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The more interesting claims of this year result from roof damage, it seems.
Hail damaged a very expensive tile and copper roof and my client’s insurance company inspected the damage and hired an engineer to report on the damage. The engineer reported the hail damage … but added his own opinion that, since the damage could not be seen from the ground, “it wasn’t really damage” — and the insurance company denied payment on the claim. After several years of fruitlessly challenging this denial, my client’s roofing contractor suggested that he hire me to assist him. After several months of my communications and negotiations with the insurance company, they finally agreed to pay my client over $232,000.00 to restore her roof to its condition prior to the hail storm.
Another expensive roof (slate and copper) was damaged by hail and the insurance company provided my client with a computer-generated estimate to repair the damage for a little over $4,800, but no roofing contractor could be found who was willing to restore the roof for that amount of money. She hired me to assist her and, after several months of communication and negotiation, the insurance company agreed to pay her over $66,000.00 to restore her roof to its condition prior to the storm.
A clay tile and copper roof in St. Louis was damaged by hail and the insurance company’s adjuster determined that it was “insignificant” and would cost less to repair than the deductible. After an additional inspection and several weeks of negotiations regarding the actual scope of the work required to affect the repair, the insurance company agreed that the damage was significant and issued payment for more than $17,000.00.
A St. Louis homeowner accepted her insurance company’s settlement of $9,000 for damage to her roof and spent over two years trying to find a contractor who was willing to make the necessary repair for that amount of money as water continued to enter her home. In September, a roofing contractor referred her to me for assistance. I reopened her claim and, by the end of October, her insurance company agreed to pay her an additional $40,000.00 to restore her roof to its condition prior to the storm.