So what if your house was partially or completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike? If you’ve lived along the Gulf Coast of Texas for more than a week, you’ve probably done the smart thing and bought insurance to protect you from the inevitable. While that may work in theory, thousands of coastal residents are learning that insurance companies have a much easier time raising premiums after a hurricane hits than actually paying out. The problem stems from the fact that some people did not have the foresight to record a minute-by-minute photographic account of which damage on their house was attributable to wind and which was attributable to flooding. As a result, the potentially responsible parties are alternating between stalling and flat out ignoring claims.
Chip Merlin, an attorney whose firm represents more than 400 policyholders with Ike-related claims, said he’s seeing more disputes than he expected still open a year after Ike. Many of the disagreements, he said, involve less than $10,000.
“I’m surprised at the number of small disputes going on where the insurance company just says ‘We’re not paying,’ ” he said.
This kind of gives a new meaning to the term insurance fraud.
Unsettled claims and unsettled lives [Houston Chronicle]
Greg, I’m going to mash feces in my hands, then hug you like your father never would.
-Jeff Macke
Greg, I am going to shove candy dip sticks in all your orfices and then make you lick them without dipping them in the sugar pouch.
- Jeff Macke
Greg, are you a member of a hurricane insurance blog? Did your house get hit by Ike or Katrina? Because you fail to realize that you’re the only one that cares about this.
Good one, Craig.
-CG
@3 Thank you for deciding what I care about, assbreath.
Greg Fan
@3
Given what 2/Jeff Macke plans to do to him, Greg’s going to be the assbreath.
@5, not 3
Sheepishly,
6
Greg, I think you meant to post this on the “people who have no financial sense and want someone else to pay for their mistakes” blog. Next time buy flood insurance. The insurance companies are pretty clear that homeowner’s doesn’t cover floods; most everybody with a TV has seen hundreds of commercials clearly stating this.
@5 What do a Greg Fan, Santa Clause, and a moral lawyer have in common? They don’t exist.
I think it’s pretty clear from the post that the homeowners insurer and the flood insurer are engaged in a standoff, leaving the insured the unenviable task of proving which damage is wind-related (covered by homeowners) and which is flood-related (excluded by homeowners). This is ripe for a bad-faith claim, and the insurers should get their fucking acts together, settle with the homeowner, and then dispute the allocation among themselves. Who is the fucking Texas insurance commissioner, somebody named Bush?
@8, I think it is pretty clear these people had flood insurance as well as homeowners. The point is that the flood insurers are claiming the damage was caused by wind which they do not cover, and and the home insurers claiming it was from the flood, which they do not cover.
Greg Fan
@10 Listen here buddy, I resent that argumentation. Us Bushians are are great Amurcans. I disappreciate your insinuation that because someone is doing a poor job at their position of employerment in the Great State of Texas, that they’re a Bush. Now shut your mouth ofirice before I send the secret service after you.
G-Dubs
Who the fuck hires a lawyer named Chip?
And Naked short wins post of the day!!
@10 I’m pretty sure the you can get treble damages with the bad faith claim and attorneys fees. Prob. much cheaper for the insurer to settle.
@13
To be fair, his last name is Merlin, which is pretty badass. I’d call it a wash.
@Naked post of the day is correct…nice work…i spit my afternoon coffee on my monitor.
Probably his full name is J. Carter “Chip” Merlin. It’s almost mandatory in many places that a male lawyer forsake his first name for his middle name (often some sort of family/atavistic thing), from which he riffs a frat nickname like “Chip.”
Aren’t we all sick of hurricane stories..Hurricane ins. & flood ins.
New Orleans 11 ft. below sea level,WTF..WTF…What The Fuck…
That being said we can bail out AIG,Investmant Banks.Start Wars,Give Everyone Healthcare,Change The Fucking Climate….C’mon Ben Fire Up The Fucking Helicopter Already