Speaker 1: Kf I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp
Speaker 1: the house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Hey follow us on social media. We only do the
Speaker 2: good stuff, uplifting, informative, inspiring social media. We're on all
Speaker 2: the usual suspects Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, you know whatever, tender, Grinder,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know whatever it is out there.
Speaker 2: I'm sure we're there. Just find us home. No, we're
Speaker 2: not on grinder. Home with Dean is the handle for
Speaker 2: them all and again, if your home is in need
Speaker 2: of some personal house Whisper attention, you can book an
Speaker 2: in home design console with me and the tea. You
Speaker 2: just go to house Whisper dot Design. All right, We've
Speaker 2: got a cooker of a show going today because I've
Speaker 2: got two very very important guests in studio with me,
Speaker 2: the founding partners of Damage Law, Aria Shack and A
Speaker 2: Dear B.
Speaker 3: They are here.
Speaker 2: We're having a conversation about insurance claims on property damage
Speaker 2: on your home, what to do, how to do it,
Speaker 2: what to expect, sayings that a lot of you have
Speaker 2: just never heard or been told before. So don't go
Speaker 2: anywhere because we are going to dive back into that conversation.
Speaker 3: Very very shortly.
Speaker 2: But right now, you know what, it is the top
Speaker 2: of the hour, which means, as promised, it's time to
Speaker 2: go to the phones. Let's see here. I want to
Speaker 2: talk to Sammy. Hey Sammy, welcome.
Speaker 4: Home, Hey Jan how are you?
Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning, sir. How can we help great I've.
Speaker 4: Seen their billboards and advertising all over on the West side.
Speaker 4: I just want to say thank you for what you
Speaker 4: guys been doing. I have a couple of clients who
Speaker 4: have been affected by the fires and they said they've
Speaker 4: reached out to them and you guys help them place
Speaker 4: them in temporary homes. Guys are doing amazing things.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 6: Question thank you.
Speaker 4: As as a landlord, are you guys working with landlord
Speaker 4: to see if there's any more space available where you
Speaker 4: could place upcoming clients.
Speaker 7: You know, at the end of the day, whenever these
Speaker 7: clients have been affected, we're helping them get into homes
Speaker 7: that are comfortable for the time during the time of rebuild,
Speaker 7: because this could take a couple of months, maybe eight months,
Speaker 7: So it's not right where the insurance companies are putting
Speaker 7: them into hotels when there's a family of four, We're
Speaker 7: getting them into comfortable housing, something comparable to what they
Speaker 7: had before. So if you had a four bedroom house
Speaker 7: with three bats, we're going to help them find that
Speaker 7: four bedroom house, three bats and the same square footage
Speaker 7: so everyone could be comfortable during this time of repair.
Speaker 2: Now when you say two to eight months, we're not
Speaker 2: talking about the fire stuff necessarily out here.
Speaker 7: Just relocation.
Speaker 3: Just the relocating, just that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the living expenses of what's associated with living in
Speaker 7: an air or VRBO or a property that you found
Speaker 7: that you want to short term lease for. We're making
Speaker 7: sure the insurance companies are paying for these costs because
Speaker 7: it's not fair for you as ensured to pay out
Speaker 7: of pocket for these.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's I mean, I have personally no client who
Speaker 4: was a mother and a husband with four kids who
Speaker 4: are living in a little small hotel room, and she
Speaker 4: told me you guys were able to place them in
Speaker 4: a house and insurance is actually covering the cost on that.
Speaker 4: I was wondering how others can get started with that.
Speaker 7: You know, it's as simple as reaching out to us
Speaker 7: and making sure that the insurance companies pay for what
Speaker 7: you're entitled to. We had that family. They were displaced
Speaker 7: for a week and I mean a month in the
Speaker 7: shelters and when they contacted us, we called the insurance
Speaker 7: company the same day. We told them open your eyes
Speaker 7: and your ears. This water is contaminated. They cannot live
Speaker 7: at this property. You need to pay for relocation. And
Speaker 7: then they ended up approving four months for them. So
Speaker 7: and Sammy, just heads up, every policy is different. Every
Speaker 7: policy has different provisions as to what the insureds are
Speaker 7: entitled to and where they can go or if they
Speaker 7: can go, and what the limits are on that. So
Speaker 7: just keep that in mind as well, all.
