Tornado/Wind Damage Claims
Tornados are commonplace to those of us living in this part of the country. Consequently, we have seen our coverage for wind and
hail damage shrink over the years. Most insurance companies have taken repeated steps to reduce their exposure and instead shift
more of the risk to you, the policyholder. Whether it’s the elimination of guaranteed replacement costs, raising deductibles from
a stated dollar amount to a percentage (%) instead, or excluding replacement cost for roofs, we have slowly seen our coverage for
such perils shrink while our premiums for less coverage increase. Simultaneously, claims arising from tornado and/or hail damage
are being adjusted so as to deny the claim or pay out the least amount possible.
Following the F5 tornado that swept through Oklahoma on May 20, 2013, we saw much of the same bad faith conduct from insurance
companies that we discovered during extensive litigation involving the prior F5 tornado of 1999. Little had changed. In fact,
many policyholders were again being told their tornado damage was merely cosmetic and/or anything significant, i.e. structural,
was pre-existing and due to poor workmanship or materials, and therefore not covered.
Proving once again that in the eyes of the insurance companies, your home seemingly has two (2) different values:
- Highly valuable when they are charging you premiums and taking your money and,
- A much lower, “surprised it’s still standing due to its poor construction” value when time to pay you for your claim.
Add to the equation the purposefully confusing estimates generated by the insurance companies’ claim estimating software, using
unsupported unit pricing and depreciation amounts being withheld, and you will be hard pressed to find many tornado victims able
to restore their homes to their pre-loss condition.
Over the past few decades we have been extremely successful in exposing the schemes employed by insurance companies to deprive
policyholders of benefits needed to replace or repair their homes and personal property to their pre-storm condition. For after
all, that is what we all pay for month-after-month, and while we expect nothing more, we will not tolerate any conduct designed
or intended to pay anything less.
1998-2015 Oklahoma City Metro Area Tornado Map
