Some contractors in Florida have been offering homeowners free roofs and offering to handle the insurance claim in exchange for signing what is called an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) contract. This may allow the contractor to charge high fees and sue your insurance company. In Florida, it is against the law for contractors to file or negotiate…
When and EF2 tornado hit the Cape Coral area in early January and then another windstorm added insult to injury, it was a good indicator of what hurricane force winds will do to a community like this. Here’s some drone video showing the wind damaged landscape. We are still working with some policyholders in the area and…
The 2016 Windstorm Insurance Conference is in the history books. A final count determined over 1,050 claims professionals were in attendance in Orlando, Florida. Registrations exceeded a lot of folk’s expectations this year given the lack of a major Cat event in the southeast. But this year’s success goes to show that the Windstorm Insurance…
Congratulation to Rick Tutwiler, who was presented the 7th Annual WIND Presidential Recognition Award at the Windstorm Insurance Network Conference in Orlando, Fl. The award was established to recognize annually a member who has contributed significant knowledge, service and leadership to better the Windstorm Insurance Network (WIND). Rick was also elected as the 2016 Secretary of the WIND Board of…
Hard to believe that 16 years has passed since a group of eclectic insurance professionals got together to start the Windstorm Insurance Network, an educational association dedicated to educating all the various parties involved in insurance loss adjusting issues. Prior to that first meeting, I would never have predicted that given the nature of all the…
As the old saying goes, when the Florida legislature is in session, no one is safe. Even with a decade of no major storms or Cat losses, a lot of things are going on in Tallahassee involving property insurance. Because of their potential impact, I am going to dedicate a few blogs on some of…
Public Adjuster Rick Tutwiler will be part of an expert panel that discusses Wind vs. Wave Action at the upcoming Windstorm Insurance Conference from February 1-4. This highly interactive presentation will provide insurance professionals with practical information to help separate damage to structures due to storm wind from damage caused by storm surge. The presentation begins with education…
Its seems that all the weather experts I have heard are in agreement that we have at least three more months of El Niño influenced weather to look forward to. For the property owners that already have tornado damages from the last two Florida west coast storms you may be exposed to additional damages. So…
Florida has gone through a remarkable decade without any wide spread wind losses. The past two weeks broke this lucky streak when two weather events resulted in tornado damage on the west coast of Florida, most notably in Coral Springs, Siesta Key and Sarasota. It seems that most experts contribute these wind loses to the…
On February 2nd at the Windstorm Insurance Conference in Orlando, I along with Janet Brown, Esq., Boehm, Brown & Harwood, P.A.; Wayne Taylor, Esq., Mozley, Finlayson & Loggins, LLP; and Art Newman, Belfor USA will be conducting the 4 hour WIND Certified Umpire Recertification® class. Umpires must be recertified every 3 years so this workshop is designed to provide an interactive…