Homeowners Insurance

[rocky2]

From what I gather some areas of high moisture/humidity suffer from mold build up in walls etc., wherever moisture builds up without air flow. Along comes someone with allergies and a medical report somewhere talking about mold related ailments...so the remodeling commences. Now some lawyer type suggest to turn the remodeling into an insurance issue. So it turns into "consumer" lawyer vs "corporate" lawyer...sorta like an animal eating their young...only the consumer ends up footing the food bill.

 

[bgott]

If you get moisture in your walls you'll end up with black mold. It's 50/50 on it being either the most deadly thing in the world or no problem at all. Some lady won something like $36 million from a lawsuit against one of the insurance companies so a whole bunch of people now have mold related respiratory problems. To get the stuff completely out of a house they have to basically tear down the house and start over. I've heard they have a method to kill it that works by tenting the house like you do for termites. Down here in Houston I think just about every house has some somewhere, 90 to a 100 percent humidity a good part of the year brings on or helps out moisture related problems. It'll probably be like blown in asbestos ceilings, the lawyers will make a killing for a couple of years and the news media will have lots of horror stories about it and then the experts will pop up and say that it wasn't really a big problem in the first place.

 

[dmccarty]

TBone,

The mold issue is the latest scam lawyers are using to get rich.

Basically if a home owner gets mold in their house they sue the
builder, contractors, etc., WHY? The story is that they get sick
due to the mold spores.

Now, I have been in flooded houses with SEVERE mold problems.
And I was coughing for days afterwards. But I hear alot of the
mold lawsuites are little itty bitty things that can be easily fixed.

On another forum a contractor/engineer, I forgot which, was called
into look into a house that had a mold problem. The home owner
demanded, in front of lots of witness thankfully, that he open up
a wall to see if there was any mold. He refused, refused and refused
since this would have made things worse. She kept badgering so
he opened the wall. It made things worse.

So she sued him.

If I remember the story right, she had hired HIM as a consultant
to help her case....

Now to defend the lawyers, many builders are using house wrap, aka
Tyvek, as a moisture barrier. Which it is not. Its a vapor/air barrier.
And the contractors are not installing the house wrap per the manufactuers
instructions anyway. SOOOOOOoooo, if water gets behind the siding,
which is almost always going to happen, you end up with wet wall
cavities. Moisture and now air flow means mold....

Then Health Problems.

Then a lawyer....

Later,
Dan McCarty

 

[rocky2]

Geez, notice no sympathy for lawyers at this site. 40+ grand a year in law school to be despised. My old uncle always said you could use lawyers and politicians (now one in the same) for drilling post holes 'cause they're so crooked you could screw 'em into the ground.

 

[TBone]

I agree Richard. My state is in a crisis right now over malpractice insurance. Doctors can't get it at any price and they are leaving in droves.

I think part of the problem is the greed of the insurance companies and the fact that they lost their $$$ with the downturn of the stock market. A lot of blame, however, can be laid at the feet of people who want "something for nothing."

Society expects doctors to make life and death decisions in milliseconds and then wants to crucify them if the decision turns out to be a bad one. As far as I'm concerned there was only one perfect man and he was a carpenter, not a doctor.

TBone

 

[wroughtn_harv]

As per the course I respectfully disagree with the inclination this discussion is going. Can't help myself. Been dancing like the devil so long I just naturally become an advocate.

Thank gawd for the lawyers.

Sometime go look up asbestosis just for grins. Most of the sites are put up by legal firms.

If it wasn't for the lawyers business would be still telling our dying that it's a virus and probably their fault.

The thing you must always keep in mind is that a lawyer isn't there to tell you what you want to know but what you need to know. The lawyer is your advocate. That means he's the one on your side period, end of paragraph, fold the page, close the book, end of story. So if your side involves someone else his job isn't to find justice. That's the judges and the jury's job. His side is your side. He's there to protect your interests. He's not there to protect the others. He's there for you, right or wrong, you and your interests only. If he's after justice he's in the wrong business.

I can't think of another thing that you can hire or have on your side that is so dedicated only to you except for a pet.

Of course if you're the one on the other side of the fence the lawyer might come off as a bad guy. And from your perspective you might just be right. Unless of course you have your own lawyer. Then you understand it's a lot less about right and wrong as it is about interests.

Another thing, those outrageous awards??????? The lawyers didn't do that. It's ordinary citizens like you and me. But the lawyers get the credit.

