Fla. Homeowner Files Lawsuit, Asks Allstate to Pay $10,000 for Mold Damage

March 14, 2005

  • March 14, 2005 at 7:40 am
    Orlando Agent says:
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    In addition to buying flood insurance, sopping up the rain and putting “Bull Tar” or a tarp on the roof would have been a good idea! Mold needs moisture, warmth and a food source in order to spread. If you get rid of the moisture, you don’t get mold. I had a tree plow into my house, but because I met my policy obligations to protect my home from further damage, I don’t have mold problems. And the $10K is a limit, not a right!

  • March 14, 2005 at 9:57 am
    Mark says:
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    Allstate didn’t inform her of her 10K mold coverage??? Didn’t they mail her a policy? she should have read it when she received it. LOL!!

  • March 14, 2005 at 2:48 am
    andre says:
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    Should’ve has a flood policy-in addition to a HO policy.

  • March 15, 2005 at 8:55 am
    John says:
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    7 months and 2 days ago I would have jumped to the same conclusion regarding this mold claim, as an agent I have had the unfortunate duty to handle several mold claims before Hurricane Charley hit and you are correct in saying moisture must exist in order for mold to survive and grow. The number of mold claims after the storms is to high to count.
    What people do not realize, is that most of Cape Coral,(where this claim is) was without electricity for 7-10 days. This means no electricity, no air conditioning and no real way to remove what water had come in to the house. The storm was projected to make land fall 150 miles north of Cape Coral into Tampa (Thank God it didn’t)Sure people had boarded up some windows but 99% of the population did not own generators before the storms, and they were not here to buy after the storm. All the stores had sent generators up to central Florida and Tampa in anticipation of the storm hitting there ( What a mistake that was). Without seeing her house I would guess that she is certainly eligible for the $10,000 limit. Allstate should shut up and pay her and be glad she was under a policy form that limited mold coverage to $10,000, otherwise she would be eligible for policy limits. I have had several total loss claims from mold in our office, and thoses carriers paid well more than I thought they would. 93 degrees with no air and no electricity in the middle of storm season, you CAN’T prevent mold from growing in a hurricane ravaged house. Pay up Allstate

  • March 15, 2005 at 9:00 am
    John says:
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    Andre, a flood policy would not have done anything for this insured, she did not say she had rising flood water, besides Allstate would not have paid out at all under the HO3 if it had been flood. There was essentially NO flooding in Cape Coral as a result of hurricane Charley, it was all water that came in from wind damaged roofs and windows, etc. Not flooding.
    I am not suggesting that she should not have a flood policy, but it was not triggered in this event.

  • March 18, 2005 at 9:31 am
    Danny H says:
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    Allstate went to the trouble to limit the damages it must pay for mold remediation. Then it ignored that coverage when its adjusters went out to inspect the damage and prepare estimates of the cost to repair hurricane repair. Once Allstate undertook the task too tell its insured what was covered and what it would pay to repair the damages, seems it should have gone to the troulble to properly inspect for mold and estimate the cost of remediation, rather than ignore the problem and hope that the insured would be too stupid to investigate.

  • July 30, 2005 at 7:11 am
    marianne says:
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    I feel really sorry for the Florida lady. Too bad she and I did not connect where mold is concerned. I was informed by Allstate that they do not issue policies for mildow/mold when it came to my damage. Funny though, in my policy there is mention of the ability to purchase mold insurance from Allstate. As I said before…..LIARS and THIEVES.

    I believe the lady did in fact purchase a $10,000 policy for mold. The fact that she did not know whether she had one could be due to several reasons….one of which might be because if she is married and her husband bought the policy….the old boy network probably explained it to him and not her….or her husband kept her in the dark about such things.

    In any event. even the lawyers and judges are more apt to rule on the side of the insured than the insurer just because of the very language of the policy.

    My policy is somewhat readable…what little of it I have…. I did not even receive the updated rider version for 2005. I still have the 1993 rider version and the water damage I spoke of was covered at that time…..but I stil think it is funny why when I called my agent and explained what happened the mere mention of “mold”, “mildew”, broken pipe; water damage should struck a cord and he could have said “Lady, we do not cover these things…..why on earth would you send out an adjuster to my house if it is not covered. Furthermore, this adjuster did not know what he was talking about. Now I have a claim on file and am forced to continue carrying his insurance for the next three years. I demanded that it be removed…I also demanded they send another adjuster to my home..I was denied.

  • July 30, 2005 at 6:45 am
    Marianne Klein says:
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    Mark: I have a comment for you how about an Allstate Agent who does not know what is in your policy but collects $992.00/year for your policy and sends an adjuster to your home without even checking to see if you are covered for the event you very carefully discussed over the phone. Make that slick not stupid……Now I have a registered claim against my name but nothing was ever done or paid.

    MK

  • July 30, 2005 at 6:57 am
    marianne says:
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    I recently had water damage in my basement from a pressure resistance valve malfunction. I dripped, causing my new carpet to be somewhat saturated on only a minimal amount of the carpet before I discovered it. I did get a little mildew on the rug, but that was from the covered areas. Now mind you, I was spring cleaning and some items to the basement a few days prior to finding this. I called Allstate, explained to my agent the problem and he affably sent me an adjuster, who by the way showed up 3 days later. He told me that the little mildew/mold (still don’t know the difference)and water had been going on for months and months and was not covered…and that I should have known there was a leaky pipe (behind panneling)(I guess I have to have xray vision) or spend an inordinate amount of my free time in the basement to catch these things. He took a picture of a piece of the baseboard and showed me the horrible mold (the dummy did not recognize the grain in the wood, which was wet and labeled it mildew. I know this now. I did not realized it until later, when a water expert tried to rip me off for $2000. I promptly got a flashlight and looked into the wall. No mildew, yet. I did take the precaution of throwing bleach down the inside of the wall….just in case. I now have thrown out a fairly new piece of carpet. Part of my baseboard is in the trash….and I really do not have a big problem at all. The only thing I wanted was for Allstate to replace the carpet that got damaged. I was assured that it was not covere due to the fact that it was the result of a plumbing leak. I would however like to sue them in any event…..not because they will not cover the damage, but because they are such liars about the extent of the damage. One lies about the horrible condition that was there months and months and the other about the extensive mildew damage that is not there.

  • July 31, 2005 at 10:13 am
    JR says:
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    It sounds like your claim was not denied because of mold, but because the cause of the loss was a long term slow leak. Mold was a result of the long term leak but if the leak had been found earlier or had been a sudden event, you probably would have had coverage and probably would not have had mold. The reason companies are getting so restrictive on mold is that it does not happen suddenly, for mold to occur there must be moisture. the longer it stay moist or wet the longer and faster the mold grows. Take away the wet & the mold stops. It is not the responsibility on any insurance company to maintain a house and insure that pipes and plumbing are intact and not leaking. If what you say is correct, you were problably below your deductible anyway, or at least not enough above it to consider filing a claim that would net you alnmost no recovery.



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