Speaker 3: Right, sam got it, got it?
Speaker 5: Okay?
Speaker 3: All right, Sammy, Hey Bud, thanks for your call.
Speaker 2: Appreciate all you're doing out there, and thanks for the
Speaker 2: good words and really really good question.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it. Man, have a great day.
Speaker 7: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: All right, more of your calls coming up right after.
Speaker 8: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 8: kf I A M six forty.
Speaker 2: The Froggy House Whisper at your service, my voice, just
Speaker 2: in and out today, in and out, just a little
Speaker 2: rough up on the mountain yesterday having some fun and
Speaker 2: uh ended up this morning. With a little rasp in
Speaker 2: my voice, I apologize for that. We're having a very
Speaker 2: very important program today talking to the founding partners of
Speaker 2: Damage Law about insurance claims and everything that goes into them.
Speaker 2: Very very significant information today, So.
Speaker 3: You hang tight.
Speaker 2: But right now I'm taking calls and I want to
Speaker 2: go back to the board. Here, let's talk to and
Speaker 2: Hey and welcome.
Speaker 5: Home, Hijane, Thank you for taking my call. I have
Speaker 5: a flat roof that is leaking and I need to
Speaker 5: replace it. I've contacted different companies and they've suggested to
Speaker 5: do like an old fashioned hot mop or a peel
Speaker 5: and stick with like a couple layers or tar paper
Speaker 5: with a double torch. And they're all offering twenty years
Speaker 5: like warranty for manufacturers. But I wanted to ask you
Speaker 5: which one you think it's the best or if you
Speaker 5: know a better method, and then the manufacturer and the
Speaker 5: aim of the materials that I could use that would
Speaker 5: last longer than twenty years if possible.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you've taken how many how many quotes have
Speaker 2: you got so far?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 5: I've contented like ten different companies.
Speaker 3: Oh, so you've got a whole slew of quotes.
Speaker 5: Yes, but they're all saying different things, and then they're
Speaker 5: contradicting each other. Some say the other method's better, and
Speaker 5: then when I ask them this method better, they say no, no,
Speaker 5: it's it's not. And so I don't know which is
Speaker 5: the best way to go that would last the long astay.
Speaker 3: All right, well, okay, so here's the stitch I'm going
Speaker 3: to give you.
Speaker 2: I'm going to point you in the right direction, because
Speaker 2: that's what I can do today is point you in
Speaker 2: what I think is the right direction, and I can.
Speaker 2: All I'm going to tell you is how I handle
Speaker 2: a flat roof When we need a flat roof, and
Speaker 2: we need a lot of flat roofs these days because
Speaker 2: we're doing more and more custom and contemporary design. I
Speaker 2: do a lot of work on on mid century modern
Speaker 2: houses that have relatively flat roofs. And so here is
Speaker 2: the thing, and this, by the way, applies to everybody's roof.
Speaker 2: What I'm about to say, okay, not just the flat ones.
Speaker 2: On a flat roof, the underlayment protection is the essentially
Speaker 2: the whole roof, as it is that those layers of
Speaker 2: waterproofing are the whole roof on a pitched roof that
Speaker 2: has shingles or tiles on it, The same material that
Speaker 2: I'm talking about here can be applied as an underlayment
Speaker 2: underneath the shingles and the tiles. Okay, my preference, and
Speaker 2: this is my preference as an estate builder. In other words,
Speaker 2: the stuff that we do on the high end. And
Speaker 2: I don't mean high end as in, oh, this is
Speaker 2: the platinum version that is going to cost you ten
Speaker 2: times as much, not at all. I'm just saying this
Speaker 2: is the way it's done correctly, okay. And there are
Speaker 2: a bunch of materials out there, okay, so please forgive
Speaker 2: me for not specifying one, like I don't point you
Speaker 2: to an RW grace material versus this or that.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Here is the thing I believe on any roofing system
Speaker 2: that what you want is a flexible, stretchable, multi mill
Speaker 2: thick roofing layer.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Now, that can be achieved, and different roofers are going
Speaker 2: to have different opinions about how it can be achieved.
