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Last Post 10/28/2009 10:58 PM by Odin

Foundation Question

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Willinsky

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Posts:18

10/08/2009 8:22 AM
A friend of mine at the beach in Wareham had a terrible problem with her house during a really bad storm a few weeks ago. Her foundation caved into her basement and there is a gaping hole in her house. She put in an insurance claim and the company won't pay. It's going to cost her 20K to fix it! She's 60, lost the job she had for 30 years because the company closed and only has a 401K to borrow from worth 25K. That's it! I feel horrible about it. My Question is when and where do we insure this type of damange ? All input welcomed... Lawrence Willinsky

Ray Hall

Senior Member
Posts:2443

10/08/2009 10:38 AM
This sounds like an excluced loss on the facts you gave. Lets get the policy form first was it a HO-3. What caused the basemant wall to fall into the basement, Water pressure? Does not sound good but I would need more facts on the C & O to comment.

Ray Hall

Senior Member
Posts:2443

10/08/2009 10:40 AM
Does she have flood insurance ?

claims_ray
Member

Member
Posts:293

10/08/2009 10:53 AM
Who has a basement at the beach?

Willinsky

Guest
Posts:18

10/08/2009 4:12 PM
Flash flooding caused the water to seep deep into the ground. The wet sand around the foundation pushed the wall in. The wall was old to begin but over the 3 year period of the water coming from the road the yard flooded 6 times. In other words if the flash flood only happened once it probably wouldn't have collapsed like that. She said she read her policy a number of times and that the company has so many exclusions in there that they are pretty well covered. She got this insurance through AARP. Just sent you two photos. She's sure it's a HO-3 policy. If it were me I'd sue the town sooooooooooooo fast. Lawrence Willinsky

Willinsky

Guest
Posts:18

10/08/2009 4:16 PM
Two Pictures Lawrence Willinsky

Ray Hall

Senior Member
Posts:2443

10/08/2009 9:25 PM
Sue the city ? for what ? This is not a flood claim.t his is an surface water claim that is excuded. The Hartford is probably the carrier. No liability on the city, UNLESS they channel the water onto her property for 3 years. Street repairs are not negligence, some city budgets do not have any funds. I don,t think any lawyer in MA. will take this case on a contingecy basis. A 5K retainer for a $20K repair... nope She needs some help, I agree,,,, but, legal and insurance is out.

Willinsky

Guest
Posts:18

10/09/2009 8:52 AM
Thanks for the replies on this subject. Case Closed... Lawrence Willinsky

Odin

Guest
Posts:8

10/28/2009 10:58 PM
HO policies clearly exclude foundational shifting damage(s) as per the exclusions section(s). The only exception to this rule (for the most part) is earthquake coverage, which is generally very very expensive. Insurance companies for the most part only pay for damages from top down, not damages down up. If insurance companies provided coverage for foundations and floods (please know excess flood policies are available to augment NFIP policies) the price of your premium would be astronomical. Damage down upwards is extremely expensive because in most cases you have to completely rebuild....henceforth most HO policies are designed to cover damages from top downwards.

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