Viewing by month: May 2009
PORT ARTHUR MAN ARRESTED FOR HURRICANE IKE FRAUD
(BEAUMONT, TX) U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced today that a 62-year-old Port Arthur, Texas man has been arrested for hurricane-related fraud in the Eastern District of Texas. ISAAC MILLS, JR. was arrested on May 26th and appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Earl S. Hines for arraignment on charges of making a false statement, making a false claim, theft of public money, fraud in connection with a major disaster, mail fraud and wire fraud
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Ask the Pro's
-Too many policyholders still await some or all of their insurance settlement for damages inflicted by Hurricane IKE; the problem has drawn the attention of CNN “Ask the Pro’s”.
To better understand the process of claim adjusting and explain what and how public adjuster can do for the home and business owner, CNN Ask the Pro’s had Mr. Chuck Frogner of United States Public Adjusters to participate in what became a very successful show. Many people called in and hits on our corporate website sky rocketed. It is sad to see how many Texans continue suffer from the aftereffects of Hurricane Ike. Many have lost jobs others are in arrears on their mortgage and now on top of everything else, there is another battle "the insurance battle".
The array of questions brought to CNN and Mr. Frogner via phone was very interesting and of course after many years of experience nothing really surprises experienced PA’s how people are treated by their insurance company. However, with the recent turmoil in the U.S. financial markets it has become apparent that insurance companies are much more aggressive towards policyholders and a fair claim payment is more elusive than ever. An example from last month: Allstate paid $15,000 to their policyholder, after retaining our services our client received a check for $92,000. More egregious was a condo association case, the insurance company paid the condominium $0.0 in April 2009 we collected $1,200,000 for this association.
Matthew Bagdanovich a former Country Manager of Crawford and Company who came to USPA in order to assist our clients with obtaining fair and equitable settlements, "if you feel that you should be paid a larger settlement, you probably are right and should pursue it with professional help".
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What TWIA Policyholders Needs to Know
Aftrer reading Chip Merlins Blog on www.propertyinsurancecoveragelaw.com I decided to ask our readers to follow Mr. William Chip Merlin advice and to contact the following people to help stop bad legislation bill proposed.
"The bill is currently before the Texas House Insurance Committee. If it does not come out of Committee before Saturday, it is dead. However, it is anybody’s guess as to what behind the scenes politics are occurring as I write this. So, make your voice heard and contact the House Representatives on the Insurance Committee:
Rep. John T. Smithee (Chair)
District: 86
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0702
District Address: 320 S. Polk, 1st Floor,, Lobby Box 28
Amarillo, TX 79101
District Phone: (806) 372-3327
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (vice chair)
District: 116
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0616
District Address: 1910 Fredericksburg Road
San Antonio, TX 78201
District Phone: (210) 737-7200
Rep. Joe Deshotel
District: 22
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0662
District Address: One Plaza Square, Suite 203
Port Arthur, TX 77642
District Phone: (409) 724-0788
Rep. Craig Eiland
District: 23
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0502
District Address: 9702 E.F. Lowery Expressway
Texas City, TX 77591
District Phone: (800) 345-2630
Rep. Kelly Hancock
District: 91
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0599
District Address: P.O. Box 185096
Fort Worth, TX 76181
District Phone: (817) 590-9280
Rep. Todd Hunter
District: 32
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0672
District Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Rep. Carl Isett
District: 84
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0676
District Address: 1001 Main Street, #608
Lubbock, TX 79401
District Phone: (806) 763-2366
Rep. Larry Taylor
District: 24
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0729
District Address: 174 Calder Road, Suite 116
League City, TX 77573
District Phone: (281) 338-0924
Rep. Senfronia Thompson
District: 141
Capitol Address: P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Capitol Phone: (512) 463-0720
District Address: 10527 Homestead Road
Houston, TX 77016
District Phone: (713) 633-3390