A common theme I have noticed lately is the tendency of homeowners, having just weathered a major natural disaster, to compare their ability to recover insurance proceeds to that of their neighbors. Wondering if you can recover alternative living expenses? Curious to know if you can recover for your sewage back-up claim? Rather than looking … 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
I have been involved in several commercial property claims where the insurer has agreed to pay the cost to remove and to replace roof shingles damaged by hail, but has refused to pay the cost to remove and to replace the decking, even though the condition of the decking is such that it no longer … Continue Reading
In Florida, you can rely on three things with certainty—death, taxes, and high property insurance premiums. The reason for the latter is the subject of an intense debate that plays itself out in the halls of Tallahassee and on the editorial pages of our leading newspapers. I will not rehash the debate; our blog archives … Continue Reading
Floods do all sorts of damage. One aspect of damage often overlooked is when the flood removes property from one property owner’s land and deposits it on another’s land. Depending on where your property is located and the severity of the flood event, the debris on the policyholder’s property can be extensive and expensive to … Continue Reading
Bill Wilson is hosting an insurance coverage webinar “When Words Collide…Resolving Coverage and Claims Disputes.” The webinar starts tomorrow, so you need to sign up today.… Continue Reading
The words on the page of the insurance policy matter and are very important to both parties to the agreement. Since the insurance company drafts the policy, if there is any ambiguity in the terms it writes and selects, ambiguity and interpretation will be resolved in the policyholder’s favor and in favor of coverage. However, … Continue Reading
In North Carolina, when an insurance carrier alleges that a policy should be voided because of an application misrepresentation, the allegation is that an insured made a representation that is false and material, and the policy may be voided even if the statement was not fraudulent.1… Continue Reading
Insurance claims people handling first party property insurance claim appraisals in New York may be experiencing responses from insurance carriers informing them appraisal is inappropriate because there are coverage issues involved in the claim. Some are getting this response even where partial payment has been made on the claim. If that is your case, you … Continue Reading
Two weeks ago, Southern California experienced unusually strong Santa Ana winds which brought gusts up to 140 mph in some places. Southern Californians, particularly in the Pasadena area, were forced to clean up debris left by the storm. A staggering 18,000 tons of debris was cleaned up in Pasadena, which is the city’s normal total … Continue Reading
Recently I’ve been approached by several public adjusters regarding coverage limit and underinsured issues with their clients’ insurance policies after a loss. Specifically, I’ve been asked if an insured has any recourse when the insured’s policy falls short, leaving the insured effectively underinsured.… Continue Reading
Hurricanes are known for outrageously destructive forces that can reduce manmade structures to rubble in the blink of an eye. If man can build a structure once, man can rebuild it or repair it after a hurricane damages it. When repairing or rebuilding, it is important to keep track of the construction, especially if insurance … Continue Reading
This morning, I spoke to the Destin, Florida, chapter of the Condominium Association Institute about properly reviewing and purchasing insurance coverage. Before speaking, I saw the prettiest white sugar sand beaches on the planet. Destin also has the clearest crystal blue water you can find along the northern Gulf of Mexico.… Continue Reading
Catastrophic losses impact unimaginable aspects of a business operation that go beyond the loss of net profits. For example, access to an insured property may sometimes be impaired after a loss, and the resulting loss can be covered under Ingress/Egress coverage.… Continue Reading
Gaps in coverage and uninsured losses occur for a number of reasons. Most policyholders are not in the insurance business. They have a very limited understanding of the product they are buying and how risks they face may be insured. In Property Insurance Resolutions for 2010, which follows Concerns and Resolutions for Property Risk Management in … Continue Reading
(Note: This Guest Blog is by Corey Harris, an attorney with Merlin Law Group in the Tampa, Florida, office. This is part of a series he is writing on post-loss duties). Think about this for a moment. A homeowner accidentally leaves something in the oven before heading off to the mall for an afternoon of … Continue Reading
Every now and then, bizarre losses are reported in the news that start me wondering whether there is any insurance coverage for the poor souls suffering through a disaster. An article, "What One Homeowner Learned from 15,000 Gallons of Raw Sewage" points out just how illusory the hope of "full coverage" is under the modern all … Continue Reading
The FC&S Bulletins should be subscribed to by all insurance adjusters and agents. It recently issued a strong suggestion that insurance agents, brokers and risk managers review Earth Movement and Earthquake insurance clauses.… Continue Reading
I love insurance agents. In my view, along with a good banker, lawyer, accountant and doctor, the next trusted person for business and personal matters that one should have a long term relationship with is an insurance agent. Unfortunately, many insurance company cost cutters, probably the types I mentioned yesterday in Don’t Forget Visa at … Continue Reading
The Minnesota Attorney General had enough of insurance companies failing to live up to the promise of putting policyholders back into the same position they were before the loss. Currently, the situation is the same throughout the nation, where insurers say they will do one thing, but have their attorneys argue out of the bargain … Continue Reading
Some insurance policies have small print that can provide significant business income benefits under "dependent properties" that usually go unnoticed following a widespread catastrophe. I would encourage Nationwide and Nationwide agents to write, advertise and call their Hurricane Ike and other commercial policyholder customers about these valuable benefits because it is obvious to me that … Continue Reading
A recent Louisiana decision, Isidore Newman School v. J. Everett Eaves Inc., No. 2008-1368, 2009 La. App LEXIS 1469 (La. App. 4 Cir., Aug 5, 2009), underscores the need for insurance agents and policyholders to fully discuss insurance needs when selecting types and amounts of coverage. Insurance agents generally have a duty to exercise reasonable … Continue Reading
Jewelry is something most adults purchase and accumulate and for which the value is far in excess of what standard policies cover. I thought about this after coming across a post, What Does it Mean to "Replace" a Lost Diamond Bracelet Under State Farm’s Homeowner’s Policy, by Mark Nation. Insurance agents study what their clients … Continue Reading
I received a comment to my post, Cosmetic Damage is "Physical Damage" and Recoverable Under a Property Insurance Policy, asking the following: What about matching of the roof tiles or shingles? The new ones are always going to be different. But, the insurance companies are not paying for the entire roof. In this case the … Continue Reading
