Recently, I challenged the insurance industry to give the policyholder the requisite, "benefit of the doubt", when assessing wind (private insurance) versus flood (federal insurance).
Now, I challenge those of us representing policyholders to avoid the temptation of greed when documenting and presenting claims. To my public adjuster friends, stay zealous, but do not fall victim to greed. To my friends in the insurance bar, our claims of insurer abuse will be closely scrutinized and must withstand such scrutiny.
So, why is the challenge so important in the days after Hurricane Ike? Simply, a bad apple may be made to spoil the whole basket. The allegations of misconduct by infamous consumer attorney, Dickie Scruggs, will be made to haunt us by an insurance industry eager to deflect blame for claim abuses. One need only read the State Farm website materials to know that efforts will be made to shift the focus to the claimant's bar, if the opportunity arises. http://www.statefarm.com/about/hurricane/hurricane_katrina.asp
Certainly, we are disgusted by the bribery of a judge and pay-offs to whistle blower witnesses. Still, all policyholder counsel will be made pay generally for such misdeeds by even just one with a loss of credibility with our public and our courts. It is our challenge to rebuild our standing as we help our client's rebuild their homes and businesses.
Best of luck,
Lee Gunn
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