Speaker 3: It can be a.
Speaker 2: Bitamous material which is kind of like a rubberized material
Speaker 2: that then overlaps a good four to six inches on
Speaker 2: the seams as you roll out the material and then
Speaker 2: those are torched, that seam is torched and it literally
Speaker 2: melts one into the other and becomes one solid membrane.
Speaker 2: Or these can be lighter weight roll materials that are
Speaker 2: kind of rubberized on the backside and self ceiling so
Speaker 2: that if anything, even the nails that attach them, they
Speaker 2: seal around those nails. Or they can be rolled on
Speaker 2: poor in place PVC vinyl layered roofs. But the key
Speaker 2: here is that it's thick, that it's thick enough, and
Speaker 2: that it's flexible. And so when I say that I'm
Speaker 2: ruling out one of the roof styles that you were
Speaker 2: that you mentioned that you were described to, and that
Speaker 2: is anything involving just built up layers of roofing paper,
Speaker 2: of asphalt embedded roofing paper. That is old school. It
Speaker 2: is old old school and roofing paper build up and
Speaker 2: hot mopping, even though you know, you got some old
Speaker 2: guys out there who are like, I've been doing this
Speaker 2: for fifty years and I've never had it's all great.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Hot mopping is tar being applied to built up layers
Speaker 2: of asphalt embedded roofing paper.
Speaker 3: The problem with it.
Speaker 2: Is not that it makes that it doesn't make a
Speaker 2: great seal, now, no problem whatsoever. The problem with it
Speaker 2: is asphalt embedded roofing paper systems. They are not flexible.
Speaker 2: Age causes them to become brittle. If the roof shifts,
Speaker 2: if the house shifts, if an earthquake, rat you know,
Speaker 2: just kind of shakes things a little bit. The constant
Speaker 2: oppression of UV, sunlight and heat up on top of
Speaker 2: the roof, all of that makes asphalt and the hot
Speaker 2: mop materials become brittle. Brittle is the enemy of a
Speaker 2: flat roof, okay, because as soon as something becomes brittle,
Speaker 2: it cracks, and when it cracks, it leaks.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: So whatever the material is that you are hearing from
Speaker 2: these various roofers, what I want from you is to
Speaker 2: prioritize the ones that are handing you flexible kind of rubberized,
Speaker 2: stretchable material of significant thickness. And then on top of that,
Speaker 2: the last thing that I'm going to share with you
Speaker 2: is very, very simply the coating that is going to
Speaker 2: go on top of the flat roof. Now, your flat roof,
Speaker 2: totally flat roof. We don't see it, or do we
Speaker 2: see it?
Speaker 5: Not completely flat. It's slightly slightly pitched.
Speaker 2: Okay, but slightly pitched. But do I see it? Do
Speaker 2: I see it from the street?
Speaker 9: Right?
