Superstorm Sandy is Gone, But the Insurance Claim Woes Remain for Many Victims
By Dean I Weitzman, Esq. on November 29th, 2012
When Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast in late October, it decimated the New Jersey shore, lower Manhattan and Staten Island in New York and severely damaged property and homes in a wide swath of states.
The clean-up continues, often slowly, as winter quickly approaches, complicating the recovery process for thousands of families and property owners.
But making recovery even harder is the rejection of many insurance claims by insurers which are shirking their responsibilities and trying to keep their shareholders happy instead of serving their customers who have been faithfully paying their premiums for years if not decades.
A photo of a tree that toppled onto a house during a storm. Image credit: © iStockphoto.com/AwakenedEye
In New York, in the Rockaways, families like Alex Savoie’s are being told that their storm damage, which often the total loss of homes and businesses, was caused by non-covered flooding rather than by wind from a hurricane. Sandy, of course, was a hurricane before she hit the Jersey coast and was re-categorized by weather officials as Superstorm Sandy.
“Thousands of families still struggling in the aftermath of Sandy are learning that some insurance companies don’t seem to think the storm was a hurricane,” said a recent story in The New York Daily News. Savoie’s family was one such tragic story. When Sandy damaged her home, Savoie thought she’d be covered by her insurance.
But because she didn’t have flood insurance, her insurer is telling her that the damage is not covered, according to the story. “The bottom line is very simple,” she told the paper. “I had hurricane insurance. It should cover a hurricane.”
Many other homeowners have been finding themselves in similar straits. To cope, they are seeking assistance from the federal government when their insurance claims are being denied, the paper reported.
For homeowners and business owners who suffered property losses from the superstorm, they may also have to take legal action to protect their rights and fight for every dollar that they deserve in compensation for their losses. For them, the fight might just be beginning to get claims checks from the insurers they’ve been paying into for years.
Those battles could also involve your cars, trucks and other motor vehicles that were damaged or destroyed by the storm. More than 230,000 vehicles were damaged by the floodwaters and winds due to the storm, according to InAutoNews.com. “New York is on the first place with the most vehicles damaged by the storm, 130,000 units, followed by New Jersey with 60,000,” the story reported. “The rest of 40,000 vehicles were reported from Delaware, Maine, Connecticut, District of Columbia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia.”
What that means is that insurers may also fight vehicle owners on those claims, too.
But you don’t need to feel like you are alone and at the mercy of the insurance companies if you sustained storm damage and are getting claims denials or low ball offers for damages.
That’s when you need to seek out experienced, aggressive and professional legal representation from attorneys who will fight your battles and work to get you the results you deserve.
Our hearts here at MyPhillyLawyer go out to every resident and their loved ones and family members in the area affected by the storm, including here in Pennsylvania and Delaware as well.
There is so much that the disaster victims and their families are going through right now. The stresses are huge and the recovery will likely seem agonizingly slow.
This is not the time for insurers to be adding to the misery of families and business owners as they struggle to rebuild their lives and properties.
The attorneys here at MyPhillyLawyer stand ready to help you and your family once again be whole as you continue the clean-up of your property damage. Please feel free to contact us at 215-227-2727 or toll-free at 1-(866) 352-4572 anytime. Whether it is a problem with a building contractor who might be ripping you off, or an insurance company that’s not properly handling or making good on your claims, give us a call if you need an experienced, qualified and compassionate team of attorneys to fight for you. If you need us, MyPhillyLawyer stands ready to assist you and will be there for you and your family every step of the way as we manage your case through the legal system.
When Winning Matters Most, Call MyPhillyLawyer.