Merlin Law Group cares about insurance consumers’ interests. Insurance company lawyers only care about their profits and profits for their insurers. I mentioned in David Berardinelli Was a Policyholder Advocate, that I would be completing a book with ForbesBooks about insurance policyholders and this book, Payup!, is about to be published this November.
In the interim, education to policyholders, contractors, and public adjusters is what Merlin Law Group attorneys do and sponsor. I will be in Orlando for an Xactimate and OSHA training on Wednesday. Then this weekend, we will be at a fundraiser for United Policyholders for a sold-out event in Sonoma County about policyholders who suffered so badly from wildfire losses. No insurance company attorneys signed up!
For those of you who say, “Chip, I cannot keep up with you and where you are teaching,” please tell Craig Kubiak, Merlin Law Group Managing Attorney, to slow us down. There are eight events in October, and I applaud former NAPIA President Greg Rabb for trying to coordinate all these pro-insurance consumer events — the insurance industry has their own, but they do so in secret while stating that they have rules that will not violate our antitrust laws about restraint of trade. Contractors have been suffering for years over this.
A shout-out is in order for those who formed the Windstorm Insurance Network 20 years ago. Janet Brown has always been the person I think of whenever I think of that organization. An announcement was made explaining its founding:
The Windstorm Insurance Network, Inc. (WIND) was officially incorporated the same day Hurricane Floyd hit the North Carolina coast: September 16, 1999.
It was a fitting start date for an educational association created for property and windstorm insurance claims industry professionals.
Although many hurricanes have blown since 1999, one thing has remained constant:
WIND is the only member association to bring together both defense and policyholder professionals together to connect, engage, and learn about important topics in the property/windstorm insurance claims industry.
‘The idea for WIND was born out of a casual conversation with our firm’s managing partner, Rick Boehm,’ says Janet L. Brown, partner of Boehm Brown Harwood, P.A, an Orlando-based insurance defense firm.
‘Rick was curious as to why we were constantly sending our attorneys out of state for conferences on property issues and catastrophic losses. He inquired why we didn’t have something similar in Florida,’ recalls Janet.
‘Finally, he asked me to explore the idea for an association focused on training and educating property insurance claims professionals. The goal was to be balanced with participation from both the insurance industry and policyholder sides, says Janet.
The above photo is with Rusty Shelton of Advantage Media who is partnered with Forbes Books to make books about business. Rusty Shelton is a great Texan and has a lot of ideas about how people and business helping people can get their stories published. If you are a true authority in your field, Forbes and Rusty Shelton have something to offer.
Thought For The Day
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
—Desmond Tutu
