Under the 'Suit' clause of California's standard form fire policy (§2071), how long does the insured have to bring an action against the insurer on the policy?

Explanation

The suit clause in the §2071 standard form provides that no suit or action on the policy is sustainable unless all the requirements of the policy have been complied with and unless it is commenced within 12 months next after inception of the loss. Where the loss relates to a state of emergency as defined in Government Code §8558(b), that period is extended to 24 months. (a) borrows the four-year written-contract limitation, which the policy's own shorter clause displaces; (c) invents a six-month period running from proof of loss rather than from inception of the loss; and (d) is wrong because 24 months is the state-of-emergency extension, not the universal rule, and California expressly permits this shortened period in the standard form.