This year’s “WIND” conference in Orlando, Florida marks the 18-year anniversary that folks from all over the U.S. have gathered to network, learn, and in many instances, conduct settlement talks on active cases to resolve issues involving wind losses and other perils covered by property insurance. Without a doubt, this conference was very successful and well attended with a reported headcount of around a thousand professionals from various disciplines. However, I was somewhat surprised the attendance was not greater given what happened during the 2017 hurricane season. 

Following this year's historic hurricane season, it has been great seeing and catching up with some of the best of the best in the property insurance claims industry! The Windstorm Insurance Network (WIND) is a professional association founded in 1999 and the organization offers elite education, industry insight and unique networking opportunities with representatives from all facets of the property insurance claims industry. This year, I served on an expert panel, "Where Wind Meets Fire" speaking about windstorms and how they exacerbate loss and damages resulting from fire, smoke, soot and ash in many different States like Gatlinburg, Tennessee, many parts of California and even on I-4 driving over from Tampa to Orlando.

Your property or business suffered damage during Hurricane Irma. 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.

Most homeowners and business people do not understand the complexities of estimating repair costs. Even with a policy in-hand, there is much to be interpreted and many unique factors that can impact each claim. As the recovery process for Hurricane Irma continues, we’ve received anecdotal evidence from independent adjusters who are telling us they are submitting their estimates and reports only to have the carriers send them back or make in-house changes without their knowledge. Basically they find out the estimate they wrote was chopped up to save the carrier money. This is not happening everywhere, but enough to cause me concern.  

By now folks in Florida are finding out how little they are going to get paid for their insurance claim damages from Hurricane Irma. Our office is being bombarded with calls and emails from policyholders seeking help and answers about their property insurance losses from Hurricane Irma. Not surprising a lot of the frustration is about the fact that their claim file was closed without payment due to a subjective opinion by independent insurance adjusters working for some insurance companies.

The title for this blog popped in my head based on a question sent into our firm about property insurance policy adjusting practices and procedures related to Hurricane Irma claims. Here is the question sent in from a resident in one hard hit area of Florida:

Policyholder Question: I received a claim check from the insurance company and they have deducted depreciation for my roof. It is a large number and I have read a few different answers related to my question. If I have a replacement value insurance policy, can they hold depreciation? Do I really need to put $20,000+ out of my pocket until a time in the future when they might release that depreciation to me?

Q. Our insurer rejected our mold claim, even though we have additional coverage for mold, as well as for, "Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning or bulging of a steam or hot water heating system, an air conditioning or automatic fire protective sprinkler system, or an appliance for heating water". The a/c repair man as well as the claims adjuster and the engineer who investigated the claim (both hired by our insurer) attributed, in writing, the cause of our mold to tearing of the attic duct work tape. The insurer claimed they would not cover our Section C loss from mold because, "the claimed loss and damage and the mold was the result of humidity and condensation. There was no physical damage; therefore the mold is not a result of a covered cause of loss." Can you please explain why they are rejecting our claim? 

If you are in the market for a new roof because of Hurricane Irma, you may want to consider a metal roof.  From my observation as a public adjuster handling a wide variety of insurance claims, metal roofs are becoming more popular all over the country. I’d like to share this article about hurricane resistant metal sheeting roofs. I have seen these roofs hold up very well, if installed as detailed in this article. In the case of St. Maarten which had sustained winds of 183 mph with gusts over 200 mph, the metal roof stayed on,  where other types such as asphalt shingles and/or clay/cement tiles for the most part blew off in part or total. 

The effects of Hurricane Irma’s wind and rain damage are still apparent throughout Florida and the Caribbean. Roofing crews and blue tarps are ubiquitous wherever you travel. While the blue roofs are obvious, what may not be so obvious are damages that may have resulted to electrical and mechanical systems in your home or building from the effects of Hurricane Irma's wind and water. Too many policyholders are blindly following a contractors or even their insurance company’s desire to “fix up” the damage and move on to the next claim, putting themselves in danger. 

Many of the calls we get from policyholders lately, regarding their Hurricane Irma insurance claim goes a little like this:  “Roof damage caused bedroom flood, water running down the wall, water came in the front door, sheet rock and crown molding are ruined, now mold growing causing health concern.” Most homeowners will have a limit on their mold coverage in their policy.  But remember there would be no mold but for water and water loss is not limited. I am making this statement despite the fact that we have seen some insurance companies actually try to limit water loss coverage.