What homeowners should know dealing with their insurance claims after Hurricane Michael: A Q+A with an attorney and public adjuster

Jan. 14--PANAMA CITY -- A little over three months after Hurricane Michael and it seems like the most used word around the county is "insurance."

With well over 80,000 claims filed in Bay County alone since the storm and only 46,747 closed, many are still dealing with their insurance companies and working through their claims, while others are building cases to fight their settlements in court.

The law firm Vargas Gonzalez Hevia Baldwin Attorneys at Law based in Panama City Beach and Noble Public Adjusting Group recently held an informational event for homeowners and business owners in the middle of dealing with their insurance companies. We spoke to Attorney Joseph Glace and Public Adjuster Bo Williamson about what residents need to know if they're having difficulty with their claims. Their answers have been edited for clarity and length. Williamson also operates a Facebook group, Hurricane Michael Insurance Q&A where users can ask questions and have them answered by adjusters.

We're now past the initial phase of filing claims, but it seems like a lot of people are really bogged down in the process. What are you seeing now as far as the issues?

Glace:"Homeowners are really frustrated because a lot of the insurance adjusters that come out, they call them independent adjusters but they work for the insurance company and not on behalf of homeowners, they'll spend sometimes as little as 20-25 minutes at somebody's house to do a complete evaluation."

Williamson: "These insurance companies, they hire people off the street when these storms happen. We had one adjuster that came out, this is a true story that happened recently, he came out to adjust a claim for a homeowner for the insurance company and he was a pig farmer. That's what he did. He was not an adjuster ... he left his pig farming card with him and did a horrible job adjusting the claim."

So homeowners are in that process now, where they've had the initial adjuster come out and they're fighting with that?

Glace: "I think so often in the claims process ... the person that might go out to someone's home might not be the desk adjuster that the insurance company is actually giving the homeowner's a phone number to for the homeowner to actually contact, so it's very frustrating because the person who comes out to their house, for example, might say, 'Oh I see damage here, I see damage here' but the person who is actually answering the phone for the insurance company might not have all that information. It's very frustrating for the homeowner because they're getting bounced around like ping-pong and they can't get a straight answer out of it.

When you're talking about Hurricane Irma last year and Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Florence, we hear it a lot from the insurance companies is we're backed up, all out catastrophe adjusters are in different areas ... it's not really their problem, for the homeowner. It they're paying their insurance policy, they're good on their premiums every month, the insurance company has an obligation to hold themselves accountable and pay and adjust their claims properly. That's what we're not seeing right now and it's getting to a boiling point for homeowners.

For a lot of homeowners, this may be the first time they've ever encountered their insurance company. Many have never made a claim in the last 15-20 years they've owned the home."

Williamson: "The homeowners are completely caught off guard because they get the paperwork back from the insurance company and it's $.10 -- $.20 cents on the dollar and they're looking at contractors and the contractors are laughing ... They really think when they file a claim they're going to be taken care of but the reality of it is, that's not what I see every day."

What tools do homeowners have if they feel like they're getting lowballed? And does suing your insurance company affect their future coverage or their rates to go up?

Glace: "It's a good question because I think a lot of homeowners have that sense of it, likely from automotive insurance. Homeowners insurance does not act that way mostly because the home is not acting negligent in some fashion. It's really just a contract ... An insurance company is not allowed to drop you simply because you made a claim.

To speak to rates or premiums going up, we've seen in the last 10, 12 years rates have continued to increase ... and it's not necessarily because of homeowners making claims."

Williamson: "When you file a claim, you're making a claim. You have to present the claim in the most favorable light possible. That means you have to have all of the documentation for your Coverage A ... It's not just photos and videos -- it's engineering reports and moisture mapping and mold testing and all of that ... What's happening a lot of times with the homeowners is they're expecting their insurance company to come out and do all that and they're not.

When the public adjuster packages the claim in the most favorable light possible to the insurance company, they should pay in good faith. But what happens a lot of times is they don't pay in good faith and it needs to go to an attorney right away."

Glace: "We're able to represent homeowners through a Florida Statute 627.428 ... What that is is a fee-shifting statute leveling the playing field between the insurance company and the homeowner ... When I file a lawsuit against an insurance company and I prevail, meaning I get them to pay at least one more dollar than whatever the insurance company previously paid, all of my legal fees and the costs of representing that person ... all of that is paid by the insurance company. I can represent people, essentially, free of charge ... This is exactly what the Florida Legislature intended ... Not a lot of homeowners are aware of that fact and that's why we need to educate them. Not matter what, I'm not going to charge you any percent of what we recover."

How long does it take to usually settle a case like that?

Glace: "For a homeowner's case, sometimes we'll settle a case very early in litigation ... in a matter of days or weeks. Other cases, if the insurance company digs their heels in ... we could take it potentially all the way to trial. The average I would say though is a period of about six to nine months.

If for every 10 claims they receive, 9 people walk away after that first check, the insurance company is winning ... Not aware of their rights, not aware of someone like Bo or someone like myself that could help them out. Like, 'Okay, this is all the insurance company told me they could pay, I guess that's it.'"

Williamson: "It takes us about two months to get the claim documented the way it should be documented. Within about a month or two after that, the claim should be settled ... If it's not, something needs to be done with an attorney to escalate it."

So we're talking years that people could possibly be dealing with this?

Williamson: "Worst case."

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