
Instructions for Letters to Your Insurance Company
General Instructions
Your attorneys have drafted a series of sample letters that you can use to begin the insurance claims process and address the most common issues that arise early in your claim. There are five sample letters you can use:
- Letter A: Initial Proof of Loss and Notice to the Insurance Company (the first letter to your insurance company notifies the company of your loss and makes early requests for additional living expenses). PDF
- Letter B: Request for Advance of Additional Living Expenses (this letter asks your insurance company to advance you four months of additional living expenses, so you can secure and pay for alternative housing). PDF
- Letter C: Request for Payment of Interim Additional Living Expenses (this letter requests payment of additional living expenses already incurred by you in the event the insurance company refuses to issue an advance). PDF
- Letter D: Request for Advance on Personal Property Coverage (this letter asks your insurance company to advance you 25% of your personal property coverage). PDF
- Letter E: Request for Partial Payment of Personal Property Loss (this letter requests a partial payment for your personal property losses in the event the insurance company refuses to issue an advance). PDF
Please read the letters. The purpose of each letter should be self-explanatory. As you complete the letters, please keep the following in mind:
- Certain sections or sentences that require you to make editing choices or insert information are highlighted in yellow. It is possible that not every highlighted section will apply to you. Also, you may not have some of the information requested. Edit the letter to make it apply to your situation.
- Letters C and E require you to provide additional documentation. For letter C you will need to provide a partial list of your additional living expenses, which are defined below. For letter E you will need to provide a partial list of your property losses. You can find a generic inventory form to use, here.
- Throughout the letters, certain defined terms are used. These defined terms appear in bold/italic type and are described below. Whenever one of these terms is used in the letters, please insert the requested information. As explained below, most of this information can be obtained from your Declarations Page.
Defined Terms

MEET OUR TEAM
A TRADITION OF SUCCESS

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R. Brent Wisner Attorney, Managing Partner
R. Brent Wisner is the managing partner of Wisner Baum and is based at our San Francisco Bay Area office. Brent is driven by a deep-rooted passion for using the law to help those who have been marginalized and hurt by large, and sometimes malicious, corporations.
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Michael Baum Attorney, Senior Partner
Michael L. Baum is a senior partner of Wisner Baum (formerly Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman) with nearly 40 years of experience. He was the managing partner of Baum Hedlund from 1993 to 2022 and proudly turned over the reins to R. Brent Wisner in January of 2023.
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Bijan Esfandiari Attorney, Senior Partner
Bijan Esfandiari is a pharmaceutical product liability litigation attorney and senior partner at Wisner Baum in Los Angeles. Since joining the firm in 2007, Bijan has worked as lead counsel on several cutting-edge pharmaceutical and medical device cases.
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Timothy Loranger Attorney, Senior Partner, Pilot, Marine Corps Veteran
Timothy A. Loranger is an attorney and senior partner at the national mass disaster law firm of Wisner Baum. A consumer attorney, pilot, and avid citizen advocate.
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Monique Alarcon Attorney, Senior Associate
Monique Alarcon is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum where she focuses her practice on the firm’s medical device cases, pharmaceutical drug liability and consumer fraud litigation.
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W. Crawford Appleby IV Attorney, Senior Associate
William Crawford Appleby IV is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum. He focuses on complex law and motion matters, in-depth legal research and writing, and case strategy.
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Pedram Esfandiary Attorney, Partner
Pedram Esfandiary is a partner and trial attorney based in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum, where he concentrates his practice on toxic tort injuries, pharmaceutical drug liability, class actions, consumer fraud litigation and police misconduct lawsuits.
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Adam Foster Associate, Attorney
Adam M. Foster is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum. Adam concentrates his practice on class actions and mass torts particularly those related to pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and products liability, generally.
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Matthew French Associate, Attorney
Matthew P. French is an attorney at Wisner Baum’s Los Angeles office, where he focuses his practice on the firm’s commercial transportation accident cases. Led by a strong desire to help people when they need it most, Matthew’s clients appreciate his empathetic approach to how he handles his cases.
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Ari Friedman Attorney, Partner
Ari Friedman is a partner and trial attorney at Wisner Baum where he focuses his practice on complex and multi-district litigation, product liability, and personal injury and wrongful death cases stemming from transportation accidents (including aviation accidents and truck crashes) and other catastrophic injury (including TBI).
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Harrison James Associate, Attorney
Harrison E. James is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum, where he focuses his practice on the firm’s pharmaceutical drug liability, class action, and consumer fraud litigation.
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Mayra Maturana Associate, Attorney
Mayra Maturana is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum where she concentrates her practice on toxic tort injuries. She is part of firm’s legal team handling the toxic baby food litigation.
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Clay Robbins III Attorney, Partner
Clay Robbins III is an attorney and partner in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum. A third-generation California lawyer, Clay concentrates his practice on commercial transportation accident litigation and mass disasters.
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Stephanie Sherman Attorney, Partner
Stephanie B. Sherman is a multiple award-winning trial lawyer and partner at Wisner Baum. With over 20 years of experience, she has helped thousands of clients in serious personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, chemical exposure, and dangerous pharmaceutical cases.
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Helen Tokar Attorney, Senior Associate
Helen E. Tokar is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum where she focuses her practice on the firm’s Zantac cancer litigation.
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Cara Luther Attorney of Counsel
Cara J. Luther is of counsel to Wisner Baum, focusing on the firm’s mass disaster cases and commercial transportation accident cases. She worked for 31 years as a full-time attorney at the firm until 2022.
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Frances Phares Attorney of Counsel
Frances M. Phares is of counsel to Wisner Baum, where she focuses her practice on personal injury and wrongful death litigation stemming from major transportation disasters, pharmaceutical product liability cases and toxic exposure across the nation.
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Mark Schlein Attorney of Counsel
Mark H. Schlein transitioned to ”of counsel” status to Wisner Baum in 2022 and continues to focus on the firm’s whistleblower qui tam cases. For 11 years he worked full time as the firm’s top whistleblower attorney, handling dozens of whistleblower cases.
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Ronald L. Goldman Pilot, Attorney of Counsel, Retired
Ronald L. M. Goldman retired after 60 years in the practice of law on January 10, 2023. He held the positions of vice president and senior trial attorney at Baum Hedlund & Aristei & Goldman (now Wisner Baum) and was a pillar of Baum Hedlund for 19 years.
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Paul Hedlund Senior Shareholder, Mechanical Engineer, Retired
Paul J. Hedlund was an attorney for 45 years and a member of our team at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman for 30 of those years. He served as one of the firm’s senior shareholders for more than 20 years, overseeing the firm’s major transportation accident cases.
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J. Clark Aristei Senior Shareholder, Deceased
J. Clark Aristei was an attorney for nearly 40 years and a member of our team at Wisner Baum for 26 of those years. Clark served as a senior shareholder for more than two decades and then semi-retired while also acting as Of Counsel to our firm.
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