{"id":21797,"date":"2018-08-30T00:10:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T04:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.propertyinsurancecoveragelaw.com\/?p=21797"},"modified":"2018-08-30T00:10:24","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T04:10:24","slug":"more-problems-with-twia-quantity-does-not-equal-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.propertyinsurancecoveragelaw.com\/blog\/more-problems-with-twia-quantity-does-not-equal-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"More Problems With TWIA \u2013 Quantity Does Not Equal Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hurricane Harvey victims along the Gulf Coast continue to fight for proper claims treatment from Texas Windstorm Insurance Association\u2014better known as TWIA. On August 27, 2018, KPRC Channel 2 News Houston<\/em> profiled the ongoing problems property owners are facing with their TWIA claims.<\/p>\n

KPRC Channel 2 News Houston<\/em> interviewed me as part of its ongoing investigation. The investigative report can be viewed at this link: https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/investigates\/residents-in-port-aransas-rockport-still-battling-twia-as-emails-shows-post-harvey-operations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

KPRC<\/em> uncovered various emails from within TWIA that exhibit TWIA\u2019s intent to close over 1,000 claims each day \u2013 those emails are from as early as September 2017, mere weeks after Harvey. Unfortunately, in many cases it appears that TWIA sacrificed the quality of its claims assessments \u2013 which are supposed to be thorough and reasonable \u2013 to meet its claim closure goals. The emails I reviewed as part of my interview further support what I have been hearing and seeing every day in my role as Attorney and Regional Litigation Manager for Merlin Law Group, P.A.<\/a><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, thousands of TWIA claims remain unresolved and TWIA policyholders are stuck in limbo.<\/p>\n

TWIA\u2019s claims handling is concerning but not entirely surprising. After Hurricane Dolly (2008) and Hurricane Ike (2008), we exposed TWIA\u2019s extraordinarily deficient and fraudulent claims handling practices. TWIA\u2019s claims handling behavior for Ike and Dolly was so terrible that the Texas Department of Insurance took control of TWIA to get the insurer of last resort in line.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the Texas Legislature rewrote the laws that govern TWIA, but rather than punish TWIA and create more stringent laws for it to comply with, the Texas Legislature essentially granted TWIA partial immunity for its bad acts. Under the Texas Legislature\u2019s new law (better known as HB3 or Tex. Ins. Code 2210<\/a>), TWIA, its employees, adjusters, building consultants, etc., can only be held liable or responsible during very limited circumstances. Essentially, no matter how poorly TWIA and its personnel treat their policyholders, TWIA will only be legally responsible in very limited circumstances. So now, what we\u2019re seeing is that TWIA does very little investigation on claims, but issues letters that say they\u2019re accepting the claim. However, just because they accept the claim doesn\u2019t mean they will properly pay it.<\/p>\n

TWIA has no incentive to properly investigate and handle a claim because they know actions against them are limited under the law.<\/strong><\/em> Below are three scenarios highlighting the current problem policyholders face under the new TWIA laws. A TWIA policyholder with severe Hurricane Harvey wind and water damage files a claim:<\/p>\n