- Insurance and Disaster Relief Information

Insurance Gouging and Increased Rates

cupetom — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:59:05 -0500

Unfortunately, the following blog entry appears to be indicative of a new trend occurring post Katrina and Rita. We really need to get mobilized on tis issue and lobby our state and national representatives!

"1645. House Insurance Doubles
by bsyprsn, 10/17/05 19:34 ET
Unfortunately my house insurance is due this month ... Last year it was $874.00 yr. Now It's going to be $1,725.00 yr. for the same policy. I called to get quotes from another companies and the avg. was about $2,300.00 if there hasn't been any recent claims. "

This could really hurt a lot of people so we need to nip this in the _____ right now.

Tom

Claim Number vs Reference Number (& a song!)

cupetom — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:19:50 -0500

The following is important news for those awaiting calls from Adjustors - there is a big difference between a Reference number (the one you get the first time you call) and a Claim number. Also, if after reading this you feel bad, read the following song and I hope you feel better. The team who created it deserve an award!

20575. BywaterBlues.....
by nomoreboard, 9/28/05 14:38 ET
I read your earlier post re La.Cit. Fair Plan, (which is) also my homeowner insurer, and (I) thought the reference number they gave me 3 weeks ago was my claim number. I was shocked to find that , when I called yesterday, it wasn’t and that I was supposed to call back and update my file to get the actual claim number (even though no one ever told me in the many previous calls to them that I had to do this). I suggest that you call them and make sure you have a claim number assigned (as opposed to a mere reference number). They also gave me the number of the adjusting company (Insurance Company) but their line stays busy. This is rapidly turning into a fiasco and Fair Plan policy holders may need to take collective action. I too have State Farm flood insurance and found them to be accessible. Maybe we should start by registering a complaint with the La. Insurance Commissioner. After that, I'm ready to take legal action.

20575.1. 225 291 2773 fax
by BywaterBlues, 9/28/05 14:43 ET
Re: BywaterBlues..... by nomoreboard, 9/28/05

Lawsuits Begin

cupetom — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:47:01 -0500

Please find attached (below) the most recent news on the initiation of severral class action lawsuits related to insurance, as well as various inital comments on the net/blogs.

Tom

19465. Insurance Class Action Filed
by Chathamchats, 9/16/05 10:33 ET
As predicted, the class action against the property and casualty insurance industry over its coverage position with respect to the hurricane has been filed in Baton Rouge, according to the TP. The attorneys involved, who are among the most powerful and savvy of the lawyers who typically represent the victims of wrongdoing, have promised to do everything possible to expedite the suit's resolution, and the State Legislature is putting enormous pressure on the industry as well. This is all very good news. All who are or will soon face arguments with their homeowners insurers over the extent of their coverage have reason to feel better about either seeing the carriers pay their limits in fairly short order or be more amenable to compromise. The fact that the insurance industry is also being pressured by the state's lawmakers to be more compassionate is highly significant. This is a factor that should not be overlooked.

19465.1. Awesome news
by Angelle2442, 9/16/05 11:31 ET
Re: Insurance Class Action Filed by Chathamchats, 9/16/05
Awesome post. Additionally, last nite on CNN, the governor of Mississippi stood up and said that he was going to force property and casualty companies to comply. Blanco needs to step up to the plate here in LA too! This is an $800 billion dollar industry folks, insurance companies have the capital to comply.

General Insurance Information and a Survivor's Story

cupetom — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 18:07:18 -0500

Please find attached the highlights for today:

Tom

What to Expect -- You Survived the Disaster -- Now What?
A view for a previous hurricane survivor
by "PC Bill" with permission

I can give you a little insight as I went through Charley last year.

I would not put much hope in FEMA, nor waste much time with them. They are good at wasting hours and hours of your time to then only give you pennies.

Fortunately damage to my house was not extensive enough to force me to leave. I could have left, not sure where I could have found a hotel, but chose not to leave. I have pets and I was not willing to end up with more losses from looters. I spent 26 days without electricity, for 16 days driving 30 miles one-way for gas (every other day). Gas was roughly $1.75 a gallon then and a generator used 10 gallons a day. I have no clue about how much gas I used to reach a gas station with power.

