Snow Collapse Insurance Claim– How PLA Saved a Large Store
Posted on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 @ 01:14 PM
We received a call a while ago from a building owner who had filed an insurance claim for the loss to his large building. Snow and ice had built up on his roof and caused a partial collapse. He was having a difficult time with the insurance company and needed our help.
The roof of this building under renovation collapse due to the weight of heavy snow.
The owner had recently bought the building and was spending a great deal of money to change it from a bare-bones cold storage warehouse to a well-deocrated retail showroom. If we did not get a good insurance settlement quickly, the project could have failed and the owner would have lost his multi-million dollar investment.
This situation was made more difficult because I was brought in four months after the incident and after the insurance company’s experts had made their determinations. It is much easier to adjust a loss from the beginning than it is after the insurance company has formed a negative opinion of the situation.
Problem 1: The original roof was about a foot thick for heavy-duty insulation required to store frozen food. Since this was not required for a showroom, the owner replaced the roof with only four inches of insulation. The insurer wanted to pay the owner for the cost of the four-inch roof. However, the policy called for replacement of what existed before. We pointed this out to the insurance company and significantly increased the amount paid for this portion of the loss.
Problem 2: Many policies have a penalty if the building is not insured to its replacement cost. However, this building was only insured for its purchase price, which was a fraction of the cost to rebuild it. According to the insurance company, the owner should therefore receive only one-half the amount of the damage, which would have been catastrophic to the owner. However, we pointed out that, according to the language in the policy, the owner had correctly insured the property for its cost. We recovered the full amount due the owner.
Net result: We obtained a settlement three times the original offer. The work was completed and this beautiful store is doing very well.
For a list of the services we provide to building owners, click here.
If you have a collapse claim and would like a free consultation, contact us.