Tag: Hurricane Ike claims handling

Merlin’s blog cookin’ with news of Ike claims handling – SLABBED brings desert

Chip Merlin has been cooking on all burners and dishing out news of Ike claims handling faster than I could digest and link  Dig into this big spread – we were all invited – and then I’ll put out a little desert.

If you want to find a bunch of irate policyholders with plenty of stories to tell, hang out with Tina Nicholson and Javier Delgado in our Houston office. Commercial and residential policyholders have had enough frustration trying to do it themselves and are seeking legal counsel to fight the delays and denials from their insurance carriers. Anger at the insurance company and the adjusters working their claim is the prevalent emotion. Continue reading “Merlin’s blog cookin’ with news of Ike claims handling – SLABBED brings desert”

Merlin: The parable of Hurricane Ike insurance claims!

and the moral of this story is…

My good buddy, Tom Grail, told me the parable of Hurricane Ike Insurance Claims. To appreciate this, one must first understand that the total loss structures in Galveston and Bolivar receive uniform estimates of wind damage from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). The amount of damage caused by wind for nearly every structure is approximately 11%. The reports are virtually identical for every total loss structure, despite differences in the age of the structure and quality of construction.

The parable is a story of two men, Larry and Moe, who were on the peninsula when Ike hit. Larry was struck by a flying 2X4 launched by the wind, then, when the surge came, he grasped a floating timber and made it to safety. He was treated for his injuries, estimated at 11% of his being.

Moe was not so lucky. He was killed instantly by a flying TV set. The storm surge subsequently swept his body away.

The medical examiner compared Moe’s corpse to Larry. After taking several months to consider the situation, the examiner declared that Moe was only 11% killed by wind, because that’s what happened to Larry. He opined that 89% of Moe’s death must have been due to flooding.

Merlin goes on to add: Continue reading “Merlin: The parable of Hurricane Ike insurance claims!”