Q. I had water damage in my house due to an over flowing toilet. My insurance company said it would pay $8,000 to the restoration company that did the clean-up. The problem is that the restoration company who did the water extraction sent me a bill for $36,000. The insurance company sent me a check for $8,050.  Should I mediate or go the appraisal route?
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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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Q. The city where we live experienced a ten inch water main break that flooded our basement with 4 ft. of water. We hired a public adjuster 10 days ago. Now they are backing out saying there are limitations to what they can do. Should we go with the city's insurance? Should we find out what limitations there are with our homeowners policy?

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Q. We own a home that was built in 1964. Last Saturday our family room ceiling collapsed. There does not appear to be any moisture. The insurance company is telling us it’s normal wear and tear, the insulation was too heavy and thus the damage is not covered. There are no cracks in the ceiling, no sagging and our home is well maintained. Any thoughts on the cause? Our roof was replaced in May of 2010.
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Ran into an old friend and his wife at a restaurant we both frequent the other night. Bob is a property manager and my firm has not only represented his family but also some of the properties he has managed over the years.  I had not seen him for a few weeks and he reminded me of his call to me some weeks back about a water leak in his home. It seems the shower pan had given out and when the leak finally showed up, the damage was pretty extensive. He called his insurance agent who told him the water damage would not be covered due to the language the insurance lobbyists had recently pushed through about water damage that is over 14 days old.

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Q. A pipe in my attic broke which caused flooding in a down stairs hall, bedroom and bathroom. When an assessment was done, mold was found. My policy has a cap of $5,000 on mold remediation. The contractor estimates for demolition and repair that are necessary to correct water damage have been categorized as mold remediation by my insurance company.

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