Noble Public Adjusting Group is fighting insurance companies after Hurricane Michael to get clients higher claim payments

Jan. 19--CALLAWAY -- Wooden beams dangled from the roof of Robert Green's home in Callaway 99 days after Hurricane Michael plowed through.

His house also has a busted window and water damage from rain, and he now lives in a travel trailer on the property. Green's insurance company determined it was around $31,000 in damages but the local-based Noble Public Adjusting Group, which is working to get Green a higher payment, instead estimates the damage is hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I was shocked. It was such an egregious lowball they threw me that I immediately started looking for alternatives," said Green, who works as a healthcare professional and went back to work almost immediately after the hurricane. "(Insurance companies) have their own interests to protect but it was so obvious to me they were going to give me the runaround that I went ahead and got professional help."

Noble Public Adjusting Group, which has an office in Panama City Beach, is unsurprisingly busy after Hurricane Michael given the numerous anecdotal reports from local homeowners frustrated with perceived low insurance claim payments.

Noble Public Adjusting Group also worked to help other homeowners before the storm.

Chris Davis, manager of Noble Public Adjusting Group, said their job is to get more money from insurance companies when clients' homes are damaged. They take a percentage from what they get for clients. Green said he has "no problem keeping 90 percent of something rather than 100 percent of nothing" since the adjusters "got to be paid."

"The whole reason we even have a job is because insurance companies don't do their jobs in the first place," Davis said. "If insurance companies wanted to put us out of business, all they would have to do is pay their claims in full the first go-around."

Getting clients those full claims comes down to documentation which is "favorably interpreted" for the policyholder by Noble Public Adjusting Group. Ambiguity in a policy should fall in favor of the homeowner, Davis said.

Davis and Noble Public Adjusting Group owner Bo Williamson have also appeared in the reality series "Insurance Wars" which documented their efforts to get clients higher insurance claims before Hurricane Michael. Season 1 episodes from 2017 are posted on the show's Facebook page, and Green actually went with Noble Public Adjusting Group after his wife watched the show.

Episodes show Williamson, Davis and others eventually getting higher payments for clients after having heated exchanges with home inspectors.

"The original idea behind the show was education. If you go down to Miami, they don't even call their insurance company when they have a claim to file. They call a PA or attorney and the PA or attorney files a claim for them," Davis said. "They've been hit so many times with storms they know the hustle before the game begins. That's not the case in the Panhandle of Florida. It doesn't get hit that often."

Williamson said it's "obvious" Green's house, at 5102 Hwy. 22 is a "total loss."

"The insurance company pays ten cents on the dollar," Williamson said. "You don't have to be an engineer or adjuster to look at this thing and see it's a total loss."

An engineer sent on behalf of the insurance company Thursday declined to comment.

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