It has been way too long since our last Blog
update, and a lot has happened as a Public Adjuster
in Arizona over the last year. I’d like end our hiatus by
filling you all in on one of my favorite claims of the year. This claim in
particular was a fire in East Mesa, Arizona right
on the border of Apache Junction, Arizona. The fire itself began in the carport
area of the exterior of the home. The cause was unknown, although the night of
the fire there was quite a bit of wind which may have contributed to how fast
it spread into the house. The family was relaxing and enjoying their even when
they realized their house was on fire. Thankfully they all made it out ok, and
no one was injured. On the other hand, their house had just suffered a total
loss. They filed a claim with their insurance company and were surprised to
find that unbeknownst to them their home insurance policy had been canceled.
The insurance company claimed they had sent a cancelation notice but the
insured had never received and did not know that they were living uninsured.
With no insurance and a house that was completely unlivable this large family was forced to move into a small two bedroom apartment in Mesa, Arizona. They had to cover the rent on their apartment and continue paying their mortgage as well. With limited funds they were even forced to remove mattresses, cloths, and other smoke and water damaged items in order to furnish their apartment. In short this family was living a total nightmare.
The family lived this way for several months and I would speculate that they wondered if they would end up losing their home that they worked so hard to acquire. Luckily they were able to find us. We met with them and discussed the details of their claim.
As a Public Adjuster we are well versed in the details of most insurance policies, which leaves us in a good position to make sure the insurance company is following all of their rules. In a case like this, it typically doesn’t matter if the insured never received a cancellation notice as long as the proper procedure was followed by their insurance company. Luckily we were able to find that the insurance company had not followed proper procedure. It took some time, but they finally reversed their original decision to deny the claim. Unfortunately, given the nature of most insurance companies, our work wasn’t finished.
We were able to refer this family to a contents restoration company that helped them through the daunting task of creating an inventory list of all of the damaged items in their home. It took these professionals several weeks and hundreds of hours to document and price each item. In the meantime the insurance company visited the home in order to do their own contents evaluation. While the professionals at ARC, LLC spent hundreds of hours making sure everything was In order, the insurance company only spent 2 hours on site in their evaluation. At Hudson Douglas Public Adjuster we believe this isn’t enough time to acquire the information needed to provide a fair and accurate settlement, and the proof is in the initial offer provided by the insurance company to cover their damaged contents. $45,000 dollars might seem like a lot of money but when you take into consideration the fact that every item in their home was deemed a total loss, it starts to seem like a relatively small amount. Could you replace ever single item in your home for $45,000? Most families can’t. We were able to provide the insurance company with a list that totaled over 4,300 items and had a value of over $80,000! The list was so detail oriented and accurate that the insurance company didn’t dispute one item on the list. This doesn’t even take into account the structure portion of the settlement.
Because of the hard work put in by Hudson Douglas Public Adjusters, this family was taken from a denial to limits on their structure and contents. We were able to ensure that the family was reimbursing for all of their additional living expenses including the money they spent living in their apartment while they had no coverage.
As a Public Adjuster there is no better feeling than watching a family get back on their feet again. We suspect that without us, this family might still be living in that small apartment wondering what to do next.
