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Lawsuit Alleges FEMA Failed to Process Wildfire Claims On Time
Victims
of the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire are suing FEMA and its New Mexico
claims office director as defendants, accusing them of failing to process
claims within a required 180-day time frame.
January 03, 2024 •
Phaedra Haywood, The Santa Fe New Mexican
(TNS) —The federal agency responsible for doling out funds to people
who suffered losses in the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire faces another
lawsuit, this one filed by more than a dozen claimants who allege officials
misrepresented claim deadlines and delayed relief.
The lawsuit, filed recently in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, names the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and its New Mexico claims office
director, Angela Gladwell, as defendants, accusing them of failing to process
claims within a required 180-day time frame.
The 15 plaintiffs say FEMA has "unilaterally decided" the 180-day
period to notify claimants of a compensation offer starts not when a claim is
submitted but after FEMA has "acknowledged" the claim, which can be
as long as five months after it was filed.
This has resulted in ethical violations, including FEMA providing
preferential treatment to certain wildfire victims and delaying payments to
others who "desperately" need to repair or rebuild homes, forcing
them to spend money on alternative housing and litigation, the lawsuit
alleges.
The agency "is not even complying with its own arbitrarily applied
deadline," the lawsuit adds. It says FEMA has not responded to any
claims filed by the plaintiffs, even though more than 180 days have passed
since FEMA acknowledged them.
The plaintiffs filed their claims at various times between Feb. 10 and June
23, 2023, the lawsuit says, and all of them were acknowledged June 28,
meaning the claimants were due responses no later than Dec. 22; the date came
and went without offers from FEMA.
FEMA's New Mexico information center declined to comment on the lawsuit but
offered some explanation for irregularities related to claims processing.
"We have identified a flaw in our reporting system which impacted the
timeline management of some cases," the agency wrote in an unsigned
email Tuesday. "While this has impacted some claims, we are addressing
the issue, and are calling the parties involved to notify them and discuss
available steps to process their claims as quickly as possible. As has been true
from the beginning, the Claims Office team is committed to ensuring that
claims are processed as quickly as possible and every impacted New Mexican
receives the maximum eligible compensation."
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from the Singleton Schreiber law
firm, including former State Auditor Brian Colón.
They are asking the court to order FEMA to comply with the deadline, to
declare the 180-day period starts when a claim is submitted, and to order the
agency to immediately pay claims submitted more than 180 days ago.
The plaintiffs' collective claims total nearly $17 million in losses, Colón
said in an interview Tuesday.
"Included in that are people who had total losses of their homes and
were displaced and have to be able to begin rebuilding because they haven't
been able to get even a partial payment," he said.
Among the group are three generations of one family in which one person from
each generation lost a home — including a grandmother in her 90s who
"doesn't have time to wait for FEMA to do its job anymore," Colón
added.
Colón said the firm has dozens more clients in the same position and plans to
file a similar claim on their behalf later this week.
"The clock is ticking and FEMA continues to fail the people of Northern
New Mexico," he said.
The Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire began as two prescribed burns set by the
U.S. Forest Service in January and April 2022. The blazes combined to become
the state's largest ever wildfire, scorching about 341,000 acres in the
mountains east of Santa Fe, destroying hundreds of homes and displacing
thousands of residents in rural villages throughout the area.
The federal government set aside nearly $4 billion last year to pay claims
related to the fire.
As of Dec. 21, FEMA had paid $276 million to 880 claimants who suffered
losses, according to the agency's website.
FEMA has faced multiple lawsuits in the past year from people who accuse the
agency of making it difficult to access relief funds.
One accused the agency of failing to provide public records requested by
claimants and another alleged federal officials pressured people who suffered
losses to accept settlements without talking to their lawyers.
©2024 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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