I hope the judge comes back and slaps the Scruggs with a frivilous lawsuit charge instead. Cmon, just because an insured is too lazy to read his policy, doesn\’t mean he gets a free pass. And I really doubt the agent sold him a \”hurricane\” policy. This guy has more of a chance against the agent than Nationwide, but even then, it is well documented that the insured is responsible for knowing what his policy covers.
But on the other hand, it could be one of these backwoods southerners that don\’t really understand the idea of how they word what they tell the insured, either. Lack of knowledge of the English language is a killer when it comes to E&O issues!
First, I doubt that the agent told him that he didn\’t need flood coverage to be fully insured if a hurricane hit, since the agents are all pretty savvy about that. I suspect that the question asked had nothing to do with \”Do I need it to be fully insured if a hurricane hits?\” and more to do with \”Do I have to have this in order to close on the mortgage.\” I can\’t wait to hear how the agent testifies as to his recollection of the exchange.
Second, I keep hearing about being sold a \”hurricane policy\” and/or \”hurricane coverage\”. No ISO or ISO-clone form that I have read even has the word \”hurricane\” in it. Can someone send me a copy of a policy that says \”hurricane\” on it, or in it?
Third, remarks such as the alleged fact that the windstorm payment was less than the premium paid for the policy year are red hearings. If that is the measure of whether a claim is properly adjusted, then the next homeowners claim that I submit (I\’ve been a State Farm insured for 3o years) will be a doozie! I can\’t wait.
And, speaking as a former law-enforcement officer, I am just a little embarrassed. Surely a police lieutenant has heard the phrase \”ignorance of the law is no excuse\”. Well, neither is ignorance of the policy language. Sorry buddy, but at the police academy I attended, civil law, including the law of contracts, was part of the curriculum.
Finally, if the agent truly told this guy that he didn\’t need flood coverage to be fully protected for a hurricane, that doesn\’t mean that the HO3 covers flood. It means that the agent committed E&O. As I understand it, if that is the case, the ruling won\’t be that all HO3\’s cover flood; it will mean that this particular HO3 covers flood because the agent had apparent authority to modify the terms of the policy.
I\’m not sure that is the verdict that Scruggs is looking for. He may win some money for this client if he can tag Nationwide with the agent\’s E&O, but he will cement that the flood exclusion is valid, which will kill the AG\’s suit. And, it will kill all other claims were the insured\’s aren\’t willing or able to lie about what their agent told them.
People can actually remember what their agent told them (or didn\’t tell them years ago????? I saw my agent last WEEK and I can\’t remember 1/8 of what he said to me.
Legal precedent was set long ago that insured\’s are deemed to have read and understood their insurance policies.
Next, judges in insurance lawsuits make their rulings on what is actually in the policy language itself to determine whther or not an insurer has lived up the terms of the agreement, not on any \”impressions\” the policyholder had from their agent, their neighbor, or Aunt Bessie.
Third, while strom surge is an event unique to hurricanes, most policies carry the exclusion of damage caused by the \”overflow of ANY body of water (\”ANY\” body of water would include the Gulf of Mexico) *WHETHER WIND DRIVEN OR NOT*\” Just because the storm surge is unique to a hurricane event does not make it a covered condition.
The only way the judge rules in their favor is if he desires a certain kind of outcome from the beginning and ignores the rule of law (which of course is not entirely unheard of in modern American jurisprudence.). :-(
I am a victim of Hurricane Katrina. I had both flood and homeowner\’s policies. To have you know my homeowner\’s insurance does say hurricane on it. As a matter of fact I have a special deductible for hurricanes. Where my normal deductible is $500.00, my \”hurricane\” deductible is 2% of the value of my home. We were hit first by Hurricane Katrina in Buras, Louisiana. The windspeed there was stronger than when it hit Mississippi. Our first adjuster paid our flood policy. He told us that we needed a second adjuster for the homeowner\’s policy and that we needed to call our insurance to set that up. He also said and I quote \”State Farm told him not to pay any homeowner\’s policies no matter what.\” When we called for the second adjuster we were told that we needed to get an engineer to tell us what was wind damage and a contractor to say what it would cost to fix that damage. So we did. The engineer estimated the windspeed in South Plaquemines Parish to have been sustained winds of 220 mph. So, why don\’t some of you who have such strong opinions on the subject, yet are so ignorant about it, tell us how we are to handle it. How are we to get the insurance companies to put out what they have collected from us for so many years because \”the backwoods southerns are stupid and uneducated?
