Looks like Ms. Betty was an Allstate customer. Today’s nola.com reports that many homeowners are surprised that Allstate cancelled their policies although their flooded homes are fixed or being repaired, or in some cases didn’t flood at all.
The article sums up the problem nicely and includes the names of insurance companies that are following in Allstate’s footsteps. The insurance companies aren’t the only ones to blame. The red tape and roadblocks generated by insurance reimbursement, FEMA (SBA) and Road Home are as culpable in this process. Is Jim Donelon going to do anything about this miscarriage of justice? Louisiana is listening.
Here is something particularly heinous that underscores the tangled web our society has woven itself.
[Ray Broussard’s] agent counseled him to go to City Hall and get a building permit, but Broussard said he wouldn’t qualify for a renovation permit because the house was already demolished … he didn’t want to lie about a construction contract to keep his insurance.
“My agent told me to go to one of those kiosks and get a repair permit. I said, ‘Wouldn’t that be insurance fraud?’ I wasn’t willing to do that because it’s not the truth,” said Broussard, who has been an Allstate customer for 10 years.
His penalty for being honest: a cancellation notice that arrived last Saturday telling him that he’ll be booted March 21.
The whole thing is disgusting and, as it unfolds so close to home, exponentially increases my distrust of the marriage of big government and big corporation.
I’d like to think that the mayor’s call to run Road Home out of New Orleans will speed things up and increase accountability, but, as our own Eye On City Hall reports, abject transparency is not his strong suit.
Is there no leverage at all that can be brought against these thieves? I’m sure the polyticians are all in their pockets. Where the hell is the mass outrage? At home on the couch?
Seems to me that taking people’s money for a decade or two and then telling them to fuck off when it’s time to honor the agreement is the definition of “fraud.” Even if it’s not, Donelon, like most of our politicians, is completely useless to us.