 

[cowboydoc]

You're exactly right Tbone. In most countries there has to be some kind of criminal neglect to sue. In this country you get sued for anything. About five years ago one of my friends got sued by a lady that came into him for a neck complaint. He told her she would be fine and sent her home. At the grocery store the next day she got into a wreck. She said it was because she couldn't turn her neck around to see. Her lawyer came after him for malpractice because he didn't tell her that she couldn't drive!! He won the suit but still had to go through the ordeal of being sued over nothing at all and his insurance rates increased just because he was sued even though he won the suit.

 

[rocky2]

"As far as I'm concerned there was only one perfect man and he was a carpenter, not a doctor."

Ain't that the truth.

 

[rocky2]

To an extent you're true. A few days ago here in PA some old lady bought a pair of 99 cent slippers at the local Wally-Mart and the point of sale cash register added tax (no sales tax on clothes in PA). Well, some leagal beagle turned around real quick and filed a class action. Did they go to the store manager and say "hey Skippy, no tax on clothes" and give them the benefit of doubt? Naw, file a suit. So grams got a hundred bucks (max for this type of suit) from Wally-World for an honest mistake. Or what about the drunk who climbed over a 5 foot fence, up a tree onto a porch roof and dove into an above ground pool (not his fence, tree, porch, pool). Making a long story short, the guy hits the water, and his head, becomes a paraplegic. Sue's the home owner and the pool manufacturer for negligence...and wins. Now there are extremes in all cases, and the juries do award the absurd...but I'd venture there are more bottom feeders in the legal field than there are Julia Roberts' attacking illegal and immoral activities by a big utility company. Ok, sorry...I spouted 'nuff on this subject.

 

[dmccarty]

rocky2,

I only had a one liner or two bad mouthing lawyers. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

But the Mold issue is a good delemter of the problems in the law.

One problem is that the contractor's may be building a faulty
product. Thus the need for the lawyers. But the lawyers have
a habit of swinging to far to one side and we all pay as a result.

Example? The policy cancelations and and price increases that
started this thread.

And the ABA spends lots of money during election years and
lobbying Congress to pass laws that are then used for the lawyers
to make money suing people. Tobacco lawsuits. ADA. And I ain't talking
dentists. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

One of North Carolina's Senators, Mr. Edwards, made his money
suing companies. Millions. He will be a Presidential candidate one
day. He provided service, and good service since he one millions of
dollars for his clients. But WE as a society paid for his riches in
higher premiums.

CowBoyDoc has high malpractice insurance which is driven
by the cost of lawsuits. HE has to pass on the price of the
insurance to his patients. So we pay.... And in some areas
Doctors are no longer practicing medicine because of the high
insurance rates.

Now, I have a couple of doctors I would like to sue. Really would.
But the lawyers won't take the case. To much work to do. Not
easy enough for them.....

The problem is the system. There is just too much money out
there to be made by suing companies. And the lawers who either
pay the CongressCritters or who are CongressCritters stack the
deck in their own favor. Human nature I guess.

I don't think alll lawyers are crooked cause they ain't but like anything
else it only takes a few in any group to make the rest look bad.

Later...
Dan

 

[rocky2]

One positive thing about lawyers and then I'm outta here to go move some dirt. They do provide plenty of fodder for jokes, only second to blondes. I better watch out, I'll have blondes from NOW wanting to sue me ! (got 'em both on that one, eh?)

 

[brewerbob]

Well, I guess it's my turn to tell my USAA story. We lived in a Seattle suburb and had ALL of our property insurance with USAA. We had only one claim, that on our auto policy which was because I parked under an elevated street and a rock came off a car or truck and dropped through our glass sunroof. I had connections in the auto parts industry and was able to get a new sunroof at a very reduced price and no labor as I installed it myself. Several years later, I was able to retire early and we bought land and began to build our new home. We insured the new construction with USAA. They were aware that the new home was in a rural area with no close fire protection. Everything went swimmingly until our new house was ready and we wanted to convert from the construction insurance to regular homeowners. They hemmed and hawed and finally decilined the policy because of the location and availability of fire protection. Cancelled everything we had with them and went with Country Companies.
Bob
.

 

[MDNY]

Well I guess we are lucky that we moved to State Farm last August for our Auto (2), Renters, Peronsal Articles and Personal Liability Umbrella (don't want someone trespassing to sue me for what I got). In May we added our homeowners policy.

With all of these fine policies we have a local rep (and after hours services from SF). I know if we have an issue he can act unless SF puts the screws to you. He has advised us and made sure all our policies cover us properly, instead of us guessing what we had (with Geico).

So now that I have a new home (under construction) I have to worry even more about personal suits, claims and Mold. My apartment has black mold in the window casings, air conditioner. Both my wife and our cat (daughter) have allergies from it. But in the house we spent good money on HVAC and will add purification to the furnace later if necessary.

