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Florida insurance companies have been notorious for increasing rates and filing news articles at the start of legislative sessions that support their legislative propaganda efforts. The typical scapegoats are lawyers and contractors. Somebody from the Attorney General’s office and newspaper reporters should call the lawyers for a contractor regarding a complaint1 filed and follow with an investigation about a lawsuit which states:…
Continue Reading Lawsuit Alleges Field Adjusters Stated Under Oath That Florida Based Insurer Commanded That Reports Be Altered To Reduce Or Deny Claims—Did Insurers Do This To Dupe Florida Legislators?

“Please do this, tell us that and please send us these documents.” Every day I hear this from potential clients, public adjusters representing policyholders, and restoration contractors asking what they have to do and provide. I often end up litigating the same issues in court. Insurance companies often leave the “please” out of the never-ending letters they send following a loss demanding information before paying money. Many insurance company adjusters seem a lot more allegedly concerned about thoroughly investigating a loss than they do about providing prompt payment.…
Continue Reading California Policyholders Need to Cooperate with Their Insurers Following a Property Loss. What Does That Mean?

Steve Badger and I had a rematch debate yesterday at the TAPIA Conference in Kerrville, Texas.1 There were some topics that we agreed were “juicy,” with attorneys getting unilateral agreements for umpire appointments and other Texas attorneys winning cases and then being arrested. But I came across a pleading in a Florida lawsuit where Tower Hill claimed all kinds of fraud against a contractor and a “juicy” counterclaim was filed by the contractor against Tower Hill entities, its CEO and US Forensics.…
Continue Reading Contractor Fights Back Against Tower Hill and US Forensic

Memorial Day usually finds millions of Americans traveling all over our great country. It is important that over this weekend, all of us take time to remember and reflect on the greatest sacrifice many made so we can enjoy our liberties. If your property burns down under suspicious circumstances, you may also want to remember and reflect on where you were and your activities as well because the insurance company claims representatives will be curious.…
Continue Reading What Were Your Activities Over Memorial Day Weekend? A Quick Case Study on Post Loss Misrepresentations, Overvaluation and Arson

The new property insurance tactic to avoid payment and thereby delay or deny appraisal is to claim that the policyholder asked for too much and the claimed amount is fraudulent. A Florida case, American Capital Assurance Corporation v Leeward Bay at Tarpon Bay Condominium Association,1 which will be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, will eventually decide these issues.…
Continue Reading Can Insurance Companies Avoid Appraisal by Alleging the Amount Claimed is Fraudulent?

My Red Bank colleague, Dan Ballard, and I recently gave a presentation about Misrepresentations & Mistakes at the 2020 Fall Conference of the Professional Public Adjusters Association of New Jersey (PPAANJ). During that presentation, I discussed New York case law providing that a homeowners insurance policy may be voided if the insured willfully and fraudulently places in the proof of loss a statement of property lost which the insured did not possess, or places a false and fraudulent value upon the articles which the insured did not own.…
Continue Reading Incorrect Information Within Proof of Loss Not Enough To Void Insurance Policy

Steve Badger and Steve Patrick are really great at what they do—and both publicly do a lot in the field of properly insurance claims handling. Both have been outspoken about insurance fraud. In my recent post, Want A Hail Damage Claim Tip Which Helps Policyholder Recovery? Do Not Miss Friday At 2 With Chip Today, I noted the following:

‘Badger Traps’ will also be a topic with a big shout out to Steve Patrick for his upcoming seminar. The above photo is of Steve Badger and me. Yes, Steve Patrick has a warning about the smiling man next to me and what you have to be careful of when dealing with insurance companies about Overhead and Profit issues with contractors. Patrick’s seminar is gratis to American Policyholder Association members.

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Continue Reading Badger Traps and How Contractors Can Avoid Being Accused of Insurance Fraud

It is not uncommon that a homeowner may suffer hailstorm damage and receive an actual cash value payment, but not make all the repairs before the next hailstorm hits. This is the situation that arose in Selective Insurance Company of South Carolina v. Sela.1…
Continue Reading Insurer Acted in Bad Faith Where it Could Identify No Specific Misrepresentations Made by the Insured

Law360 published an excellent article, The Insurance Landscape For Phishing Claims Is Shifting,1 written by Jason Rubinstein and Jasmine Chalashtori. Their summary about the importance of coverage for these computer fraud claims and the need for brokers to discuss these risks with their business clients was highlighted at the end of their article:…
Continue Reading Computer Fraud, Phishing, and Cyber Insurance Claims Pose Significant Risks and Coverage Issues

Drew Houghton heads up Merlin Law Group operations in our Oklahoma City office. I was speaking with him just before our holiday party about the American Policyholder Association combating fraudulent engineering reports harming policyholders as noted in, American Policyholder Association Makes Resonating Comments About Insurance Fraud Against Policyholders. Drew then told me about a recently filed Oklahoma class action where engineers were accused of sham reports to help prevent earthquake claims payments.…
Continue Reading Engineers Accused of Sham Reports in Class Action