| Page 3 of 3 < |
Same Insurance Claims, Different Results in La. Town
Residents of Gretna, La., have had drastically different experiences dealing with insurance companies after Hurricane Katrina.
(By Rick Wilking -- Reuters)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
In calls to Simsol and National Flood Services, Cosenza said, she received different answers regarding her claim. One person told her it had been denied Oct. 5 and closed; a second person said it had never been closed; and a third person told her that it had been closed but reopened.
Cosenza said an adjuster from Simsol inspected the property on Oct. 1, but she did not hear back from him for weeks -- though she did reach his wife, who works in the office and assured her he was still working on the claim .
The battle over her family's flood claim became so time-consuming that Cosenza said she had to turn down a new job as a government biologist. Her husband, who works for an oil-drilling company, was out of work for a month after the storm. The family is struggling to pay both the mortgage on the Gretna house and rent on their Houston apartment, Cosenza said.
"I'm already past the point of being upset and depressed, and it's a laughable matter now," she said. The family recently hired a lawyer to help with the flood claim.
To support her claim, Cosenza said, she sent Simsol photos of water damage, statements from neighbors and news accounts of flooding in the area. She also obtained a letter dated Nov. 8 from the Jefferson Parish flood plain coordinator, Tom Rodrigue, who attested to the flooding in the neighborhood.
Cosenza said a Simsol executive who reviewed the documentation told her that the area had not been flooded and insisted that she retrieve photos of the area taken by a neighbor who rode out the storm.
"It would be great if you sent the photos you claim to have which show the floodwaters in the home, rather than having several individuals send letters on your behalf -- none of which conclusively support your contention that the property flooded," the executive, Don Roberts, wrote, according to an e-mail provided to The Washington Post by Cosenza.
Cosenza said she drove several hours from Houston to Gretna to retrieve the photos and sent them to Simsol.
Roberts did not return messages left at his office. A woman answering the phone at Simsol said Roberts was busy and might not be able to respond to questions for "another couple of months."
Warren Dennis, the Simsol adjuster who handled the Cosenza claim, said he did maintain contact with Cosenza. He said that he denied the claim about a month ago based on an inspection of the property and the fact that flooding in the town had been "spotty."
"Gretna is not New Orleans," he said, adding that he wouldn't be doing his job if he paid claims that were not legitimate.
Dennis said that Cosenza has provided "new documentation," including photographs, and that he plans to meet her, her lawyer and a representative of the national flood program, at the property next week.
"I know she has an opinion of me, but I've been doing this a long time," he said. "Hopefully, we'll have a resolution next week that everybody is agreeable with."
