Water Damage Claim in Florida Winter Home Condo Unit

On October 25, 2016, a main water line was discovered to have burst in a 2nd-floor unit, allowing for large amounts of water to enter into the 1st-floor unit for an unspecified period of time. Water was pouring out of the ceiling light fixtures and air vents, causing direct physical damage to the kitchen cabinets, appliances, bedrooms and closets, carpeting, vanities, closet doors, sliding doors, doorway jams, crown moldings, and personal property located all throughout the unit.

The owner who resides half the year in New York, immediately retained the services of public adjuster Steve Venook to help assist him with the preparation of his water damage claim. Noting the severity of the loss, Mr. Venook took his time to assess the damage accurately. He also enlisted the help of multiple experts to render their professional opinions on items such as the kitchen cabinetry and appliances to see if they could be salvaged before submitting the claim to the insurance company.

On the contrary, the insurance company adjuster spent little time in estimating the loss, and a check was issued to the insured in the amount of $6,209.67, accounting for minimal repairs before closing the claim file without notice.

Resolving a Difficult Water Damage Claim

Many weeks went by until Advocate Claims Public Adjusters was able to get the insurance company to assign a new field adjuster to the claim. The claim manager handling the claim in house for the insurance carrier was uncooperative and unprofessional at best.

During a re-inspection, the reassigned field adjuster, confirmed that there were additional damages previously unaccounted for and agreed with Mr. Venook on his scope of repair. The field adjuster stated that he would revise and prepare a new estimate. However, when it was completed, the claim manager would not provide a copy to the insured or Mr.Venook for reasons unknown.

With no way to determine what the outstanding differences were, Mr. Venook attempted to invoke the appraisal process only to be completely ignored by the in-house claim manager. Advocate Claim Public Adjusters then recommended that the insured seek legal advice as to how he should proceed, and not long after a Civil Remedy Notice of Insurer Violations was filed with the Florida Department of Financial Services, the claims manager quickly called with a global settlement offer of $50,000 for the unit repairs. This was $43,790.33 more than the insurance carrier’s initial offer and was sufficient for the insured to repair all the damages inside his unit fully.

“Steve’s experience in dealing with claims and insurance companies proved invaluable. Not only did Steve go above and beyond in protecting our interests, but he also kept us in the loop during the entire process. We flew back to Florida with an insurance check, ready to proceed with the repairs/renovations.”