What Noah Didn’t Have to Go Through

Now I know why God used a flood to purge the Earth in the Bible. As a professional agent who lives and works on Long Island, I can report that after two months, Sandy has made evident the good and bad of all humanity. First the good: I am proud to be part of an industry that has been so efficient and willing to help others.

Agents all along the Northeast Coast have suffered their own personal losses, but put their insureds first. I’ve been on conference calls and meetings with my association and I’ve heard heroic stories of fellow agents, who have lost their homes and offices—everything— but haven’t missed a beat in helping their clients. I drove by an agents’ office recently to see how his flooded office was, and saw employees standing in the parking lot, so they could take claims. Before everything else, they’ve kept their commitments to clients. Some of our carriers also have responded this way. I know of company employees who have donated time and their own money to help those of us affected by the storm.

We had industry representatives come from all over to help in so many ways. One professional agent, PIANY Secretary Amy Bryan, established a relief effort immediately when Sandy hit. Through social media and old fashioned physical labor, she and her partner have spent every minute of their spare (and not-so-spare) time coordinating volunteers and donations, locating and driving to victims, and getting them supplies and help.

Outside the industry, I’ve seen the American Red Cross, FEMA volunteers and power/utility workers rush to our area after the storm. I’ve spoken to people from Syracuse, Massachusetts and the Midwest; working for salvage and repair crews, who missed Thanksgiving with their families, and have done nothing but work and help people for two months now. While helping others, they have stayed in less than luxurious accommodations, and they have no idea how long they will be staying.

But, of course, there was also the inevitable dark side of humanity too. I am no theologian, but I don’t think the Bible talks about a couple of evils that undoubtedly occurred after the Great Flood, as they’re beginning to show up after our most recent storm: Mold and opportunistic litigation. Many people in the tri-state area had their properties damaged so badly, they will have to be razed and rebuilt. In the rush to start this work before the weather prevented it, homeowners relied on the work of restoration companies, many of which came in from out of state. Contractors came in, working for themselves or under the auspices of national restoration companies. Many have already left our area. These folks insisted on being paid immediately by cash or check; they would not wait insurance settlements to come in. One of my own insureds experienced this. She hired a mold remediation contractor to work on her home on Long Beach. Now, in the first week in January, they are beginning to smell mold in the house. The homeowner called the parent remediation company, and was told that the contractor who did the work was “down south,” and she would have to take it up with them directly. The homeowner is beside herself. After a conversation with FEMA, it seems this situation is not unusual. In fact, the authority has an entire legal department that deals with these problems. Unfortunately, beyond consumer awareness, I do not think there are any safeguards against this. As people rush to get their homes cleaned and remediated at great outof- pocket expense, they are finding they will have to go through the process again to address mold issues, without being able to reach the original contractors that failed to mitigate against it. It’s déjà vu all over again. We thought the initial claims were expensive, but I have a feeling that the mold claims resultant from the shyster remediation companies will be just as bad … and who is to pay for that?

And speaking of shysters … beyond mold, opportunistic litigation is starting to rise as well. As an observer and participant in this catastrophic event, there has been nothing that upset me more than watching television, particularly during prime time, and seeing obnoxious ads by unscrupulous lawyers seeking to incite the public to sue their agents. These ads falsely claimed that a lack of coverage for business interruption after the storm was the fault of an agent, when coverage in most cases wasn’t even available. This unethical ad does nothing but upset an already disturbed public, exacerbating an already hostile climate.

Fortunately, we have an association that stands vigilant against erroneous and offensive advertising that paints agents as anything other than what they are: ethical, hardworking advocates for their clients. PIA called for the retraction of the ad and filed a formal complaint with the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division against the law firm for producing false, deceptive and misleading ads in the Sandy-affected market.

A strong suggestion to every agent out there: Send a letter to every single one of your clients who chooses not to carry flood insurance. Encourage them to consider purchasing it. Who knows what the future will bring. On the other hand, let’s see how many of these people will actually take it. Sometimes, you can take a horse’s head and stick it in water, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to drink—especially in the case of a flood. Even for coverages that are available, flood-related products are a tough sell for responsible agencies. Earlier this season, while at the PIANY/NYIA Leadership Forum, I happened to sit at a table with several agents from the areas affected by Hurricane Irene and Lee last year. I asked them if they contacted their clients after the storms to encourage them to purchase flood insurance. One of the agents reported he had contacted every one of his clients but was unable to sell a single policy. Every one of those insureds turned it down, saying something along the lines of, “This was a 100-year event, and it won’t happen again.” That shouldn’t prevent us from being prepared. PIANY helped to protect us by leading the charge to pass the law that now requires carriers to send out annual flood notices to their insureds. Nonetheless, we can expect E&O issues to be a part of this crisis. I, and other agencies that have used PIA’s Creative Services to send newsletters to their clients as a retention tool are sighing a breath of relief: Attorneys and their clients who complain they’ve never been asked about flood will be met with proof that I offered and suggested this to my clients, upon our first meeting and several times through this notification. Thankfully, I believe that after the Great Flood, God told Noah he would never use a flood to destroy the earth again. When you contrast the positive with the opportunists, though, you can see it was an effective way to distinguish the two. After Sandy, I’m pretty sure that the next time, he’ll send lawyers.