Re: Mold might not be covered

[Guest guest]

They are trying to blame this travesty on Melinda Ballard and her poor husband?!

Now that takes the cake.. Talk about blaming the victims....

So, what is the point of buying homeowners insurance then. What claims

DO they ever pay?

[Guest guest]

This is exactly why I wanted to let everyone read this article. They shouldn't

blame innocent people, but if they dont then who do they blame. Not themselves.

Darlene

LiveSimply <quackadillian@...> wrote:

They are trying to blame this travesty on Melinda Ballard and her poor husband?!

Now that takes the cake.. Talk about blaming the victims....

So, what is the point of buying homeowners insurance then. What claims

DO they ever pay?

---------------------------------

Get your email and more, right on the new .com

[Guest guest]

From what I remember in the Ballard case, the insurance company

committed fraud.

--- In , " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...>

wrote:

>

> Mold might not be covered

> Few noticed changes in their insurance policies, exec says

> By MICHELE DERUS

> mderus@...

>

> http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=519866

>

> Posted: Oct. 17, 2006

> American insurance companies quietly enacted mold-damage exclusions

> on general liability and homeowner policies in recent years -

> significant coverage changes that went unnoticed by most customers,

> an insurance executive said Tuesday.

>

>

> " They blasted through more policies than anything in history -

> faster than terrorism, asbestos or pollution. They quietly excluded

> (mold damage coverage) from everyone's policies, and they got away

> with it, " said Dybdahl, president of American Risk Management

> Resources Network, a Middleton-based national specialty insurance

> broker.

>

> Faced with mounting claims over a nationwide outbreak of the

> household fungus, Dybdahl said, insurers capitalized on the

national

> distraction with terrorism in 2003 and 2004 to push mold exclusions

> through regulatory channels.

>

> " They did it as an endorsement that gets stapled on your policy and

> overrides policy language. It's a trump card, " Dybdahl said. " You'd

> think bankers would be paying attention to something like this. But

> they haven't done a thing about it. "

>

> That will change in coming months as mortgage lenders realize their

> losses in Gulf Coast regions that belatedly are dealing with year-

> old Hurricane Katrina damage, he predicted.

>

> " There'll be thousands of cases " where mold exclusions reduce

> insurance payouts, he said. " Homeowners will lose their equity, but

> banks will lose everything. "

>

> Dybdahl's comments came during and after a presentation to about

150

> businesspeople at the Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, as part of

> a seminar on mold issues sponsored by the Milwaukee Lead / Asbestos

> Information Center.

>

> Insurance industry spokespeople said Dybdahl didn't have all his

> facts straight.

>

> It is true that most American homeowners and businesses have had

> their insurance policies changed in recent years to restrict or

> charge extra for mold damage coverage, said Loretta Worters, vice

> president of the Insurance Information Institute in New York City.

>

> Such changes stem from a $32 million jury award in Texas in 2001

> that alerted the industry to the fact that mold had morphed from

> embarrassing household nuisance to major financial liability,

> Worters said. " The owner of a 22-room mansion got $4 million in

> damages and $17 million for mental anguish and punitive damages, "

> she said.

>

> Though an appeals court reduced that award, Worters said, " the

> number of claims had increased significantly since then and the

> issue became a hotbed for lawyers. "

>

> Insurers could have raised prices to cover mold risks, Worters

said,

> but most chose to restrict or eliminate coverage instead.

>

> Minimal impact

> The impact of these new mold exclusions on Hurricane Katrina damage

> areas in Louisiana and Mississippi has been minimal, according to

> ph Annotti, senior vice president of public affairs for

Property

> Casualty Insurers Association of America.

>

> " Most of the losses down there have been paid - I think there's

only

> about 1,000 still out there - and I haven't seen one dispute over a

> mold issue, " Annotti said.

>

> Worters estimated that about 10,000 of the industry's 330,000

> Katrina-related damage claims are still unresolved. About 60% of

> property owners with flood damage weren't insured for their losses,

> she said.

>

> Dybdahl " may have a point on mold exclusions, " Annotti

> conceded. " That Texas judgment sent shudders down the spines of

many

> insurance companies, and they started retrenching. For the most

part

> on homeowner policies, if mold is a result of a covered claim,

> you're OK. But if your house floods and you get mold, you're not

> covered. "

>

> 100 million exclusions

> This change is sweeping, and potentially devastating to

> policyholders, Dybdahl said.

>

> " We've got 100 million mold exclusions out there, " he said, " and

> bankers who think they have all-risk insurance but don't, " the

> insurer said. " Most people in the mold business have some

> protection, but everybody ought to have some. "

>

> His advice: Homeowners should ask their insurers to restore mold

> damage protection in their policies, with a high deductible if

> necessary, and businesses should seek coverage through specialty

and

> environmental insurers and investigate ways to reduce risk.

>

> From the Oct. 18, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

> Have an opinion on this story? Write a letter to the editor or

start

> an online forum.

>