I had always heard if you put in claims too close together like roof damage and wind damage you can get canceled. I guess insurance is meant for us to pay and never get repaid on a claim. Just wish I could run a business that way.

 

[gusg]

We got our renewal from Allstate 2 weeks ago. The homeowners went from $545 to $1275, a 152% increase!!!!! The agent said that everyone's rates are going up by that much. He said the insurance companies are losing too much money. I told him that after 25 years it was time to change. I have never had a claim. We got a quote from Farm Bureau Insurance and it was for $620. My auto also went down about $500/yr.

I guess the warning is if you have Allstate, beware of your renewal. How do they expect us to absorb increases like 152%? They are crazy.

 

[Bird]

152%? Wow! My brother had Allstate most of his life, but his went up almost 100% this year, so he, too, changed companies.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Try this on for size, AETNA, Wish I never Metya.
Back a few years, I had everything covered by Aetna, thru an independant agent, who was making a good buck off my business.
On the way home one night, I had the good luck to meet a drunk driver, head on, 1/2 mile from the bar he just left, with a BAC of 034 by blood test. On the good luck side, the drunk too was insured by Aetna.
After 4 days, their adjuster showed up and made a loball offer on the truck with a bent frame and right side ripped off, but did offer to allow me to keep the truck since it was custom and had no salvage value. Aetna refused to pay for lost income cause I'm self employed.
At renewal time, Aetna sent me a letter cancelling my auto insurance, not really a big problem for me cause I found an Allstate agent who wrote the coverage for less.
3 years later, we finally get to court. By then, Aetna has used a doctor they own because of paying off some malpractice claims to shut off my medical treatment. The Court didn't seem to mind Aetna's doc was a ghynecologist and had determined there was nothing wrong with my back, even though he had never looked at the Xrays. When Aetna's brilliant lawyer found out I'd been in a second accident 2 years after the drunk hit me, he and the Judge got together and the judge dismissed the case. I talked to a few of the jurors in the hall, and they all wanted to give me money.
2 years later, Aetna got a judgement against me because I had sued them. Permanent lesions will form between Aetna's hand and glutius maximus before I pay them a dime.
The reality is insurance companys rule the world. They own doctors and lawyers as well as judges, and lawmakers buy the truckload. In NY it's a crime for a person to defraud an insurance company, and the State employs legions to chase insurance crooks. It is NOT illegal for an insurance company to defraud a policy holder.
Every time you buy anything, a large percentage of the cost is insurance, for the manufacturer, the wholesaler, the trucker, and the seller. It's just a matter of time till the Insurance carriers have all the money.

 

[MDNY]

Franz,

Not to mention in our lovely state of NY they have the most lobyists (and at the capital in DC too). We have some of the highest rates in the country, the laws are out dated and the insurance companies are fleeing us left and right.

But of course of Gov. looks great and everyone loves him for what he did post 9/11. What exactly did he do. Not much, but he was Gov. at the time.

 

[gusg]

That definetely sounds worse than my insurance problem. Your right at this rate we won't be able to finance anything because the insurance payments will equal the loan payments!

 

[JohnMiller3]

About three weeks ago, I was going to lease a 2002 Honda Civic @ $119 month for my oldest daughter. The cost was dirt cheap to get into and would give my girl responsibility/experience with credit/new car/etc. I called the insurance agent for a perspective insurance rate… and almost fell out of my chair… because of her “youthful” driver status, it would have cost $3800. prepaid for a 1 year policy or about 30% more if paid on a monthly basis… /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

Well simple arithmetic says her auto insurance would average out $316 monthly over and above the $119 auto/lease payment… /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif The insurance agent realized I was stunned and then told me this story:

Another Father co-signed a new auto lease for his son 1 ½ years ago, and purchased insurance for a slightly higher premium…, within the year… the son received three speeding tickets, upon the “annual” renewal anniversary, the kid’s insurance premium went up to over $8000 /year. The Father was outraged and called other insurance carriers and quoted similar “high” premiums. Then the Father called the leasing company and explained the problem and “requested” to cancel the lease on the automobile… To make a long story short… you can imagine how far he got there… The bottom line… the kid’s car is “off the road”, parked in the Father’s driveway… and each month the kid writes out the lease check…

 

[wroughtn_harv]

It's only going to get worse.

Insurance companys are one of the largest investors in our markets. They've lost fortunes. They'll be coming back to us to replenish their coffers.

As will the utility companys through their protected avenues of regulated entities.

History will probably have some very interesting things to say about this time.

The common man is going to pay dearly for being asleep at the wheel while business was done.

And tonight I will sit in front of the telley while the President is speaking with the same disdain, disgust, and disappointment as the critics of the last administration would if Bill was making a speech on the benefits of monogamy.