Public adjusting is considerably a young occupation in the United States. Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with Norman Lesser, a public adjuster who has one of the original public adjusting licenses in Florida. His public adjusting firm was established in 1958. The information Mr. Lesser shared with me was priceless for so many reasons. One reason is what I like to call the History Channel effect. I am sure most of you reading this are familiar with the History Channel. You either have a favorite program on it, find yourself watching it without intention because it draws you in, or you never have to change the channel because it is all you watch! Sure, “History” may have been boring for most in school, but the stories and the history behind something you are attached to or vested in is often very fascinating and helpful

One of the most interesting shows is Modern Marvels, which answers questions of how or why things work and it makes understanding the history interesting. I think when you actually are interested in something like, how the Earth was formed or the strongest building materials, you pay attention and remember the information, and it impacts (maybe even just slightly) your future decisions because you have more knowledge.

The same thing is true if you are the youngest sibling in a family; the youngest quickly figures out how to make his or her life easier based on the misadventures and successes of the older kids in the family. The youngest knows the history because he watched the battles of the other kids and now knows that Plan A and Plan B often failed, but Plan C gets you the extra cookie every time.

How does this relate to public adjusting? Well, to know what to expect in the future, you must look at the past.

History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.
-Robert Penn Warren

I want to chronicle both the history of public adjusting and your case stories. In How to Make More Money, I provided information about a public adjusting contract in New York and how the contract was upheld by the court. I provided information learned from public adjuster contributions in the post, Contents Inventories and Public Adjusters. I want add more personal in depth stories about public adjusters as well as get the story behind cases—most often, published cases do not mention the public adjuster.

To do this the right way, I need to know about what is going on in the field and what has been going on since you started as a public adjuster. So I am providing a form. If you think that history is important for public adjusters, please take just a few minutes and email the form answers to me at nvinson@merlinlawgroup.com You can fill in as much or as little detail as you like. I know we all are busy, but let me hear what is on your mind and what you have been through.

The resources currently available, at least those available to the general public, do not properly and justly spotlight public adjusting as a profession or provide a complete history of public adjusters. Just like Norman Lesser, I want to share your story and know your background. But I need the information from the source. Mr. Lesser agreed to sit down and talk to me to tell his story and I am setting up a meeting with him this month to learn more.

Now, when I begin to post the detailed public adjuster stories, please feel free to comment — but also to send me your story. I am starting with the materials available to me and trying to expound. If you do an internet search on public adjusting, you will see there is not much substantive information being shared in a public forum about the profession, the people, the cases –triumphs and losses. Sure, everyone has their own website, but websites serve different purposes than a chronicle.

So email me the responses, then let’s chat so that I may share your story and find out what American History your files contain.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to send this information to me. If you would like to contact me by telephone, I can be reached at 813-229-1000. If you think there is additional information that should be gathered from the public adjusters throughout the state, please let me know so that we can learn more about the past for even greater success in the future.