I had no income for nearly 45 days. My Insurance deductible was just under $4000.00 due to our Insurance changes after Andrew. I did not see anyone from my insurance company for sixty days. Insurance does not cover a generator, fuel, or basic clean-up. They first insurance money came 75 days after the day of loss. Of course they paid nothing in interest on my money that they kept in their possession for 75 days.

Getting back to FEMA, they sent an inspector out who asked tons of questions, took pictures and gave no advise, no help and no decision. I then got a letter of denial saying I was not eligible for any assistance. This seems to be their standard response. Issue a denial and see if you will push for something. I appealed, jumped through many hoops all wasting many hours that I could have spent, cleaning up, doing repairs, etc. In the end they gave me $383.65, which was exactly half of what I paid for a generator the day after the storm.

Timelines and Recommendations for Insurance

cupetom — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 18:41:24 -0500

Hi all:

Here are today's updates in insurance. Again, any confirmation on whether or not Parc Fontaine had insurance or not would be greatly appreciated (see previous entries and Parc Fontaine entries in the other Polimom forums).

19126. Who does Insurance pay first
by worriedinCal, 9/13/05 18:43 ET
Ok lets suppose the Insurance companies do start paying, who do they pay. If the home was flooded but not totalled, do they pay the lender, do they pay the construction repair company or do they pay the policy holder, Ive never made a homeowner's claim in my life, so I am a little lost.

19126.2. Who does insurance pay
by AndyofCroix, 9/13/05 21:18 ET
Re: Who does Insurance pay first by worriedinCal, 9/13/05
It pays the "Loss payees" listed in the policy. If you have a mortgage and the company is listed as a loss payee, the check will be made payable to both you and the company. If you are having the restoration work done, the mortgage company will probably set up an escrow account to disburse the funds to pay the contractor as various mile stones are met.

19228. INSURANCE-Advance Payments
by JChanes, 9/14/05 13:35 ET
Here's another post from an insurance coverage lawyer. First, and I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, ask for an advance from your insurance company NOW. Don't wait to settle the whole claim (I'm in NYC and handled many, many small business claims on a pro bono basis -- and of all these dozens of claims, the first one to be settled was paid out nine months after 9/11. NINE MONTHS. Most people cannot afford to wait that long.). Here's how you work it: If your insurance company says your claim is worth, say, $1,000 and you think it's worth $100,000, tell them you want the undisputed amount of the claim ($1,000) paid now as an interim payment (if they want you to sign anything to get this money, make sure the document states that this is an "Interim Payment." Write in "Interim" by hand if you have to before you sign.). In most states, insurance companies are obligated to pay undisputed amounts immediately and cannot hold up the whole claim. Not sure about LA, but it's the law in NY, which is much less policyholder-friendly than LA. Second, if you have (or may have had) looting, that is a SEPARATE OCCURRENCE that would trigger coverage under a standard form homeowner's policy. That means you would have coverage (and additional policy limits available) for your looting losses even if you have no coverage for flood losses or hurricane losses, so give notice for your looting losses as well.I would be happy to discuss this in more depth with any of you. Although I cannot take on the kind of pro bono effort that I did after 9/11, I am doing some Hurricane Katrina pro bono work and I would consider the time spent talking to any of you as part of those efforts: I can be reached at 212-785-6543 or emailed directly atsjchanes@aol.com Now I have to put in the standard disclaimer about this not being legal advice, etc., to make my malpractice insurance company happy.

Conflicting Opinions Over Consequent Damages

cupetom — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:43:22 -0500

Here is a very interesting excerpt from a discussion on who pays in situations of concurrent damage/consequent damage:

Tom

19107. Allstate Insurance - Landlord's Policy
by TommyI, 9/13/05 16:55 ET
Just got a call from Allstate. We have a landlord's policy w/them. They said they will give us 2 weeks worth of rent for our units because of the madatory evacuation. They didn't have our specific policy, but said that is separate from Loss of Use Coverage. Just wanted to put that out there if anyone needed it.

