An exclusion says they don't have to follow City ordinances?

by mbrown1947 » Sun Aug 05, 2012 07:34 am

American Family adjuster brought contractor to house I had to use. Then cut off money to motel after 6 1/2 months. Neither the contractor nor the adjuster went to house to see if work was completed. I sent faxes to contractor and adjuster specifying why house wasn't ready. I got evicted from motel. Hired outside inspector. House in worse shape than I thought. Wires hanging out of wall, electricity not working in a room, insulation not replaced in attic, etc. City says house is unsafe for occupancy and I cannot sleep there. American Family refused to put me back in motel because they say an exclusion in my policy says they do not have to follow City codes and ordinances. Work just has to be done; it doesn't have to be done according to any standard. I am a senior citizen. I am disabled. Do I have any recourse other than accepting I had a bad experience and changing to another company? "We do not insure for loss caused directly or indirectly by ordinance, law or regulation, meaning enforcement of any ordinance, law or regulation which regulates the construction, repair, or demolition of a building or other structure, unless specifically provided under this policy. This includes, but is not limited to the removal and disposal of damaged or undamaged property which result from such enforcement. Such a loss is excluded regardless of any other cause or event contributing concurrently or in any sequence to the loss." I was literally homeless for almost 8 weeks.

Total Comments: 1

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 02:30 pm Post Subject:

American Family adjuster brought contractor to house I had to use

Nope... you can use anyone you want.

I think there is actually more to this. I'll see if I can fill it in....

AM only covered certain repairs. Other repairs were required to bring the home up to code and that portion was not covered. Repair time was considered the same way.... they did not allow for the additional time required to bring the home up to code.

The complication arose as this also meant that some covered repairs were not completed either as the contractor needed to work on those code upgrades before he could get to the covered repairs.

Is this correct?

Without knowing the wording of the Additional Living Expense coverage, I can't say if the claim was handled correctly or not. I think it probably states that they will pay for the reasonable amount of time it takes to complete the covered repairs. If so, I think they have a point.They are not going to pay ALE for the time it takes to repair things that are not covered.

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