Speaker 2: So the coating then on top of that, okay, is
Speaker 2: is really critical because there's the roofing material itself, and
Speaker 2: then there's what we're going to coat the top with,
Speaker 2: which is going to be a thick roll on or
Speaker 2: spray on layer of bright white alumaflex coating. And that
Speaker 2: is basically so I mean, I'm not talking about just
Speaker 2: white paint. I'm talking about a coating that has metal
Speaker 2: flex built into it that is so light reflective that
Speaker 2: it minimizes heat transfer, that it minimizes UV damage. Because
Speaker 2: the sun, the sun is the enemy of every roof,
Speaker 2: not water. Water doesn't care about roofs. Roofs don't care
Speaker 2: about water.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Water is the negative effect, you know in the end,
Speaker 2: if something goes wrong with the roof, but no amount
Speaker 2: of water wears out a roof, the sun UV light
Speaker 2: wears out a roof. And so after that roofing, that
Speaker 2: flexible roofing system is in place, I want you to
Speaker 2: have it coated with a highly reflective coating material. It
Speaker 2: won't matter because nobody sees it. So I mean, and
Speaker 2: when I say, highly reflective. I mean you literally can't
Speaker 2: go up there on a sunny day without your sunglasses
Speaker 2: on because it will blind you. That kind of high
Speaker 2: reflective material. This is common stuff. This is not anything
Speaker 2: bizarre or off the cuff. But these are the kinds
Speaker 2: of things that a lot of roofing companies are like, yeah, whatever,
Speaker 2: you know, not a big deal for us, it's a
Speaker 2: big deal for you. And so that's how I want
Speaker 2: you to prioritize those bids. And if you don't have
Speaker 2: enough estimates that meet those qualifications, then you know, take
Speaker 2: some more, take your time and get some more estimates
Speaker 2: until you've got a handful, like a top three roofers
Speaker 2: here who are essentially offering you the same kind of equality.
Speaker 2: And yeah, there are roofs out there that you can
Speaker 2: stretch longer than a twenty year warranty if you do
Speaker 2: it this right way.
Speaker 5: Can I ask your Jean, is that what they call
Speaker 5: a cool roof for the role on LA Yes?
Speaker 2: Yeah, sometimes it's called the cool roof. Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2: Cool roofs are not I mean it also applies to
Speaker 2: other roofing materials, even like darkrofing materials that go on
Speaker 2: as shingles can be cool roofs because they have a
Speaker 2: certain reflective material built into them that reduces the amount
Speaker 2: of UV penetration. But yeah, it's a cool roof and
Speaker 2: yes it is a critical critical component of your flat
Speaker 2: roofing bid because that's the thing that's going to protect
Speaker 2: the roofing material from aging prematurely.
Speaker 3: Okay, Anne, does that help?
Speaker 5: Can I ask you one more thing?
Speaker 2: Is that rubber?
Speaker 5: How thick should the reberized material be the first player
Speaker 5: and underlayment?
Speaker 2: Well, there are different thicknesses depending on the nature of
Speaker 2: the material, but it's got to be several mills thick.
Speaker 2: And again I'm not a professional roofer, that's not my specialty. Uh,
Speaker 2: but you want to be looking for you ask the
Speaker 2: question what product are you using and what manufacturer warranty
Speaker 2: comes with the use of that product from its own manufacturer.
Speaker 2: So if you end up with something mainline like like
Speaker 2: WR Grace or Owen's Corning, you're going to find a
Speaker 2: quality roofing membrane material there.
Speaker 5: Okay, Okay, thank you so.
Speaker 2: Much, Thanks and thanks for the call as always, really
Speaker 2: really good question. All right, y'all, we got more coming.
Speaker 8: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 8: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: We know you have a choice when you fly, and
Speaker 2: we appreciate you flying house Whisper Airlines with us. This
Speaker 2: is the point in the show when I would turn
Speaker 2: away from calls typically for a bit, take a little break,
Speaker 2: get back into my conversation with my in studio guests.
Speaker 2: But I've got a couple of calls on the board
Speaker 2: that specifically are questions for you, guys. And by the way,
Speaker 2: if you're just joining us, we are talking about insurance
Speaker 2: claims and for property damage after something has gone wrong.
Speaker 2: And I have in studio a very very special guest,
Speaker 2: the founding partners of Damage Law right here in Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: Aria Shack and the dearb and these guys are just
Speaker 2: they are fantastic. They are here to help. And I
Speaker 2: mean that with in every sense of the word. So
Speaker 2: before we get back into our kind of free, willing conversation, guys,
Speaker 2: le's see if we can answer a couple of these questions.
