Today is my birthday—so why not a little fun!? Let’s poke the bear a little bit.

Steve Badger and the Zelle law firm are hosting a seminar called 2021 Texas Hail / Harvey / COVID-19 Claims Seminar. This is what they say about the seminar:

There has been a broad interest in Zelle’s COVID-19 white-papers and webinar series, so there is obviously a great desire for current information on the claims and litigation issues relating to this new risk exposure. As a result, we have decided to add a second conference day dealing specifically with COVID-19 issues. The new dates for are April 15-16, 2021 (Wed and Thurs). Hail / Harvey will be covered on April 15th and COVID-19 will be covered on April 16th. Attendees can of course attend either or both days.

I suggest that everybody take advantage of this invitation posted on the seminar web page:

We look forward to seeing all of you in April. Until then, feel free to reach out to Steve Badger (sbadger@zelle.com) anytime with issues or concerns arising in your claims.

Now, one Zelle attorney gave a seminar at the PLRB not so long ago that good ole Steve had to write a guest blog about comments made about public adjusters:

I was surprised to learn this week of a PLRB webinar slide in which an attorney from my law firm made a general negative statement about public adjusters. I had never seen the slide before. I knew nothing about it. In fact, I initially doubted that it was even real, as I didn’t expect that an attorney in my law firm would take such a position.

But, unfortunately, the slide was real.

It was just being circulated and considered out of context.

The attorney who presented the PLRB webinar in 2018, which has not been presented since, advised that the slide was a lighthearted attempt at humor and that the oral presentation accompanying the slide made that abundantly clear. The attorney assured me that the discussion coinciding with the slide focused on the fact that most public adjusters are professional and honest, but that there are a few “bad actors” that can create problems in the claims process. Nothing else in the presentation was negative towards the public adjusting profession as a whole.

Regardless, I can see how the slide – when viewed alone and without context – could be construed in a negative manner. I get that. And as a result, I apologize.

I wonder what the other sponsors—

  • Jim Koontz
  • Rimkus
  • Verified Building Sciences
  • JS Held
  • EFI Global
  • ENVISTA Forensics
  • Rooftech
  • Cavalry Restoration

—will say about public adjusters, restoration contractors and those pain-in-the-neck policyholder attorneys when they think we are not listening in or there to watch?

I have not come across Cavalry Restoration, but they describe their appraisal services as follows:

Cavalry Construction & Consulting performs appraisal work for numerous insurance companies on a regular basis. We are a trusted consultant for insurance companies because we use our extensive knowledge in construction to properly evaluate a loss using only the facts.

We have completed thousands of appraisals for many different insurance companies and law firms. We have a proven track record of settling appraisals before an umpire even gets involved. We work off the facts and always write an estimate that reflects that.

In certain cases, an umpire can’t be avoided and Cavalry has substantial experience in umpire work as well. With our extensive insurance, construction, and loss adjusting experience, we are often called by appraisers and property owners to act as umpires during the insurance appraisal process. Cavalry is always fair, impartial, and just like in our appraisal work, our umpires work only off of the facts.

I did note that they advertised the OSHA logo at the bottom of their web page. I wonder if they include all costs of the required OSHA measures for residential and commercial construction in their estimates and for appraisal?

No bookies are taking bets that Steve and his group will have primary seminar topics about how to fully and promptly pay insurance company customers what they are owed. If you want those seminar topics and discussions, come to Win The Storm in New Orleans at the end of the month.

Have a great day!

Thought For The Day

I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.
—Arthur Ashe