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Re: Hiring a public adjuster versus an attorney
Submitted by Mark Murphy <fireclaims@hotmail.com> on 25/Nov/2008 in reply to Hiring a public adjuster versus an attorney posted by Steven B. Pollack on 25/Oct/2008
Message:
Hi Steven,
As a public adjuster, I can tell you that I have never met an attorney who wanted to "bean count" his/her way through a fire or other large claim for an insured. They would much rather litigate or settle on round numbers from the comfort of an office chair.
The primary task of a public adjuster is mostly administrative in nature. It also involves a great deal of tedium which means many many hours going over extensive inventory lists, sourcing prices in support of values and spending countless hours helping the insured reconstruct the thousands of things they lost in the fire or other disaster. It also involves getting in the burned out or flooded "trenches" with contractors and company adjusters at the loss site.
Somehow, I don't envision this as something your average attorney would want to do.
As you are probably aware, most lay people want as little to do with paperwork as possible.
I am successful because the average Joe whose house burns down would rather hammer nails all day for $20.00 an hour then spend one hour tangling with paper work and documentation that would increase his claim by several hundred dollars.
The insurance attorneys I know, are only interested in behavior by insurance companies that smacks of bad faith or results in a wrongful denial.
When this happens, I gladly refer clients to them.
Many states (I believe), permit PAs to operate on a contingency basis because PAs are not dealing with liability BI issues but rather with the "nuts and bolts" of destroyed real and personal property.
Like an attorney or real estate agent, the contingency aspect of payment provides the motivating force in doing the best work possible to assemble all of the documentation necessary in order to best "sell" the claim value to the insurance company.
It is also more palatable for the insured to say
"sure I'll give up 10% if you can do all of this for me" or even %20% or 30% "if you can do better"
99 % of the time, full compensation is attained because the PA does what neither the company adjuster or insured will deal with all of the tedious work that is fundamental in garnering the best possible settlement.
PAs actually serve as excellent ears and eyes for insurance attorneys who they depend on to refer claims with good litigation potential
Mark Murphy
Fire Insurance Recovery
North Highlands CA
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