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Robby, you could almost say all of the top management of TWIA were blown out the door by "wind lift" that does not have a damage code or a metric to measure the "all or nothing" scope,s used by the green adjusters to complete the file for payment. It was true the first adjuster was paid for a closed file that was just a hope and a prayer.

Posted By Ray Hall on 02 Mar 2011 01:04 PM

Robby, you could almost say all of the top management of TWIA were blown out the door by "wind lift" that does not have a damage code or a metric to measure the "all or nothing" scope,s used by the green adjusters to complete the file for payment. It was true the first adjuster was paid for a closed file that was just a hope and a prayer.

Hi Ray!
 

First things first, I am 100% aware that the media has in the past and will continue in the future to villify all carriers no matter what. I am aware that they will also cry BAD FAITH anytime a carrier fails to pay everything an insured can dream up, no matter whether the carrier was 100% correct in the denial.

With that being said,

Is it your position that TWIA was erroniously scapegoated for the wind lift debacle,that these gentleman were guilty of nothing more than doing their job?

If in fact windlift is NOT enough to justify roof replacement, how do you explain the fact that many of these roofs with wind lifted shingles that were repaired by re-sticking the lifted shingles cannot pass an underwriting inspection when these insureds are looking for insurance coverage from another carrier? 

I may be wrong, but I do not think I have even known  or heard of a carrier that did inspections by getting on the roof and looking for unsealed shingles. I am one of the old guy,s who thinks being sealed down or unsealed has not one thing  to do with the shingle turning water if being "unsealed" is the only untoward

visual observation seen. Three tab shingles turned water for 50 years before they attached the seal tabs.This is all just roofing saleman arguments. But it may be a fact now as TX. has caved in to the drum beat.

If I may politely inquire, what carriers are declining a Risk for the unsealed tabs? Having performed underwriting inspections in between claims work since 1974 for most all the usual suspects out there, I would like to know who you are referring to.

These days with underwriting budgets slashed away, the cost for  ACTUAL roof inspections has become prohibitive for them. And, without getting on the roof, the unsealed shingles cannot be surveyed. What CAN be surveyed from the ground are missing or folded back shingles, and this remains an element of even the cheapest of underwriting inspection surveys. When I say cheapest, we're talking under $10.00 to go out take a front & rear photo of the Risk, complete a pretty detailed condition report, and traditionally, make a diagram of the Risk to ascertain the square footage.

Is this something you boys think you might like to do with gasoline prices soaring off into Wonderland? Did I mention the dog(s) in the back yard you have to sneak past while they are asleep? What about the overly complicated house designs that compliment the overly complicated and steep roofs? All for a measlely $10.00 less your gasoline?

Loss Control has always been the poor cousin of claims and always will.

Ol' Ghost

after being involved in residential underwriting inspections in Louisiana, priced at $35 per, I can tell you that unless you have hundreds of them and are extremely efficient the money, profit that is, is nonexistent.

The only difference between a glued shingle and non-glued is the amount of wind it takes to lift it. If been on roofs that were 5-7 years old that still had the plastic protector stips on them. The shingles never "adhered" but shed water as well as any other.

Posted By jsindallas on 06 Mar 2011 06:44 PM

The only difference between a glued shingle and non-glued is the amount of wind it takes to lift it. If been on roofs that were 5-7 years old that still had the plastic protector stips on them. The shingles never "adhered" but shed water as well as any other.

Wonderful, why don't you get a job with TWIA, I here they have three new openings :-)

jsindallas,

The plastic strip is to keep the shingles from sticking to themselves in the bundle. That strip has absolutely nothing to do with how the shingles may or may not be adhering to each other on a roof.

Posted By CatAdjusterX on 02 Mar 2011 12:49 AM

 There be a new Sheriff in town and it ain't Reggie Warren , Bill Knaar and it ain't Jim Oliver

Interesting read I would say, read below:

The Texas Department of Insurance said Monday that it will begin overseeing the operations of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association an organization that the department said is "hazardous to the public."

During an emergency meeting, the board of the Windstorm Insurance Association — a quasi-governmental agency that serves as the insurer of last resort for homeowners in hurricane-prone coastal areas — also voted to begin the process to replace the general manager, Jim Oliver .

In a letter to Oliver, the state Insurance Department said that the management of the windstorm association "does not have the experience, competence or trustworthiness to operate TWIA in a safe and sound manner."

Oliver will keep his job until he is replaced. He left Monday's meeting without commenting after a three-hour executive session.

Also, according to the letter, Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin said that he had determined that the Windstorm Insurance Association is "in a condition that makes its continuation in business hazardous to the public or to its policyholders."

As a result, the commission on Monday put the association under administrative oversight — a process that The Associated Press describes as the least invasive form of intervention in which the department monitors all executive decisions made at the association.

The Insurance Department said the decision for oversight came in part because of multiple instances in which "an outside claims adjuster was paid for adjusting work that appears not to have been performed and that TWIA paid claims based on that outside adjuster's recommendation."

The windstorm agency bosses were aware of the issue and failed to properly report it, the letter says.