Speaker 2: Let's talk to Sean. Hey, Sean, welcome home.
Speaker 3: Bud Hi.
Speaker 9: Well, a lot of us have been let down by
Speaker 9: utilities for lack of maintenance, and that's really my situation.
Speaker 9: I had utility contractor working at my house and they
Speaker 9: accidentally cut what turned out to be a shallow water
Speaker 9: line and they immediately went to turn off the water valve,
Speaker 9: but it didn't work, and that ludding did a lot
Speaker 9: of damage to the house, including, by the way, to
Speaker 9: our filtered water system from your advertiser, which we love,
Speaker 9: by the way, But my question is, I really don't
Speaker 9: want to approach my insurance company on this. But if
Speaker 9: I try to take the utility to court, you know,
Speaker 9: it's probably a small claims action ten thousand, a little
Speaker 9: bit under ten thousand. I mean, what is that is
Speaker 9: that feasible against kind of the goliath utility or what
Speaker 9: should be in my approach on that?
Speaker 2: Okay, let me let me just jump in. I just
Speaker 2: want clarification on this story. Before these there, I can
Speaker 2: see them leaning forward in their chairs. They're ready to
Speaker 2: let you know what they want to tell you. But
Speaker 2: so this was like, so a big utility company doing
Speaker 2: some work in your yard, I mean doing their stuff
Speaker 2: in your yard.
Speaker 9: It was it was foundational work. And they're cutting into
Speaker 9: various places along the front of the house in order
Speaker 9: to put deeper footings, and one of these places happened
Speaker 9: to be where a shallow PVC water line the mainline
Speaker 9: really and it cut and they they immediately noticed water
Speaker 9: flooding event began going into the house and you know,
Speaker 9: they have utility keys, they know how to do this,
Speaker 9: but the valve from the water company was frozen. We
Speaker 9: couldn't turn it off. Oh, it brought in a lot
Speaker 9: of the excess sand into the filtration system, which is
Speaker 9: you know, it's not designed to handle that kind of thing,
Speaker 9: and then water.
Speaker 4: That's what happened.
Speaker 7: All right, guys, what do you think when it comes
Speaker 7: down to this, You definitely don't want to go through
Speaker 7: your own insurance because then you run the risk of
Speaker 7: either being canceled or non renewed or even your premium
Speaker 7: is being increased. So you definitely want to go out
Speaker 7: after the at fault party. And because it's the city
Speaker 7: or a county, you have like limitations on when.
Speaker 4: You have to utility.
Speaker 9: It's a it's a it's a public utility.
Speaker 7: Public Yeah, yeah, I would definitely go and hold them accountable,
Speaker 7: you know, make a report to their company, get their
Speaker 7: insurance information, and file claim.
Speaker 9: Because they denied me.
Speaker 7: Okay, so what was the reason for denial.
Speaker 9: Just because they give me about.
Speaker 7: Yeah, they needed to support their denial with with exactly
Speaker 7: why they're denying you for So, if they're telling you
Speaker 7: that I don't believe that were the cause, and you
Speaker 7: find you need to find an expert that can show
Speaker 7: that this was caused by their work. And once you
Speaker 7: have that report, then you have enough ammunition to move
Speaker 7: forward to establishal liability against them.
Speaker 3: How long ago did this happen? A little over a year, okay?
Speaker 7: And what part of your home was damaged? Was it
Speaker 7: the kitchen area.
Speaker 9: That's a part of the garage, and then that filtration
Speaker 9: system that's completely okay.
Speaker 7: It's really important that you also mitigate because part of
Speaker 7: the insurance policies, even on both sides, you have a
Speaker 7: duty to prevent further damage. So if necessary, which I'm
Speaker 7: sure it is, I would get a restoration company out
Speaker 7: there to do a proper dry out so that it
Speaker 7: doesn't produce any mold within your home.
Speaker 9: So both contractors attested that they took immediate action.