Well, I am very sorry for your loss and cannot fathom what you have gone thru. On the other hand, It sounds like you were responsible enough to have purchased flood coverage. I do have a couple of questions as you have left many holes in your response. #1, Does your homeowner\’s policy say anywhere that it covers hurricanes or does it just have a separate hurricane deductible? My guess would be the latter. #2, Was the first adjustor only assigned to flood losses? That may be the reason he was told not to settle homeowner\’s claims. Also, maybe he wasn\’t qualified to do homeowner\’s claims. It is hard to believe he would come out and bad mouth the company like that. That is like biting the hand that feeds you. #3, what was the outcome of you getting the engineering reports and turning that into your homeowner\’s insurance company? Did they deny your claim? Or did they pay you anything? #4, How much was your home worth and how much flood coverage did you have and how much did the flood policy pay? It would be interesting to know these extra details to determine if there was a problem or not. But the bottom line is, for the Leonard\’s, it is there responsibility to read their policy and understand what it covers. I have been in this business over 17 years and just yesterday, I had an attorney client, who did not want to spend and extra $15 per year to increase his General Liability limits by $2 million! I had to practically beg him to take the coverage. That is what WE deal with on a daily basis. Insureds that want EVERYTHING covered but don\’t want to pay a premium.
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Sorry but stupidity is not good enough to win a lawsuit. You can\’t prosecute the insurance company for the customers lack of education.
I hope the judge comes back and slaps the Scruggs with a frivilous lawsuit charge instead. Cmon, just because an insured is too lazy to read his policy, doesn\’t mean he gets a free pass. And I really doubt the agent sold him a \”hurricane\” policy. This guy has more of a chance against the agent than Nationwide, but even then, it is well documented that the insured is responsible for knowing what his policy covers.
But on the other hand, it could be one of these backwoods southerners that don\’t really understand the idea of how they word what they tell the insured, either. Lack of knowledge of the English language is a killer when it comes to E&O issues!
First, I doubt that the agent told him that he didn\’t need flood coverage to be fully insured if a hurricane hit, since the agents are all pretty savvy about that. I suspect that the question asked had nothing to do with \”Do I need it to be fully insured if a hurricane hits?\” and more to do with \”Do I have to have this in order to close on the mortgage.\” I can\’t wait to hear how the agent testifies as to his recollection of the exchange.
Second, I keep hearing about being sold a \”hurricane policy\” and/or \”hurricane coverage\”. No ISO or ISO-clone form that I have read even has the word \”hurricane\” in it. Can someone send me a copy of a policy that says \”hurricane\” on it, or in it?
Third, remarks such as the alleged fact that the windstorm payment was less than the premium paid for the policy year are red hearings. If that is the measure of whether a claim is properly adjusted, then the next homeowners claim that I submit (I\’ve been a State Farm insured for 3o years) will be a doozie! I can\’t wait.
And, speaking as a former law-enforcement officer, I am just a little embarrassed. Surely a police lieutenant has heard the phrase \”ignorance of the law is no excuse\”. Well, neither is ignorance of the policy language. Sorry buddy, but at the police academy I attended, civil law, including the law of contracts, was part of the curriculum.
