Hurricane Irma made landfall over southern Florida on September 10th 2017 as a Category 3 storm packing winds of more than 110 miles per hour. It overwhelmed the entire state for nearly two days with heavy rains greater than 2 inches and fierce winds causing extensive damage to a luxury home located on Highland Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida.
The insurance company’s initial offer was well below the Hurricane Deductible of $90,000 resulting in no payment being made to the insured as they felt the damages did not warrant a settlement and further contended damages were pre-existing. The insured’s hired Tutwiler and Associates public adjusters, Rick Tutwiler and Kevin Leisure, to represent them. They promptly evaluated the damages and assembled a comprehensive claim binder that was presented to the insurance company along with extensive document support, expert analysis, detailed inventories, and photographic evidence proving the volume of water that penetrated the roof, exterior damage to structural components i.e., cracks to columns, stucco that was blasted by sand, and many windows and doors that were breached allowing saltwater to penetrate inside damaging the custom finishes throughout this 9,000 + 4-story luxury home.
After months of intense negotiations, Mr. Tutwiler and Mr. Leisure successfully recovered $1,863,780.00 for the owners to repair the damages to their home, $50,000.00 to replace all damaged personal property items and $90,000.00 for the owners to secure a rental property once they hired a contractor to begin the work. With a total negotiated net total settlement of $2,003,780.00, the property was well on its way to getting the damage properly repaired, much to the satisfaction of the owners.