§ 340.9.Insurance Claim For Damages Arising Out of Northridge Earthquake of 1994

The January 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged tens of thousands of homes across the San Fernando Valley, and much of that damage did not show up right away. Cracked foundations, shifted framing, and hidden structural harm sometimes surfaced only after a policyholder’s ordinary window for suing an insurer had already closed. Section 340.9 addresses that gap with a narrow, one-time fix rather than a lasting change to how insurance disputes are timed.

The section revives claims that were otherwise barred solely because the statute of limitations had run, but only for insurance claims tied to Northridge earthquake damage, and only if the policyholder had already reached out to the insurer or the insurer’s representative about potential earthquake damage before January 1, 2000. That contact requirement keeps the revival window from becoming an opening for brand-new claims invented after the fact; it is meant for people who raised the issue with their carrier at the time but never got to court before the deadline passed. Once revived, a claim had to be filed within one year of the section’s effective date.

The revival does not reach every old claim. It excludes any claim already litigated to finality in court, and it excludes any claim resolved through a signed written settlement where the insured was represented by California counsel who signed off on the agreement. Subdivision (c) also makes clear the section leaves untouched any claim that was not yet time-barred when the section took effect; it rescues expired claims rather than lengthening deadlines that hadn’t run out.