Finally, if the agent truly told this guy that he didn\’t need flood coverage to be fully protected for a hurricane, that doesn\’t mean that the HO3 covers flood. It means that the agent committed E&O. As I understand it, if that is the case, the ruling won\’t be that all HO3\’s cover flood; it will mean that this particular HO3 covers flood because the agent had apparent authority to modify the terms of the policy.
I\’m not sure that is the verdict that Scruggs is looking for. He may win some money for this client if he can tag Nationwide with the agent\’s E&O, but he will cement that the flood exclusion is valid, which will kill the AG\’s suit. And, it will kill all other claims were the insured\’s aren\’t willing or able to lie about what their agent told them.
People can actually remember what their agent told them (or didn\’t tell them years ago????? I saw my agent last WEEK and I can\’t remember 1/8 of what he said to me.
Legal precedent was set long ago that insured\’s are deemed to have read and understood their insurance policies.
Next, judges in insurance lawsuits make their rulings on what is actually in the policy language itself to determine whther or not an insurer has lived up the terms of the agreement, not on any \”impressions\” the policyholder had from their agent, their neighbor, or Aunt Bessie.
Third, while strom surge is an event unique to hurricanes, most policies carry the exclusion of damage caused by the \”overflow of ANY body of water (\”ANY\” body of water would include the Gulf of Mexico) *WHETHER WIND DRIVEN OR NOT*\” Just because the storm surge is unique to a hurricane event does not make it a covered condition.
The only way the judge rules in their favor is if he desires a certain kind of outcome from the beginning and ignores the rule of law (which of course is not entirely unheard of in modern American jurisprudence.). :-(
I am a victim of Hurricane Katrina. I had both flood and homeowner\’s policies. To have you know my homeowner\’s insurance does say hurricane on it. As a matter of fact I have a special deductible for hurricanes. Where my normal deductible is $500.00, my \”hurricane\” deductible is 2% of the value of my home. We were hit first by Hurricane Katrina in Buras, Louisiana. The windspeed there was stronger than when it hit Mississippi. Our first adjuster paid our flood policy. He told us that we needed a second adjuster for the homeowner\’s policy and that we needed to call our insurance to set that up. He also said and I quote \”State Farm told him not to pay any homeowner\’s policies no matter what.\” When we called for the second adjuster we were told that we needed to get an engineer to tell us what was wind damage and a contractor to say what it would cost to fix that damage. So we did. The engineer estimated the windspeed in South Plaquemines Parish to have been sustained winds of 220 mph. So, why don\’t some of you who have such strong opinions on the subject, yet are so ignorant about it, tell us how we are to handle it. How are we to get the insurance companies to put out what they have collected from us for so many years because \”the backwoods southerns are stupid and uneducated?
Well, I am very sorry for your loss and cannot fathom what you have gone thru. On the other hand, It sounds like you were responsible enough to have purchased flood coverage. I do have a couple of questions as you have left many holes in your response. #1, Does your homeowner\’s policy say anywhere that it covers hurricanes or does it just have a separate hurricane deductible? My guess would be the latter. #2, Was the first adjustor only assigned to flood losses? That may be the reason he was told not to settle homeowner\’s claims. Also, maybe he wasn\’t qualified to do homeowner\’s claims. It is hard to believe he would come out and bad mouth the company like that. That is like biting the hand that feeds you. #3, what was the outcome of you getting the engineering reports and turning that into your homeowner\’s insurance company? Did they deny your claim? Or did they pay you anything? #4, How much was your home worth and how much flood coverage did you have and how much did the flood policy pay? It would be interesting to know these extra details to determine if there was a problem or not. But the bottom line is, for the Leonard\’s, it is there responsibility to read their policy and understand what it covers. I have been in this business over 17 years and just yesterday, I had an attorney client, who did not want to spend and extra $15 per year to increase his General Liability limits by $2 million! I had to practically beg him to take the coverage. That is what WE deal with on a daily basis. Insureds that want EVERYTHING covered but don\’t want to pay a premium.