Public Adjusters Targeted by Lawyers for Overcharging Policyholders
A South Florida law firm is apparently looking for cases where a number of public adjusting firms have allegedly overcharged policyholders. I was forwarded an email over the weekend and was then provided a copy of the legal advertisement that literally named a number of public adjusting firms.
The ad stated:
"If You Hired A Public Insurance Adjuster, You May Have Been Overcharged
Have you or someone you know retained a public insurance adjuster to bring or settle an insurance claim and were charged more than 10% commission from 2005 to the present?
...
...If you have retained an insurance adjuster to bring or settle an insurance claim you may have been overcharged. The adjusters are required to limit the percentage they can charge consumers to 10% if your damage occurred during a disaster-related state of emergency, such as a Hurricane, Flood or Fire.
If you have paid more than 10% commission to an insurance adjuster and the claim arose from the disaster-related state of emergency, please contact our offices for a free consultation."
If public adjusters were overcharging, policyholders should be reimbursed. However, I am not privy to these allegations, so I cannot make a specific comment.
I noted in a previous post that a class action lawsuit against a public adjusting firm had been filed on this issue. I anticipate more, given this advertisement.
I plan to analyze what public adjusters can ethically charge based on the fee regulations since 2005 in my free ethics seminar for public adjusters this Thursday in Coral Gables. It is not too late to register; follow the link here or call Kendra Kenney at 813-229-1000.
Florida Statute 626.854(11)(b)(1)&(2) clarifies that the 10% limitation on hurricane claims only applies for 1 year after the declaration of an emergency. It goes on to specify that there is a 20% maximum on all other insurance claim payments.
Additionally, on any reopened claim you can only charge on the supplemental amount that is paid, you cannot include anything that has been previously paid in your contract. I have confirmed this with a special investigator at the Florida Dept. of Financial Services- Bureau of Investigation.
The ad is misleading because YOU CAN charge up to 20% as long as 1 year has passed since the declaration of the emergency. I'll bet once the insured calls and finds out they have no case, the advertising law firm tries probing them ain the hopes they can make a case for something else.
What a bottom of the barrel approach to new business.
Anonymous,
I felt the naming of the public adjusting firms better be with merit or evidence because it implies that those named firms did something unethical. I have intentionally left the names of the firms out of my Blog because I felt that may be unfair.
The current statute you cite helps clarify what can be charged. The older statutes were not as clear, and this may be where the ad is pointed although it says "to the present."
The law firm advertising may be opening themselves up to interference of contractual relationship and libel claims by public adjusters by suggesting the curent clients of the public adjusting firms are being wronged by the activites and ads of the law firm.
I would also like to be clear... I am not an attorney nor do I proclaim to be one and I am not giving legal advise.
I am merely re-typing what was typed to me in response to an inquiry I made as to the fees a public adjuster may charge.
Please consult an attorney for any questions regarding this matter as I am not one.
It would be interesting to know if the South Florida law firm has previously represented insured home/business owner claimants. And, if so, what is their customary aggregate compensation based on 30-50% of their clients claim dollars.
My guess would be that all of this---- the attorneys, adjusters, appraisers, umpires and the property managers-- have gotten way way out of hand given the fact we have had several years of quiet in terms of catastrophic storms in the florida region.
These groups have been free and clear to basically write their own checks for their work and effort; had the legislature the time now, which it does not, it would surely desire to corral in all these groups, starting with the lawyers and re-write some of the laws and regulations so that these groups cease thinking they are the only ones with the key to the bank vault; that is the long and short of all this chaos and tumult that we have been seeing, a la the suits, class actions and the like.