19103. Katrina & Insurance Proceeds
by Chathamchats, 9/13/05 16:44 ET
The person posting this message is an insurance coverage lawyer and a Lakefront resident. First, because the scope of our loss is indescribable, I just want to figuratively hug all who have lost so much, both tangibly and intangibly. It's as much a way of life that's been lost as a physical thing: fun over drinks at the Steak Knife, for example, or burgers and spuds across the street -- incomparable snowballs next to puppies and little fishies. However, this note is primarily intended to remind all of you who are agonizing over your insurance issues, and who are not lawyers -- we can actually be useful on occasion -- that it is impossible to intelligently discuss the issues that are about to arise on an unprecedented scale between homeowners and the private insurance industry in this place. Forgive the cliche, but it's too complicated. Just count on this; the property and casualty insurance industry is not going to willingly and quickly pay billions and billions of dollars in benefits for losses they don't believe are covered. It don't work that way, and much of this is driven by the reinsurance industry in London anyway. Want money -- fly to London, stand in front of Lloyd's, and scream your head off. It's their dollars, at the end of the day! In addition, intelligent discussion of the issues demands the discussion of policy language to do correctly. This is not something one can do here. However, forget all about the industry willingly and voluntarily accepting the argument that the losses actually sprang from negligence respecting the floodwalls -- and are thus covered losses. That ain't happenin! To the contrary, the relevant exclusions explicitly provide that if there are concurrent causes of loss, some of which are not covered, there is no coverage under the homeowners policy. So, a flood caused by massive stupidity is still not covered -- that's the industry position, at least in writing! On the other hand, the private policies typically have considerably higher limits than the flood policies, and are thus enormously valuable things. The key is to trigger both policies -- where both are held. It is vital that everyone remember that these are totally distinct insurance products insuring totally different risks. The reason a huge coverage battle with the industry is about to arrive, especially for Miss. residents, is because there are such huge incentives to trigger homowners policies massively and the industry will resist that aggressively, contending that the bulk of the loss has been caused by water, which these policies are designed not to cover. At the end of the day, lawyers will likely have to sort this out in litigation. You can reasonably expect class actions to be filed quite soon over these issues. Hopefully, however, and this cannot be emphasized too strongly, it won't come to that and the private underwriters will pay a percentage of their limits to avoid this enormously costly litigation, partly because the industry is likely to lose the litigation as long as the litigation is in state courts. Federal courts may well be a different story, however, a striking irony in a state that has so preponderantly voted in ways that have transormed the federal courts by altering the nature of the persons who people them. Sorry folks, but that's what happens when you vote for folks who are so mentally challenged. In short, stay informed and get ready for the coming war. Try to file your proofs of loss with all insurers as soon as you can. Remember, detail is critical; the form of the proof is unimportant as a matter of law -- detail is all. This will start the clock running on payment by the carrier; and then things will start to happen

Insurance, Rent & the Law

cupetom — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:55:56 -0500

Please find the following updates regarding insurance and rent as it applies to renters.

Tom

"You must remember that a landlord cannot evict you...the court can. I cannot see any court evicting a tenant for non-payment of rent on an apartment the tenant could not occupuy because the tenant followed the orders of law enforcement and evacuated the city. The landlord must first seek the 5 day notice from the constable's office (isn't that closed!) then get a court date that is usually 2 weeks later (tell me again, who is open?). A landlord ABSOLUTELY CANNOT change the locks on your apartment. If he/she does, they will be hit with severe penalties--then you can get yourself a nicer apartment anyway! The only way a landlord can change the locks is if they can prove abandonment...again, no court is going to acknowledge such an immoral claim. They, like myself, need to just write off the losses with insurance."

QUESTION SENT IN RESPONSE TO ABOVE ENTRY
"You and I have the same insurance company. I have not heard anything other than an Adjustor will call me in 5-7 days. Any info or ideas on how to deal with them? Also, with regards to this same carrier/Plan - a VERY important question. Look at the Exclusions Section of our policy. The way I read it is that "consequent" or "secondary" damage is not covered i.e. Parc Fontaine - the roof if apparently "severely damaged" and as a result units may have cracks all the way to the first floor ceilings, with the resultant water damage. So, does our Plan cover water damage to the units or not? (I was denied Flood insurance 2 years ago) What do you think? Also, the Condo Assn. may not have any insurance what so ever per recent unsubstantiated reports.

