Wind versus flood. Insurance companies will use causation to deny claims just as they did in the hundreds of cases we litigated after Ivan and Katrina. We will retain meteorologists and structural engineers as this issue will be litigated in Texas and western Louisiana. Rimkus and Haag are located in Texas. I wonder how many outcome oriented reports they will issue this time around to support lowers claims payments by insurance companies. I wonder whether the insurance industry has made a bonafide search for engineering firms that are not beholden to them and who will write reports that are in the customers’ best interests. I am not holding my breath.
I expect we will litigate that type of case en masse. If history teaches a lesson, Hurricane Ike – damaged policyholders with private all risk carriers need representation, or at least their own experts determining the loss. I have not seen a significant change in the culture of claims management to honest and fair adjustment. Claims management has an obligation to provide a sufficient number of properly trained and motivated insurance adjusters so that prompt, full, honest, and fair adjustments of claims are made and full benefits are promptly paid to policyholders. One of the most senior claims managers in the insurance industry, Gerry Alonso, of Factory Mutual, agreed with this idea, under oath, during a deposition on Friday. We’ll see if this obligation is met where "the rubber meets the road" in the Hurricane Ike claims adjustments.