Speaker 2: So it sounds to me like this is something This
Speaker 2: is a conversation you guys probably need to have a
Speaker 2: little little longer length with Sean because it sounds like
Speaker 2: there's some some tricky things in there. Hey, Sean, I'm
Speaker 2: going to be giving you giving out the contact information
Speaker 2: for these guys. And am I overstepping to say you
Speaker 2: should get a hold of you and figure it out.
Speaker 6: Yeah, reach out and we'll guide you through it and
Speaker 6: talk it out.
Speaker 3: All right, Bud, I've got to I really appreciate I
Speaker 3: got to run. Sean.
Speaker 2: Thanks for the call, man, Thanks very very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And I think the other question was where, oh contact
Speaker 2: you know what, let's just do it. Contact information for
Speaker 2: you guys, for everybody who's listening right now.
Speaker 3: Of course, where do they find you?
Speaker 7: Damage law dot com or they can find us on
Speaker 7: Instagram on damage underscore law or outer number eight sixty
Speaker 7: six damage Law.
Speaker 2: Okay, eight sixty six Damage Law or damage law dot com.
Speaker 2: Very very simple, very very simple to get a hold
Speaker 2: of you guys. All right, we're going to dive back
Speaker 2: into this conversation. When we come back, I want to
Speaker 2: talk to you guys. Let's identify all the players on
Speaker 2: the field, like who, what are the names?
Speaker 3: You know? What?
Speaker 2: What are the roles of these people? What is a
Speaker 2: public insurance adjuster? The adjuster from my insurance company contractors
Speaker 2: that are on the approved list of the insur I mean,
Speaker 2: who are all these players and what are they all about?
Speaker 2: Because it's a it's a mix of stuff, all right.
Speaker 8: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 8: KFI AM six.
Speaker 2: Forty, Heyfi Dean Sharp, the house whisper, Welcome home, Thanks
Speaker 2: for joining us on the program today. It is always
Speaker 2: a privilege, it truly is to spend time with you,
Speaker 2: especially on your weekend. I know how important you. I
Speaker 2: know what weekends are, even though I work on them.
Speaker 2: I know how valuable they are. And the fact that
Speaker 2: you would elect to spend time with me so we
Speaker 2: can talk about this all important thing, very very likely
Speaker 2: the most important asset, both financially and emotionally that you
Speaker 2: have in your life, your home. It's a true privilege
Speaker 2: and a pleasure I have sitting in front of me
Speaker 2: two fantastic guys, the founding partners of Damage Law, a
Speaker 2: very very specialized kind of law that is all about
Speaker 2: property damage, both commercial. You guys do commercial stuff too, right,
Speaker 2: commercial and residential. So that's where it applies to us
Speaker 2: here about your home. And we're talking about the sticky wicket,
Speaker 2: the web of craziness that is insurance claims after something
Speaker 2: has gone wrong. So again, you know, I know, we're
Speaker 2: just scratching the surface here, and yet we're handing out
Speaker 2: some information that that people just don't normally get to
Speaker 2: have access to. Let's just try and quickly identify all
Speaker 2: the players on the field. Okay, So we've got the
Speaker 2: so the claim is made, and now we've got an
Speaker 2: insurance adjuster.
Speaker 9: Yep.
Speaker 2: Then there are things out there called public things, people
Speaker 2: called public adjusters. Then there are attorneys like you guys,
Speaker 2: And then there are contractors who are going to be
Speaker 2: in the mix and specialists and experts and all of that.
Speaker 2: And then among the contractors there are you know, the
Speaker 2: contractors that a person would call to do something to
Speaker 2: their house or to fix their house, or to change
Speaker 2: their house. And then there are these these contractors that
Speaker 2: are on the insurance company approved list. So let's figure
Speaker 2: out who's who and what everybody is after. So Aria
Speaker 2: the the insurance adjuster. Yeah, who is this person?