Important Parc Fontaine Insurance Info that need to be confirmed.

cupetom — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 13:18:04 -0500

I just received the following distressing email. Can anyone confirm the contents? Does anyone have any information on the existence of a Flood Policy and if so, who is included ie. all owners automatically? It appears that Parc Fontaine may not have any insurance other than Liability Insurance.

If this is true, what are the options? The standard Assessment (could be many thousands of dollars per unit), going to FEMA and telling them the condo association does not have insurance, pressuring the condo association to increase the monthly fees in lieu of assessing owners so that the pain of repairs is spread out?

Thanks for your help,

Tom

"Today I was contacted by the Condo Assoc Insurance policy holder and they stated that what I thought was homeowner's insurance is liability only insurance for the Rue Parc Fontaine Condo Assoc. Basically this means we have no insurance. Supposedly there is a flood insurance policy, but again, that company has no record of the policy number provided. Since all our paperwork is inaccessible and the underwriters are in Metairie, we are at a standstill. I'm not sure how other homeowners are affected, but I hope for others you were informed of these details and were able to get outside property insurance."

Flood Insurance Deductable, Adjustors Info and Other (Several entries)

cupetom — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 13:07:37 -0500

Hi there,

Here are some more interesting excerpts collected today. Please review the sectionregarding maximums, three adjustors being required for reviewing multiple aspects of claims, and the deductable.

On a personal note, I have a request:

2.5 years ago I purchased at Parc Fontaine. I acquired Flood insurance as it is necessary for getting a mortgage because the area lies in a flood area (as per the federal and state agencies). While I was negotiating with the banks to get both a commercial loan and a mortgage, the insurance company cancelled my insurance as there was a number of claims from the tail end of huricane that hit Florida. All the companies I tried would not give me Flood insurance as I am living in Canada. The loans and mortgage were approved at the same time all this was happening and approved without Flood insurance, which to this day I do not have and have been unable to get.

Any ideas? Seems that many units in Parc Fontaine may have sustained the dreaded "Subsequent, consequent" damage (water/leaks) that is not covered per the Exclusions section in the standard policy.

Thanks for your help,

Tom

by Trudge, 9/11/05 13:28 ET
Re: flood Versus Homeowners Insurance by ecelis, 9/11/05
Flood covers damage seperately for structure (such as drywall and waterheaters) and also contents (Any personal stuff under the flood waters).
Any damage that was caused by the wind storm is covered under Homeowners. As with flood structure and contents are evaluated seperately.

Insurance Quagmire

cupetom — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 18:25:54 -0500

Friday, 6:01 p.m.

By Rebecca Mowbray
Business writer

Whether the flooding in New Orleans caused by the breach in the 17th Street Canal should be covered by flood insurance policies or homeowners insurance policies is likely to be the key insurance question emerging from Hurricane Katrina, and may end up in court, participants in a meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Insurance said Friday.

National Flood Insurance policies by law are capped at $250,000. Some homes in the New Orleans area that were affected by the 17th Street Canal flooding don’t have flood insurance because they’re not in a flood plain, while many other homes that have flood insurance are worth more than $250,000.

Louisiana lawmakers would like for homeowners insurance policies, which are tied to the value of the house, to cover the damage. If not, some Louisiana lawmakers would like the federal government to create a special appropriation to cover the gap.

“Does the homeowners insurance cover it? That’s going to be the big question down the road,” Sen. James David Cain, a Republican from Dry Creek, who chairs the committee, said in opening remarks. “A lot of issues like the flooding are going to end up in court.”

Kristina Simpson, an intergovernmental affairs specialist from the Federal Emergency Management Agency who came to the meeting to answer lawmakers’ questions, said that in previous disasters, FEMA did not cover the gap if homeowners were underinsured.