Hurricane Suits Will Rain On Insurers: Lawyer

By Steve Tuckey

NU Online News Service, Nov. 9, 4:14 p.m. EDT?A prominent northern Florida plaintiff's attorney predicts a "merciless barrage of hurricane lawsuits" against insurers claiming they failed to properly insure homes or satisfy claims from the hurricane season of 2004 in the state.[@@]

Pensacola-based attorney Samuel Bearman blamed insurance companies seeking "to absolve themselves of responsibility" for the legal action that he expects to bring in the coming months.

Mr. Bearman filed what he termed the first lawsuit stemming from Hurricane Ivan, which hit the Florida Panhandle Labor Day weekend.

He alleges that the San Antonio-based USAA insurance company failed to not only compensate a family for the total value of their destroyed home, but also to advise them to purchase flood insurance in the first place.

"They were on the bayou and should have had flood insurance," he said. "Not necessarily by law, but we think the agent should have recommended it."

While certain homeowners are required to have federal flood insurance, many other vulnerable homes do not face the same requirement.

Mr. Bearman said that his experience with Hurricane Opal in 1995, after which he handled nearly 100 claims, many of which led to lawsuits, leads him to believe the problem will be magnified with these storms.

"There is a lot more damage now from Ivan than there was from Opal, and the problems are similar," he said.

The main conflicts arise from wind adjusters blaming damage on floods and flood adjusters blaming it on the wind, Mr. Bearman said.

"And the other part is not having flood insurance, and whether or not they should have had flood," he said.

Mr. Bearman said he has about half a dozen cases in various stages of discussion.

"I've also met with a dozen or so, and we are still waiting for the final answer from the insurance carriers on their claims. And I expect to be hearing from them soon," he said.

While the four storms resulted in more than a million claims, only those involving total losses for the most part will cross the desk of Mr. Bearman and his counterparts throughout the state.

William Stander, regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said that any time there are losses on the scale that the Florida hurricanes caused there is bound to be litigation surrounding some claims settlements.

"Now there are some attorneys in the Pensacola area who are craftily trying to set the stage via press release before they hit the courtroom to create in the public mind that the industry has pulled a fast one in that we sold hurricane policies and there was some massive conspiracy that we don't cover flood," Mr. Stander said. "This is even though the flood insurance program has been in effect for some 50 years."

Mr. Stander said there could be some issue with agents if they fail to properly explain the risks, but in most areas homeowners are free not to purchase flood insurance, if that is their desire.

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Hurricane Suits Will Rain On Insurers: Lawyer

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