Speaker 7: So when you file that claim, you have a claim adjuster,
Speaker 7: which is the one that is going to be taking
Speaker 7: you through the process of getting things approved or denied
Speaker 7: and then there is the independent adjuster from the insurance
Speaker 7: side who they send out to come out on the
Speaker 7: field to actually inspect the site. Typically, you would want
Speaker 7: your claim adjuster to be there so they can actually
Speaker 7: see what's going on here. Rather than seeing photos and images,
Speaker 7: they could inspect the property and see how significant the
Speaker 7: damage really is. These independent adjusters, at times, they're not
Speaker 7: even in basein California. They come from Texas or Colorado,
Speaker 7: and they don't know what the cost of material or construction.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: The independent adjust this is still somebody coming from the
Speaker 2: insurance but not your claim adjuster. This is the insurance
Speaker 2: company is farming out and hiring out adjusters to handle
Speaker 2: things like this.
Speaker 3: They may not even be from the state exactly right.
Speaker 2: So if they're from Texas, they had no idea what
Speaker 2: things in California cost exactly Okay, all right, gotcha? All right,
Speaker 2: So your claim adjuster and the independent adjust that's coming
Speaker 2: from the insurance company, Okay, what about a public adjuster.
Speaker 6: A public adjuster is an individual that a homeowner can
Speaker 6: hire to come and assess and evaluate and value the
Speaker 6: damage that's been done to your robbery and they work
Speaker 6: on your behalf and they advocate on your behalf through
Speaker 6: the claim process with the insurance carrier.
Speaker 2: So they're a step in the right direction, no doubt.
Speaker 2: Far as they work for you. Their job is to
Speaker 2: serve your payout interests property owner.
Speaker 6: They're there to value your claim and push to get
Speaker 6: you what you're owed and to bring you back to
Speaker 6: your pre loss condition.
Speaker 2: And if I contract with a public insurance adjuster, then
Speaker 2: my insurance company has to listen to them and deal
Speaker 2: with them. Yes, I mean well, when I say listen
Speaker 2: to them, they don't have to agree with them. But
Speaker 2: in other words, they are a legal entity representing me
Speaker 2: at that point with the In other words, the insurance
Speaker 2: company can't say, I don't know who this guy is
Speaker 2: that you hired, but we deal with you.
Speaker 3: Correct.
Speaker 6: There's a letter of representation that is signed, I'm assuming
Speaker 6: between the public adjuster and the homeowner that allows the
Speaker 6: public adjuster to speak to the insurance carrier and the
Speaker 6: adjuster on the homeowner's behalf.
Speaker 2: And it's safe to say I feel like I've got
Speaker 2: you on the witness stand. Is it safe to say
Speaker 2: that a public insurance adjuster is playing more hardball with
Speaker 2: an insurance company than the homeowner themselves is able to.
Speaker 7: They have a level of education and licensing that allows
Speaker 7: them to know what their insurance codes are from the
Speaker 7: Department of Insurance, and they're making sure that the insurance
Speaker 7: companies is following those regulations from the DOI.
Speaker 6: Okay, all right, And not only that, public adjusters are
Speaker 6: typically using what the insurance carriers want or what they
Speaker 6: use in order to value the claim. And it's called
Speaker 6: an exactimate estimate, so they're they use the same system. Correct,
Speaker 6: Therefore it translates better for their act.
Speaker 3: Okay exactly.
Speaker 2: But a public even a public adjuster, can only go
Speaker 2: so far if the insurance company is pushing back correct and.
Speaker 3: Then we have you guys.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so you know, a public adjuster is limited in
Speaker 6: terms of being able to actually file a lawsuit against
Speaker 6: the carrier for bad faith conduct. And in every in
Speaker 6: almost every single contract and the policies your contract in California,
Speaker 6: there's the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing,
Speaker 6: and the public adjuster isn't able to make that a
Speaker 6: cause of action because they can't file suit. So when
Speaker 6: we file suit on behalf of the property owner, we're
Speaker 6: filing it for the breach of contract, which is the
Speaker 6: breach of the benefits of the policy that they're not
Speaker 6: laying out to the insured. And we're also putting in
Speaker 6: the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and
Speaker 6: how the insurance care breached that in order to get
Speaker 6: the bad faith damages.