The association also failed to adequately address issues that were pointed out in recent examinations and analyses, including "a lack of adequate controls over accounting, personnel, and material decisions affecting day-to-day operations, as well as communications with staff, the board of directors, and the (Insurance) Department," the letter said.

The department had no comment Monday. And no end date for the oversight was given.

But the letter said the oversight would continue until the commissioner "determines that TWIA has satisfied the specified requirements."

Upon emerging from executive session Monday, the governing board said it would begin an investigation into its claims handling process.

The windstorm association's governing board is made up of 10 members chosen by Geeslin, an appointee of Gov. Rick Perry who has announced that he is leaving the post soon.

The board also announced Monday that there would be no more in-kind payments in severance packages to departing employees. The move seemed designed to ensure that no more trucks are given away, as was the case recently.

The departures of senior managers Reggie Warren and Bill Knarr from the association received some attention last week when the Texas House's insurance committee asked Oliver about the packages the two were getting.

Warren will get $114,000 in cash and a 2010 Ford pickup, and Knarr will get $47,000, according to the online news outlet Texas Watchdog.

Oliver told lawmakers that the compensation packages were standard, Texas Watchdog reported.

The Windstorm Insurance Association made news last year when state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood , asked the association about a $189 million settlement it made with 2,400 Galveston-area homeowners who were hit by Hurricane Ike.

Specifically, Taylor asked for detailed information about each of the cases in the settlement, including the amount of attorneys' fees and a description of the work. In asking, Taylor, who is chairman of the Texas House's Republican caucus, would have dug up information about the money paid to lawyer Steve Mostyn, the biggest contributor to state Democrats.

 

Robby Robinson

 

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Hey guys,

First things first , nobody chewed me out for posting what I have posted about Reggie, Bill and Jim. However, I do NOT want to set a bad example to our newer folks thinking it's ok to criticize someone without first walking in that person's shoes.

 

I also want to remind our newly licensed folks to be careful what you post or say on any online forum because you never know who is reading it. Whilst our industry is large , you will find out how small it is when you piss someone off who is a claims namager  or whoever and you can kiss possibly a career away from  posting stuff that will come back to haunt you.

 

In closing, I do NOT know the entire story about TWIA, just bits that the plaintiff attorney wanted us to see. That does not mean that TWIA is innocent because they are not, none of us are in some ways.

With that being said,

 

I have no clue what kind of pressure that Reggie and Bill were under, no midea what the senior managers were ordering them to do.

 

 

We all know the old saying "one shouldn't say anything about someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes"

Of course, what isn't pointed out is that now you're a mile away from them,  you've got their shoes, and you can pretty much say what you want.

Happy Trails

The people on the gulf coast of TX. may have a hard time finding windstorm coverage if something like a wind pool does not exist. If TWIA can not write coverage because of under funding and out standing open litigated claims the Tx. DPI will have to take over all the old liabilitys for wind coverage. How would they do this ? One model could be to write property (fire) insurance in TX. a licensed carrier must accept "pool" submissions like the old old  auto policy. A better way would be Non-Admitted carriers with a standard coverage HO-A type form with ACV only coverage for roofs, and UPP.

This is just the start and it will take some time and we we see the impact of TDI for the consumers. Tx still has the highest HO cost in the USA. Pending litigation from IKE and will increse HO cost for years. We need more carriers, please come on down.

 Marc, this TDI take over and foldo on wind lift, O & P and 18 percent penalty for underpayment will now become the "rule" in all states. This will increase each wind/roof loss by billions and higher premiums for windstorm coverage nationwide. The day of fee bills based on the amount of the loss will now have have pressure from almost universal use of xmate on storm work as the time is in the system and T & E may make a comeback. With each adjusters SS# on record it seems it would be impossible to bill more than 16 per day and actual milage confirmed by start and stop milage of digital date stamped photo,s. Leave it to the roof salespersons. Roof thumping adjusters days are in past years.

I have one theory as to why it ended up like this.  It's related to my tiresome reality that is revealed with increased frequency: claims examiners are getting dumber by the day.  We live in an era where college grads are thrown in front of a desk and expected to tell attorneys, engineers, medical experts, and experienced adjusters how to interpret coverage, define damage, discuss medical opinions and how to adjust claims.  Upper management just can't seem to review a balanced amount of files to keep these guys in check.  Damned if you say anything or you'll get thrown to the back of the deployment list.

The examiners who know how to throw their weight around get to make inept mandates like the one Marc described above.  The smart examiners learn the ropes and get out of the office asap to to make money again.

One problem with this trend is that IA examiners are paid lower than your experienced field adjusters can make while they slave away in the trenches.  Every time I have a candid discussion with an examiner,  they glumly mumble about their desire to be deployed to the field.  The ones that don't usually are either happy to have a job because they had a severe injury (not many), feel too old (these are usually the best ones btw because their exposure to claims is usually very extensive), or were too dense in their approach to claims to  figure out a way to make more in the field than upper-tier per diems.

Shouldn't field adjusters want to work hard so they can get awarded with positions requiring increased responsibility and experience?

*Disclaimer: my statements are generalizations and are not true in every circumstance.