Reporter Andrea Senior of WTSP TV in Tampa recently did a story Single Mom Battles Insurance Co. After Fire on one of our clients who had filed a fire claim with St. John’s Insurance.  It’s unfortunate the media found this newsworthy, but the facts supporting the case and how this was impacting the family right before the Christmas holidays caught their attention.

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Citizens floats a sinkhole fix was the headline in the Tampa Bay Times article that ran in the paper on 12/11/2013.

The article says letters will go out to “current and potentially future litigants this week that offered to pay for repairs.”  This program, which we reported on in one of our previous blogs, has been in the works for some time when it was passed out of a Citizens claim committee and sent to the full board for approval.  So based on the Times article, Citizens’ board must have approved it.

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Q. I have a friend that lives in a retirement condominium community. They have a condo policy that covers all 8 buildings in the community. The insurance has paid to replace between 98-160 shingles per roof due to hail damage. The HOA by-laws state that the roof color must be the same on all roofs. After 17 years it will not be possible to match that many shingles on each roof. They have ordinance and law coverage in their policy for replacement cost. Would this apply in this situation? Should the insurance have to pay for a full replacement of the shingle roofs?

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While the national press is full of politicians pontificating about what Congress has done (as in “done in”) to tens-of-thousands of property owners in the very ill advised legislation called Biggert-Waters Flood Reform Act (B.W.-12) known as the National Flood Insurance Program Reform Act, not to be outdone, the regulators and political types in Tallahassee have been busy as well.

First, a little commentary on Washington DC, and no, not the budget or government shut down.  What I am talking about is the legislation for the National Flood Insurance Program reforms that was voted on by a majority of your elected congressional officials without any debate, given that the Biggert-Waters legislation was attached to a transportation bill and thus never saw the light of day.

 

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If you have been following the news media lately, particularly the print media then no doubt you have read a number of stories about sinkholes and the remediation method that homeowners are fighting with their insurance companies about. The Dunedin story has fanned the flames of this issue big time and laser focused some interesting issues the average property owner is probably not aware of.
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A policyholder in South Carolina recently wrote us about a fire claim turned nightmare. When notified of a claim, insurance companies will sometimes send out their preferred vendor as a way to provide fast service but also to control costs and prevent the policyholder from hiring their own vendor, since they have contracted reduced rates with these vendors.

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A recent media article following the new catastrophic sinkhole loss in Dunedin, Florida caught my attention the other day as it looks like we have two forces on a collision path. And wouldn’t you know that the poor insured policyholder is caught in the middle.

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Public adjuster Keith Grams of Tutwiler & Associates was recently interviewed by WFLA and NBC News about sinkhole insurance repair issues. He offers further comments regarding concerns about the direction the insurance companies and legislature are taking.

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As part of the national news coverage of the Dunedin, Florida sinkhole collapse, many questions were brought up about the laws governing sinkhole insurance coverage. It was apparent many homeowners and even some media were confused. As part of the coverage Tutwiler & Associates public adjuster Keith Grams was interview by NBC national news. We thank Keith for his contributions and have placed the entire interview below.

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The catastrophic sinkhole that opened up in Dunedin, Florida has brought attention to limits of the new law that was passed in 2011 by the Florida Legislature. This law made it extremely difficult for homeowners to get proper coverage or alternatively pay a hefty price for a very limited sinkhole policy. Many of the changes are not good for property owners as the new law also negatively impacts the way insurance companies handle and pay for sinkhole claims when they arise.
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