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Jim Beck, Georgia Insurance Commissioner

I had barely finished my speech with Nicole Vinson at the Georgia Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (GAPIA) Spring Conference this morning when news broke that Jim Beck, Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner had been indicted in a 38-count criminal complaint for a fraudulent scheme involving insurance inspections and invoices. It alleged that Beck, a former insurance company lobbyist and executive, embezzled more than $2 million, used a Christian group in the scheme, and that some of the money went to his campaign.…
Continue Reading Georgia Insurance Commissioner Indicted By Federal Government For Fraudulent Insurance Scheme

Foy and Anita Taff

The Georgia Association of Public Insurance Adjusters will hold its Spring Meeting on May 14 in Atlanta. GAPIA is one of the hardest working public adjuster associations I have ever been associated with. Unfortunately, we will be without Foy Taff of Taff Claims Service.…
Continue Reading Georgia Association of Public Insurance Adjusters’ May 14 Spring Conference Will Be Missing Foy Taff

The Georgia Office of Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner has a simple online process for filing your complaint.

How the office responds to this Complaint may not be satisfying but it is important that a record is made of the insurance claims that are not properly handled.…
Continue Reading How To File A Complaint With The Georgia Department of Insurance About Your Delaying, Denying and Bad Treating Insurance Company

Anita Taff and Chip Merlin

Anita Taff and the entire GAPIA public adjuster Board of Directors should be congratulated for their success. I have the pleasure and the frustration of being in many different geographic areas where public adjuster organizations are having difficulties maintaining cohesiveness within their ranks. This is a…

I recently came across an interesting opinion, Fuller v. Mercury Insurance Company of Georgia,1 where the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals discussed the effect of a guilty plea on a policyholder’s civil action against their insurance carrier. The opinion stemmed from a residential fire loss and the insured’s subsequent claim for benefits under her homeowner’s insurance policy.…
Continue Reading To Plea or Not to Plea? Insurer’s Denial of Coverage for Residential Fire Loss Upheld

We’ll let the jury decide.

Policyholders must meet post-loss obligations under their property insurance policy prior to receiving coverage for a loss. A common condition precedent requires policyholders to provide prompt notice of the loss to their carrier. The carrier must be able to conduct a reasonable investigation of the property conditions as close to the loss date as possible to determine whether the stated event caused the loss claimed.…
Continue Reading We Had a Hailstorm Months Ago, But I Just Realized the Severity of the Damage: Is It Too Late to Make an Insurance Claim?