American politics and government can make people extraordinarily upset. The very nature of democracy, modern regulation, those being regulated and those regulating promotes active and emotional disagreements of what is the best public policy and how it should be determined. So, my first observation from yesterday’s post, Colorado House Bill 18-1153 Concerning Appraisals for Insurance … Continue Reading
Proof of loss rules are not what I normally think about Kentucky. Kentucky usually makes me think of beautiful rolling hills, great basketball, fast horses and the Kentucky Derby. But, we recently had some questions about proof of loss in Kentucky and thought we would share our findings.… Continue Reading
An older retired Florida Circuit Court judge once told me that his first job out of law school was in the claims department of an insurance company. He told me that all the company’s “adjusters” were licensed attorneys and that it was common for attorneys to act in that capacity during the 1930’s.… Continue Reading
Sean Shaw is a practicing attorney resolving legal issues for people and it is only fitting that he is running to become Florida’s Attorney General. Do you want an honest person that sees both sides of the aisle, wants to seek practical resolutions, and still rise up against obvious wrong? Sean Shaw is your candidate.… Continue Reading
This morning’s post by Jennifer Van Voorhis about California mudslides and mudflows made me think, “we’ve written about mudflow and mudslide issues before.” So, I did something that I suggest others do when researching topics on the Merlin Property Insurance Coverage Law blog—use the search function on the upper right side of the blog to … Continue Reading
An insurance agent asked the following question relating to the ability of public adjusters to advise policyholders about the types of insurance coverage policyholders should purchase:… Continue Reading
In 1981, Sandy Burnette ordered for me my first Tanqueray and tonic at the University Club in Tampa. I was 22 years old and a clerk for Paul Butler. Sandy Burnette was a legal God to arson investigators and a new associate attorney to Butler’s property insurance firm, which numbered less than five attorneys. Paul … Continue Reading
The Virgin Islands are beautiful. The Virgin Islands insurance scenario is pretty ugly right now. One question that has been posed to us several times since Hurricane Irma and Maria struck is whether venue clauses requiring suit to be filed somewhere other than the Virgin Islands are valid.… Continue Reading
Being President of Merlin Law Group is very humbling. The above photo shows three great property insurance attorneys, Mike Duffy, Christina Phillips, and Ed Eshoo; I defy anybody to say there are better in the Midwest.… Continue Reading
Fires, and especially the recent California wildfires, are going to raise questions related to the long-term impact of fire, smoke, and the effects of smoke particulates on electrical gadgets, computers, and apparatus. We live in a day when computers and small computer chips are in virtually everything electrical or mechanical. It is an obvious question … Continue Reading
California wildfires are prominent in the news. Many are rightfully concerned about the dangers posed from flames, heat and active smoke. However, soot and debris left in fire damaged buildings pose a significant and often overlooked danger.… Continue Reading
The Ruskin National Weather Service in conjunction with the Port Heavy Weather Advisory Group, which covers West Florida, published the attached recap of the 2017 Hurricane Season. I thought it was a great summary of what happened and discusses the major storms we faced during the 2017 Hurricane Season. The summary warns that La Niña … Continue Reading
All states have unique insurance laws following disasters. Many important rights and options are not contained in the insurance contract. California wildfire victims and policyholders are discovering first-hand that some insurance adjusters are not being honest or upfront regarding their rights following the 2017 wildfires.… Continue Reading
Merlin Law Group is co-counsel with a very fine San Francisco based law firm, Levin Simes. We filed a wildfire lawsuit on behalf of a vineyard yesterday. It is hard to describe the devastation and magnitude of these fires, but our complaint noted in part: The North Bay Fires are some of the most destructive … Continue Reading
Nationwide Insurance Company claims managers may need to add botany and common-sense training to their claims education program. A Nationwide claims specialist sent photos of hibiscus plants to police indicating that Nationwide policyholders with a fallen tree loss were growing marijuana. The Nationwide policyholders look straight out of central casting as the “perfect aging couple” … Continue Reading
Have you noticed that some seminars have just a few speakers and they are not in the middle of the issues, but pretenders? Harris Martin Publishers asked me to co-chair a Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Irma seminar and if you are an insurance attorney, public adjuster, insurance claims manager or governmental counsel with FEMA claims, … Continue Reading
I was sent an article last night with the headline, Sean Shaw for Attorney General? The article correctly noted that Sean is an insurance attorney with the Merlin Law Group. It may also be correct that some unknown people are asking this question for unknown reasons.… Continue Reading
Chase Mathis called me on Tuesday morning as soon as my plane touched down in New Jersey to ask if he could be interviewed by a San Francisco radio station about the insurance issues those suffering from the California wildfires were facing. He explained the radio station called and wanted him to answer certain … Continue Reading
Barry Zalma recently wrote an excellent article, Claims in a Catastrophe, in the The CPA Journal. Zalma is a very experienced property insurance attorney. He is a prolific writer of articles and books involving property insurance claims. To all policyholders having felt the impact of 2017 catastrophe claims, one important point in Zalma’s article is … Continue Reading
Rene Sigman is co-chairing an important Hurricane Harvey seminar today discussing all the Hurricane Harvey issues. Yours truly is on a panel discussing how Hurricane Harvey differs from other hurricane litigation, but there is one similarity even worse. . .TWIA is again on the warpath against its own customers.… Continue Reading
The Law and Procedure of Insurance Appraisal is a fantastic work by Jonathan Wilkofsky. It is in its third edition and 1,400 pages explaining in full everything a property insurance practitioner would want to know about the topic. Here is a video of Jonathan describing the benefits of his treatise:… Continue Reading
The Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Committee held a public hearing last Tuesday. The video above is my very brief testimony at the hearing where I questioned the Hurricane Irma Closed Claim statistics provided by Florida’s Insurance Commissioner, David Altmaier. The Commissioner was a math teacher before joining the Office of Insurance Regulation. I have … Continue Reading
Amy Bach of United Policyholders and Paula Palozzi, Associate Director of the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, Insurance Division, held a seminar at the First Party Claims Conference and called on aggrieved policyholders to file written complaints with departments of insurance. Palozzi explained that when insurance companies pay too little, a written complaint about … Continue Reading
