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As many of you heavy liability/property adjusters recall some of the very large manuscript liability and property forms use some words that make the "risk of loss" allegation go to the courts for clairification. Thiswill probably be the path of all the first and third party claims out of the chinese drywall problems.This should be some very good T & E work for years to come. I don.t think the carriers will start asking the C & O experts and the remediation contractors to turn this problem into another "mold gold" circus. "it is what it is", why in the heck do we have to furnish our own rope to be hung with?

Posted By ALANJ on 03 Nov 2009 03:08 PM
What about the insurance companies who pushed approved contractor progrems and their contractors used the defective drywall? Most insurance companies guranteed their work? This is where a ton of T & E work should come from. This may in the long run eliminate these type of programs and open up work for the rest of us.

Excellent point...here comes the class action now...has anyone ever seen any information on this product previously to the issues that we all hear about now. Did the contractor know the drywall came from China? Has there ever been anything mentioned about the problems with this product before? T&E; it will may not be as great as doing cat work but as has been said before, it pays the bills longer than one decent hail storm will. Espicially with the number of claims in FL.

www.catadjuster.org/Forums/tabid/60...fault.aspx

There are some prior posts here about this topic.... I think Chuck D. would be a good person to ask about this.

 

Man was was I asleep on this angle. This will open up the biggest can of worms and be the carriers worst nightmare on losses were the contractors were used. Should not be that many on the large hurricane losses, but enough to really cripple this program.

This is a fiction. A rather large Homewoner insuror who has been using contractors for several years. Several of these contractors have purchased and installed chinese drywall and a claim is reported during the policy year for the corrosive damage and demand of remediation, because of the agency agreement between contractor/carrier.The Homewner adjuster recommends remediation with the same contactor/or another contractor with an agreed cost. The loss is paid by the Homeowner Policy to keep out of the hands of the attorneys. The carrier has ever intention of fileing a subrogation claims against the contractors CGL coverage as both are members of AF (arbitration forms). This is under completed operations coverage. AF rules the applicate can not subrogate if the first party coverage(ISO HO-3) conditions were not met as explained in the respondents answer.

Same case: The carrier turns down the presented HO loss and tenders it to the contractors CGL insuror for protection & Indemnity. This insuror takes the claim, opens a lawsuit in court, names the homeowners carrier who paid the claim that was not owed as a third party defended. With discovery gets all the contracts, and ask for a summary judgement for the whole loss payment plus legal cost. My old age security gets better by the day.

Posted By ALANJ on 03 Nov 2009 10:36 AM
I'm hearing that the lawyers are telling people to turn in HO claims anyway. I believe this is just getting started. Should be some great T&E work down the road. However, I don't see any HO coverage for any of the damage.

The claims I have handled in Florida have been denied.

Posted By johnpostava on 05 Nov 2009 08:41 AM

I just returned from the PLRB's Large Loss Conference held in Tampa this week. I attended a Chinese Drywall (CD) session presented by a gentleman from Crawford a CPA and an attorney. Chinese Drywall wont be the next mold because it is limited in scope as to the number of homes which may be affected but it will have an impact on the claims industry. Whether it be the installer, sub-contractor, general contractor, supply house, distributor or manufacturer, someone is going to get sued. Issues like when was the exact date of loss, are there multiple dates of loss depending upon what part of a home's systems were affected, proving it was the additional sulfur content found in Chinese drywall that cased the damage to the HVAC, plumbing, electrical systems, etc...and other concerns will be sending most of these claims to court. Adjusters will have to do the estimates for their respective carriers. Estiamtes are as high as $100K per average house to repair. CD is an issue that will not be going away and something to watch as it develops.

I don't think it is going away either but at his point in time the claims are being denied. There will be other liability issues. Some of the losses I handled were foreclosures and no home inspection was done, or apparently required, by the lender or the carrier. Googling the issue is interesting.

I do not believe that Ordinance an Law will and unless there is coverable damage there would be no reason for the claim.

Posted By ALANJ on 05 Nov 2009 10:53 AM
The City of ABC located in the state of XYZ passes a law that says all of the defective drywall must be removed. Question: Does the ORDNANCE OF LAW coverage kick in?