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Jeff Diamond Talks About Considerations Public Adjusters Should Remember to...
Jeff Diamond is a very good insurance lawyer. I was in the audience of the Georgia Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (GAPIA) yesterday when Diamond gave a speech about how public adjusters can...
View ArticleHow Many Deductibles for Multiple Loss Locations--Using FC&S to Help Judges...
Many commercial property owners and investors hit by Hurricane Matthew may insure multiple buildings under one policy. Depending on the insurance coverage form, one or multiple deductibles may apply. I...
View ArticleCosmetic and Functional Damage - An Academic Discussion by Neil Hall
Insurance companies have turned the property insurance world upside down by denying claims based on engineers who claim that no "functional damage" occurred and only "cosmetic damage" was sustained at...
View ArticleColorado Hail Storm Seminar
Colorado Springs was hit by epic hail storms this past July. Reports noted tennis ball size hail and citizens shoveling away hail as if it were a snowstorm. A massive number of hail storm insurance...
View ArticleHurricane Matthew National Flood Insurance Supplemental Claims - File...
Proofs of Loss for National Flood Insurance claims are always an issue. It is important to file all proofs of loss, even supplemental claimed amounts, properly and timely or face the possibility of no...
View ArticleVandalism - What Exactly is This Peril?
Vandalism is an interesting peril. It can also be an overlooked coverage and I wanted to provide just a few examples.In Lanza Enterprises, Inc. v. Continental Insurance Company,1 a faucet was turned on...
View ArticleState Farm Operation Guidelines Regarding Wind and Hail Damage to Composition...
Insurance companies routinely have instructions for their claims adjusters on how to adjust various types of losses. State Farm has some of the most detailed claims guidelines in the industry. I have...
View ArticlePublic Adjusters Honor Chip Merlin with Lifetime Achievement Award
Lifetime Achievement Awards usually come at the end of a career. That was my first thought when I was surprised by the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters granting me such an honor at...
View ArticleDetermining Depreciation--Are Policyholders Getting Ripped Off?
Many property insurance company adjusters are required by their companies to determine the amount of depreciation to be taken when arriving at amounts of actual cash value. Many are told to determine...
View ArticleDetermining Depreciation: The Definition of Actual Cash Value Varies Widely...
In yesterday's post, Determining Depreciation--Are Policyholders Getting Ripped Off, I promised to discuss issues of actual cash value and depreciation. The article I am critiquing giving rise to this...
View ArticleOverhead and Profit - Regulatory Criteria for When a Contractor is Required
Overhead and profit was recently mentioned by a colleague, Brandon McWherter, in, When Is Overhead and Profit Due in Tennessee? He noted that the general rule for when contractor overhead and profit is...
View ArticleCalculating Depreciation: Are Generic Tables Reliable or Based on Any...
Depreciation tables were first introduced to me when studying accounting at the University of Florida. The tables were based on tax schedules and other accounting methods which usually had nothing to...
View ArticleIncentive Pay to Lower Insurance Claims to Policyholders Still Exists
The recent Wells Fargo calamity of opening customer accounts without permission underscores how financial incentives can promote unethical behavior by employees on the front line of servicing...
View ArticleInternal Insurance Company Claims Procedures and Documents Ordered Turned...
Think robbers would want to turn over their secret plans and motives so their victims could discuss how they were ripped off and figure out among themselves what they could do to obtain justice from...
View ArticleCoinsurance Problem? Consider Filing on an Actual Cash Value Basis
Coinsurance issues were a topic at The National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters meeting yesterday. One suggestion by the panel was to consider whether the policyholder would be better off...
View ArticleComputerized Claims Management for Public Insurance Adjusters
Insurance company adjusters organize their claims files much better than most public adjusters because insurers have invested in computerized claims file management. It may have been that software...
View ArticleState Farm Claims Whistleblowers Win in United States Supreme Court and May...
The Rigsby sisters have now prevailed in the highest court of the land in their decade long fight against State Farm.1 The Rigsby sisters were catastrophe adjusters working for State Farm on Hurricane...
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The Pain of Loss Following a Catastrophe
David Hisey is a great guy and has worked for the insurance industry forever. He ran the Winsdstorm Network's golf tournament for over a decade. The picture above is his burned home from the recent...
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Building Losses Before Demolition
A public adjuster asked me for a copy of Cigna Property & Casualty Insurance Company v. Verzi1. It involves a fairly uncommon situation where a building is damaged or destroyed before a...
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