As Hurricane Michael damage recovery moves into the new year, we continue get deluged with property insurance claim questions from frustrated policyholders. Right now, we seem to be at the stage where policyholders have received settlement offers they feel are too low to fix their damage or where property owners feel their insurance company is not being responsive. This is especially true with commercial claims and the business community in the Panhandle as evidence in this article Local Businesses Say Insurance is Taking Too Long on Claims. Now there’s a good way to kill off the small business community!

Happy New Year to all our readers! Before the holiday season gets past us, I want to commend Florida Public Adjuster, Michael Platts who embodies the spirit of holiday giving. For several years, Mike has donated to Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa. This year, after being alerted that the they were in need of gifts for young teens, Mike donated 30+ mixed media art supply sets and made some kids and their family’s holiday. Giving back has always been a hallmark if Mike’s personality. Thank you Mike!  

This is about the time in the insurance claims settlement cycle that we start getting calls from property owners living in condos, who are looking for help following property damage to their building that impacted their unit. This often takes the form of damage to the unit owner’s property, including their personal property as well as items such as carpet, other types of floor covering, trim items such as door frames, baseboards, cabinets and the list goes on depending on the type and severity of the damage and the wording in their condominium documents. When a covered casualty event occurs, whether it is from wind, water, fire, or the dreaded “mold” word, the finger pointing starts and in many cases the unit owner is caught in the middle.

The effects of Hurricane Michaels wind and rain damage are still readily apparent in the Panama City area. Roofing crews and blue tarps are still visible wherever you travel. But what may not be so obvious, are storm related damages that may have resulted to electrical and mechanical systems in your home or business. From my perspective, too many policyholders blindly follow a contractors or even their insurance company’s desire to “fix up” the damage and move on to the next claim, putting themselves and their property in danger.

As policyholders begin to hear back from their insurance company regarding their Hurricane Michael insurance claim, many will learn that the amount offered by their respective insurer is not sufficient to pay for their complete loss and damages. Some may even learn part of their claim is denied. This is common when there is widespread damage to a geographic area and especially true with more complicated commercial claims to businesses, condominiums and hotels where methods to fix or replace damage can become complicated. There can be many reasons for this including overworked adjusters not documenting specific damages, out of state adjusters not familiar with the market or inside claim adjusters who have never personally seen the claim simply denying certain parts of the claim. 

Your property or business suffered damage during Hurricane Michael. You promptly filed a claim or had a public insurance adjuster document and file the claim for you. A check from the insurance company appears in the mail. Great! How easy could it be? But wait, there’s a catch…..on the back of your check there is language that states you are releasing the insurance company from any further costs related to the claim.

By now folks in Panama City and surrounding areas hit by Hurricane Michael, are finding out how little they are going to get paid for their insurance claim damages. Our office continues to receive calls and emails from policyholders seeking help and answers about their property insurance losses. Predictably, a lot of the frustration from policyholders is about the fact that their claim file was closed without payment due to a subjective opinion by adjusters the insurance companies.

It’s been 1 month since Hurricane Michael roared ashore. My fellow adjusters and I have seen some horrific damage in the Panama City area and we plan to be there for the long-haul. Many policyholders are just starting to receive their insurance checks in the mail and much to their surprise, the settlement checks received are grossly insufficient and barely cover a fraction of what the true cost of repairs will actually be. We see this same scenario play out in every storm that we have worked over the years. 

If the feedback we are getting on the ground in Panama City and the inquiries coming into our offices are any guide, policyholders are none too happy with the settlement offers they are receiving for their Hurricane Michael property damage claims. Most often we are told the offer does not remotely cover the cost of repairs based on estimates local contractors are providing.

After a meeting with the Board President of a Panama City Condominium Association, I had the chance to follow-up with some recommendations for dealing with their insurance company adjuster and contractors that I would like to share with others who may benefit from the same information.  

First, keep in mind that the Board has a fiduciary responsibility to the both the Association members and to itself. The Board will need to assign someone to manage all aspects of the claim to the very finish.  Whether that person be an individual or a committee, ideally that person(s) would need to be qualified and competent to get the association through this burdensome process.  By no means will this be an easy process and given the magnitude of this catastrophic Hurricane. These claims can get complicated and many will not be amicably resolved their claims to their satisfaction.