The Unlicensed Practice of Public Adjusting, the Insurance Claims Keep Rolling In

You can bet at any gathering of a group of Florida licensed public adjusters, the conversation will start off with the question of how many Florida public adjusters currently exist. No question about it, Florida saw an explosion in the ranks of the public adjusting profession since the big four storms of 2004, as compared to the historical record.  And this does not include the hundreds of non-resident licensed public adjusters who fly into this State to solicit and handle claims.  In the past few years however, the actual number of in-state licensed public adjusters has started a precipitous decline because of several factors.


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Policyholder Question: Roof Replacement From Wind Damage Claim

Here is an insurance claim question that we recently were asked to weigh in on as a contributing member of insurance claim experts for United Policyholders who advocates for property owners. 

Q. We received a question from a North Carolina consumer regarding a roof replacement due to windstorm damage. The carrier is claiming that only a "spot-repair" is required under the policy but the homeowner has requested a full replacement. This position is supported by the North Carolina Department of Insurance, yet I find scant case law to support it. Further, when I browse through the North Carolina Insurance Code, I find a reference to "like, kind, and quality" v. "functional" repairs but I'm not clear on what this means in practice. If you have had any recent experience with this type of scenario, I would be interested in your insight.


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Public Adjusters are an important piece in solving the insurance claim puzzle

As public adjusters, we tend to see property damage resulting in an insurance claim sometimes well after the damage has been done and errors in filing and estimating the claim or just simple lack of documentation has occurred. Fortunately, policyholders can take a number of steps to protect their property claim. A recent article by Consumer Reports: Hurricane warning: Don’t let your house insurer blow you over states that “ the policyholder needs to stand tough and stand up to make sure you get everything you’re entitled to under your policy. They point out 10 ways to do that.


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Using a Public Adjuster Can Help You Get a Fair Claim Settlement

A recent article from CNN Money Damaged home? How to get an insurer to pay up states that utilizing a public adjuster can help policyholders obtain a fair recovery. As the article states, “Often, policyholders accept low-ball offers from insurers because they don't know what they're entitled to, don't realize how much repairs cost or they're just worn down.” Public adjusters are typically insurance industry veterans who understand the claims process and know how to talk the industry language. Especially with large or complicated losses or during a disaster, involving a public adjuster early in the process can help the homeowner avoid costly mistakes and subsequent denials that require legal action. 


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Policyholder Question: Who is responsible when your insurance company's preferred contractor causes additional damage or botches the job?

Q. The restoration company who repaired our home after an attic fire caused a contamination of fiberglass insulation by improperly clearing and cleaning the attic from smoke damaged insulation.  We know that the restoration company should be the one to take responsibility and maybe even use their General Liability Insurance, however instead they went out of business. We have talked to several lawyers and they say we have no recourse with our property insurance carrier.  We feel that our insurance company should take responsibility and make the restoration company who messed our home up pay to have it cleaned up properly.   Does an insurance company have to use bonded and general liability covered contractors?
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Couple has Advice for Those Who Have Even the Simplest Insurance Claim

An Orlando area client who filed what they thought was a simple property insurance claim for water damage to their home found them forced out of their home since September of last year due to mistakes made by the “preferred vendors” of their insurance company and the insurance company’s refusal to take responsibility for the situation.  Tutwiler Public Insurance Adjuster Brad Barrett  was eventually brought into the situation late and has been trying to bring the situation to what is called Appraisal, where an Umpire can hopefully rule in the client’s favor.



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All Risk Insurance Coverage for Space Debris - Ask Your Agent or Broker About This

If floods, landslides, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes are not enough to worry about, it seems a new peril is lurking that we just did not know about or pay attention to and may need to be added to the list of property insurance claims. Remember the asteroid that streaked across the northern Russian sky a few months back? Well, it seems another one was just recorded on a car dash cam and posted to all the internet news outlets. Not to be an alarmist, but there may be some credibility to this threat given the attention three former U.S. NASA astronauts have given to this.
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Panhandle Flooding and the “S” word…Sewage Back-up Insurance Claims. Are you covered?

Sewage backup is damage public adjusters deal with more than I would like to admit. A recent published appellant court case in Florida http://www.3dca.flcourts.org/Opinions/3D11-3277.pdf addresses the confusion surrounding insurance coverage for water and sewer losses in today’s all risk homeowners insurance policies. If you take the time to read this case, you will note this issue has been litigated not only in Florida but other states as well.  It seems the insurance industry either does not understand the issues or haven’t been following the case law as we continue to see water and sewer claims denied on a regular basis.  Without going into a lot of detail regarding the legal cases, depending on the wording of the policy in question, if the backup is on the insured side of the property line or actually in a plumbing pipe on the premises, coverage for these losses should be covered under an all risk policy. Why all the litigation and confusion in the first place?  It would seem pretty basic that these losses would be covered as they clearly meet the insurance test of a sudden, accidental and an unintended event.


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Check the Details Before You Accept a Panhandle Claim Settlement Offer

Hopefully, property owners the in Pensacola, Destin, Gulf Breeze and the Ft. Walton Beach areas who were impacted by the flood and water damage are starting to receive settlement offers from their insurance company about their claims.  Sometimes our firm will be retained by a homeowner only to receive a call several weeks later to say the insurance company adjuster had called them with a verbal settlement offer they might be able to live with. Even though it’s outside of our contract cancellation date and work may have begun on the loss, we typically wished them well and thanked them for their consideration in selecting our firm to assist them. That got me thinking about all the property insurance claim offers we’ve gotten over the many years assisting clients. 
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Don’t Let Your Panhandle Flood Damage Insurance Claim Turn into an Insurance Claim Nightmare

Here are a few key tips to make sure your property damage claim doesn’t make a bad situation worse.

1.     Make sure your insurance company pays you first, not a roofing company or contractor. Never sign over your insurance payment to a 3rd party contractor.  See more insurance claim tips.


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"On Property" Insurance Claim Tips Blog

Tips and advice about how to properly file and protect your property damage insurance claim and get a fair settlement. We invite all readers to ask questions about their claim so our public adjusters can post answers for others to benefit. Insurance claim expert guest bloggers welcome to submit posts via our contact form.

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Local Office

Tutwiler & Associates Public Adjusters, Inc.
Licensed Public Insurance Adjusters & Loss Consultants
Offices: Tampa, Orlando, Palm City, Ft. Myers, Florida; Dallas, TX; Pittsburgh, PA

Executive Office
4300 W. Cypress St.
Suite 780
Tampa, FL 33607
Phone: 813.287.8090
Toll Free: 800.321.4488

Licensed in Florida # W840088 &
Texas #1399706 plus 16 other states
and the Virgin Islands