Commercial Claims
Large-scale commercial property damage claims including business interruption.
A commercial loss is two claims at once: the damage to the building, equipment and inventory, and the money the business loses while it cannot operate. Carriers scope the first and resist the second. Metropolitan Adjustment Bureau has handled commercial claims since 1972 for restaurants, medical offices, retail, warehouses and logistics, manufacturing, hospitality and apartment buildings across Los Angeles and in every state we serve. The larger the loss, the more the independent documentation changes the outcome.
Business interruption and extra expense
Business income coverage pays the net income the business would have earned, plus continuing expenses, during the period of restoration. Extra expense coverage pays what it costs to keep operating from a temporary location or with temporary equipment. Both are calculated from the business's financial records, and the carrier's forensic accountant will calculate them in the carrier's favor: a shorter restoration period, a lower income projection, continuing expenses excluded. We prepare the business income claim with our own accounting and defend the real restoration timeline, including permitting and rebuild delays the carrier did not cause but must cover.
Buildings, tenant improvements and equipment
Commercial building claims involve coverages that residential claims do not: tenant improvements and betterments, which may be owned by the landlord or the tenant; ordinance and law coverage for code upgrades, which in older Los Angeles buildings can be the largest line item; equipment breakdown; and stock and inventory at selling price or cost depending on the policy. We identify every coverage the policy provides and document the loss against each.
Commercial fire damage across Los Angeles County
Our Encino headquarters puts us within an hour of nearly every commercial corridor in Los Angeles County, and commercial fire claims are the losses we are called to most. In the San Fernando Valley that means restaurants and auto shops in Sylmar, Pacoima and Van Nuys, medical and professional offices in Encino and Sherman Oaks, and the warehouse and manufacturing stock along Roscoe and San Fernando Road. In the west it means retail and office in Calabasas, Woodland Hills and Beverly Hills; in the east, the older commercial buildings of Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and Arcadia; and south, the industrial and logistics base of Vernon, Commerce and the Harbor. Orange County commercial losses, from Fullerton and Anaheim to Irvine, are handled from the same office.
Commercial fire claims in older Los Angeles buildings turn on ordinance-and-law coverage. A 1960s restaurant in Glendale or a 1940s industrial building in Vernon cannot be rebuilt to the code it was built under; seismic retrofit, fire sprinklers, ADA access and electrical upgrades are triggered by the repair permit, and the carrier's estimate almost never includes them. That coverage, plus business income for a restoration period that reflects Los Angeles permitting timelines, is where most of the underpayment on a commercial fire sits.
Multi-family and landlords
Apartment buildings and multi-family properties add loss of rents, tenant displacement and relocation, and common-area damage to the property claim. Fire and water losses in multi-unit buildings spread through shared walls, ceilings and risers in ways a company adjuster inspecting one unit will not scope. We inspect the building, not the unit.
What we cover
Free Claim Review
Send us your policy and any correspondence from the carrier. We will tell you what the claim is worth and whether representation will help. No cost, no obligation.
(818) 905-6800Send a MessageWhat carriers dispute on commercial claims
Commercial Claims: common questions
From the business's financial records: historical revenue, projected income for the loss period, continuing expenses such as payroll and rent, and the length of time it reasonably takes to restore operations. Every one of those inputs is negotiable, and the carrier's accountant will take the low side of each. We prepare the claim with independent accounting.
If the policy includes business income coverage, yes: net income plus continuing expenses for the period of restoration, subject to the policy's limits and waiting period. Restaurants also typically have spoilage, equipment and tenant-improvement coverages that apply. We claim all of them.
Both may apply. The building is usually the landlord's; tenant improvements, fixtures, inventory and business income are usually the tenant's. The lease and both policies determine the split. We review all three documents and make sure nothing falls between them.
Coverage for the extra cost of bringing a damaged building up to current code when it is repaired, including demolition of undamaged portions the code requires. On older commercial buildings it is often the largest single item in the claim, and it is frequently missing from the carrier's estimate.
Yes. Our executive large-loss adjusters have handled multi-million-dollar commercial claims including industrial, hospitality, healthcare and multi-family properties. For large losses we coordinate engineers, forensic accountants and industrial hygienists as part of the claim team.
Related claim services
Comprehensive fire damage assessment and claim management for residential and commercial properties.
Expert handling of water, plumbing, and flood damage insurance claims.
Smoke, soot and ash contamination claims for homes and businesses — including wildfire smoke on standing properties.