litigation frequently leaves victims frustrated and unhappy. Even worse, these victims might miss out on valuable compensation.
Moon Law is different. Our dedicated attorneys specialize in California wildfire litigation because we understand how the fire has personally impacted you and your family, as well as your home or business, including any injury or financial loss. We take the time to get to know every single client and how he or she has been personally impacted by the wildfire. By doing so, we are able to more effectively represent our clients and their claims, and ensure we pursue the full scope of damages to which each client is entitled.
Proven Results for Fire Victims
Moon Law APC has successfully recovered over $100 million for California wildfire victims. Our lawyers have handled some of the largest wildfire lawsuits in California history.
WHO
Who We Represent
We proudly advocate for both residential and commercial wildfire victims, helping clients recover from devastating losses and pursue justice. Our clients include the following:
Commercial Clients
- Hotels, motels, and lodges
- Restaurants and retailers
- Small business owners and entrepreneurs
- Timber Companies
- Nonprofit organizations
Residential Clients
- Homeowners with burned or destroyed property seeking compensation to rebuild.
- Residents of single-family, multi-family, manufactured, and mobile homes
- Condominium owners and renters
- Individuals suffering from personal injury, emotional distress, or financial loss due to wildfires
Wrongful Death
- We also represent families who have tragically lost loved ones in wildfires by thoroughly investigating liability, filing lawsuits, and pursuing justice through mediation or trial. Our firm holds utility companies accountable for their conduct.
DAMAGES AVAILABLE IN A WILDFIRE LITIGATION
When fire victims pursue a wildfire lawsuit, there are many types of damages they may recover. Our experienced wildfire litigation attorneys expertly guide individuals and businesses through every step of wildfire litigation, ensuring full compensation for losses caused by utility companies or other responsible parties.
The following are the most common types of damages available to victims of wildfires:
- Destroyed / Damaged / Burned Structures
- Cost of Rebuild
- Pre-Fire Fair Market Value
- Landscaping / Vegetation
- Personal Property
- Loss of Use / Alternative Living Expenses
- Personal Income Loss
- Business Income Loss
- Personal Injury
- Forestry / Timber Damage
- Value of Destroyed Timber
- Rehabilitation / Reforestation / Replanting Costs
- Erosion / Flood Control / Streambed Reconstruction / Resource Protection Costs
- Damage to Soil
- Destruction of Pre-Merchantable Timber
- Lost Profits
- Salvage Costs
- Destruction of Recreational Use / Views
- Intangible Environmental Damages
- Emotional Distress / Mental Anguish
- Wrongful Death
OUR TEAM OF WILDFIRE EXPERTS
To support and maximize the damages we seek on behalf of our clients, we work with a team of highly respected wildfire experts. Our experts include economists, arborists, foresters, appraisers, forensic accountants, as well as experts in reconstruction costs, remediation, infrastructure, and real estate.
Cost-of-Rebuild Experts
The loss of a home or business or the severe structural damage caused by a wildfire can be absolutely devastating. Unfortunately, nearly all wildfire victims are underinsured. Even worse, insurance companies will often undervalue the cost to rebuild, leaving wildfire victims without the resources necessary to recover. For these reasons, Moon Law’s wildfire attorneys hire deeply experienced cost-of-rebuild experts, who painstakingly assess and evaluate your losses to determine the true costs to rebuild. Using detailed expert reports, Moon Law is able to aggressively advocate for the cost-of-rebuild damages that accurately reflect your losses.
Landscaping, Vegetation, and Tree-Loss Experts
One of the most overlooked and underappreciated areas of damages concerns typical home landscaping, hardscaping, vegetation, and tree loss. In particular, mature trees are often an important element of the residential landscape, adding significant value to your home. Moon Law’s wildfire attorneys rely on well-respected landscaping, vegetation, and tree-loss experts who will typically analyze the following damages:
- Site clearing and removal
- Grading
- Site regeneration
- Costs of replacing mature trees and vegetation
- Mitigating hazardous site conditions
- Erosion impacts
- Infrastructure
- Irrigation
- Fencing and retaining walls
- Lawn and turf
- Hardscaping
Soil Contamination Experts
Unfortunately, when homes and other structures burn, they typically release a wide variety of pollutants into the soil, including heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium. These metals can settle into the soil, posing long-term toxicity risks. The costs to remediate these contaminants can be substantial and can far exceed what insurance companies are willing to cover. Moon Law’s soil contamination experts will conduct detailed testing of our clients’ properties to determine what, if any, toxicity risks are present, and what remediation is necessary to combat those risks. And we can pursue these remediation costs in a wildfire lawsuit.
Forensic Accounting Experts
Wildfires not only destroy property, but can also cause substantial wage and business income losses. To ensure our clients maximize their damages, Moon Law works with highly experienced forensic accounting experts who carefully analyze and calculate wage and business income losses, and provide detailed expert reports supporting our clients’ damages
What About Insurance?
Our clients are often surprised to learn that we can demand compensation for damages that are not covered by insurance. These categories include emotional distress, mental anguish, and other non-economic losses.
Importantly, for our clients who were fortunate to have been insured, in almost every instance, those clients were underinsured to some extent. Fortunately, through a wildfire lawsuit, we are able to seek compensation to address their insurance shortfall. And we pursue a number of damages not covered by insurance, such as emotional distress.
No Fee Unless We Win
To be clear, our clients only pay us if we secure a settlement or judgment on their behalf. If we don’t, they pay nothing.