California’s insurance market was already shedding insurers as some have opted to pull out of the state over the last few years due to wildfire risk. With financial losses estimated to reach up to $20 billion once the current Los Angeles fires settle, making it California’s most expensive disaster ever, insurance lawyers are now expecting a rise in litigation and possible changes in the insurance market.

“You’ve got different fires with different possible causes and then you have [at least] 180,000 people subject to evacuation works, not to mention all the businesses that have been destroyed. It is the kind of thing that you anticipate a lot of litigation coming out of,” Los Angeles-based McGuireWoods partner Kirk Pasich said.