Speaker 3: Gotcha.
Speaker 2: And now when you guys, and I know you guys
Speaker 2: evaluate claims for free, yes, okay, you evaluate policy in
Speaker 2: the nature of the claim for free, and you don't
Speaker 2: take all those cases because sometimes they don't need you
Speaker 2: at your level. Correct, But what we're recommending here today
Speaker 2: is the idea of, like, if you're going to start
Speaker 2: this process, why not step to the most qualified, the
Speaker 2: most specialized, and the people who have the most power
Speaker 2: and influence of the best maybe ten thousand foot view
Speaker 2: of the entire situation and find out, especially if it's
Speaker 2: not going to cost you anything, find out where exactly
Speaker 2: you stand from from your perspective. And so what I'm
Speaker 2: making that strong recommendation that if somebody's in that situation,
Speaker 2: they should call it.
Speaker 3: They should just call you first.
Speaker 2: Think they should call you first and find out do
Speaker 2: they need you or should you recommend a public adjuster
Speaker 2: to them? In their situation, or should they just deal
Speaker 2: work with their insurance adjuster because as far from where
Speaker 2: you're standing, things are proceeding properly and they don't need
Speaker 2: to take further steps.
Speaker 7: So when a claim adjuster sees that there's an attorney
Speaker 7: representing the file, they take it very seriously because now
Speaker 7: they know they're under the microscope. They can't just unreasonable
Speaker 7: to deny or delay the process. And what happens is
Speaker 7: the public adjusters get to a certain point where the
Speaker 7: insurance carrier is either denying coverage for certain situations or
Speaker 7: they're minimizing what they're entitled to, and they can just
Speaker 7: tell them no. So we work with public adjusters where
Speaker 7: we help them push the claim to the finish line
Speaker 7: for these clients that have not got coverage or weren't
Speaker 7: able to get enough money. And these insurance carries, at
Speaker 7: the end of the day, when they see that we're
Speaker 7: signed to claim, they use a different claim adjuster because
Speaker 7: now they have to use someone who knows how to
Speaker 7: deal with attorneys right right public adjustment.
Speaker 2: And it's not that a public adjuster isn't doing their jobs,
Speaker 2: it's the fact that they can't sue an insurance company,
Speaker 2: and so that's why they take notice when you guys
Speaker 2: get involved along the way.
Speaker 6: And to your point, Deing, we we're very honest with
Speaker 6: anybody who calls in. If we don't feel like our
Speaker 6: services are necessary at this time, we are more than
Speaker 6: happy to tell them, Hey, you know, you can deal
Speaker 6: with a public adjuster at this phase, or you can
Speaker 6: try it by yourself. We're not here to contract with
Speaker 6: every single person we want. We want to outlay advice,
Speaker 6: we want to add provide as much value as we
Speaker 6: can without actually contracting with us. But yes, I mean,
Speaker 6: if they get to a certain situation where they have
Speaker 6: reached an impasse, yeah, they should give us a call
Speaker 6: and see if we can evalue it and help them.
Speaker 3: All right, sounds good?
Speaker 2: All right, when we come back, let's talk about.
Speaker 3: The crime scene.
Speaker 2: Yes, let's talk about what should a homeowner do and
Speaker 2: not do? And so maybe this delicate balance between not
Speaker 2: polluting the crime scene but at the same time doing
Speaker 2: mitigation and what that means. Yes, so that they limit
Speaker 2: their exposure. And if that doesn't instantly resonate with you,
Speaker 2: you need to keep listening and we'll get to it
Speaker 2: right after. Eileen Gonzalez gives us the news.
Speaker 1: This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper.
Speaker 1: Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty
Speaker 1: every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and
Speaker 1: every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or
Speaker 1: anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app