Re: Three Years Later, Industry Puts Toxic Mold into Perspec

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On 3/31/04, Jack wrote:
> I don't work for for Farmers and am no longer in the busines
> so I could give a s*#t about Farmers.

This sounds like you saw the light of day. When did you decide
that being a representaive of the insurance industy was just not
worth the effort. I have read alot about how the guys that stay
on the road months out of a year can't depend upon a livable
income from the insurance industry paying a decent wage for the
knowledge and front line personnel skills these guys have to
develope.

In my opinion Farmers won this case...giving away what they did
in the Ballard case is pocket change for this company and and
realistically only a fraction of all the fraudulent mold claims
they paid out.

So Winning the case in your opinon is having a jury find evidence
to warrent a 32 million dollar judgement, the company admits bad
faith, and advertise they are not found guilty of fraud? If
Farmer's bread and butter is trust with the insurer's of the
World to put their money with them rather than someone else; it
sounds like they lost a major Public Release opportunity. What
other commodity does the insurance industry provide besides a
promise to make whole in case of an unlikeyly event.

In my opinion both parties are at fault... (Contributary
Negligence ?)

incompetence vs. money train...

Ms Ballard is a very competent Public Relations person. I doubt
that she was ever not heard, or misunderstood.

Now concerning money train... did you expect Ms Ballard to foot
all the repairs and then wait until Hell froze over for Farmers
to send her a check for all her incompetence

If Farmers hired the people that were to come find the problems
with the house are they not competent to relove the problem
before it becomes a 32 million dollar reduced, not counting the
bad public opinon? Either side could have called anyone up to
the $300 dollar an hour toxicologists.

Good for you maintaining your home...

In my industry people die if leaks are not found and fixed, and
the industry from Texas your refer to, Houston, Corpus Christie
sent over their best three times, after the industry had sent
even more. We have video of them smelling contents and claiming
no mold, and upon removal and destruction we found the boxes
never opened and contents like redwing boots and leather shoes
growing together. For those boxes of contents no compensation
was provided in the estimates, and they had been made available
for inspection for seven years.

you would be suprised how many Americans do not and then blame
someone else for their problems.

After a hurricane delunged my home and all the contents saturated
with moisture contents up to 100%, i got critisized for opening
up the interior walls and letting the A/C dry the interior. The
adjuster said it would be fine since it was not flood water, just
let it dry. It just about boiled down to blaming me for the
hurricane and not going to the bank to borrow a quarter of a
million dollars on top of existing notes to finance all the
repairs, on top of all the other labor, and moving we had paid
out of pocket. In their opinion my knowledge over their
adjuster's knowledge made me negligent.

It a shame there isn't a bad faith clause in the policy for a
homeowner not taking care of their home.

There is a clause there if ever an adjuster would take the time
to sit down with an attorny and look at the words. The insurance
company always retains the rights to come and examine the home
for potential problems. We had ours checked four years before
the storm. The company wanted to see the dead bolts, the fire
etinquishers and the overall condition of the home. They were
satisfied and just kept taking the checks every year.

I wish you could have been in my shoes when I handled claims in
> the houston area a couple of years ago in the height of this
> hysteria. Contractors, public adjusters, remediators and just
> plain con-men new exactly how to play the game.
>
I was talking with the paralegal downtown Houston at that time
when Houston was flooded; they were just starting to deal with
the miscommunications as I had been dealing with it for the past
four years. In my opinion the insurance industry was doing
everything they could to justify the rate increases, while they
were greezing the skids of the judicial sides to say no problem
to mold, while there was no scientific support. The paralegal
also found mold in her closets, having an inflicted child at
home; and the law firms attorney discovered he had Cancer. I
know how the gam is played, we prepare for it every day. The
game is called all out war. There is nothing Civil about it and
no need to lessen the blows.

Like I said the problem hasn't gone away. As long as newer homes
are "moldy" and the realtors are divided, and the contractors
unsure how they got that way; there is a huge liability brewing.

I am sure if Farmers would have been on the up put the competent
people on the problem people in Texas would be smiling rather
facing off over the battle lines. Insurance is supposed to be a
betterment of Socity and its policy held to a higher standard
than a standard Contract. Is should not be an instrument to
divide and cause Civil disobidence.

jc

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