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Alan Garfinkel is the founder of Garfinkel Trial Group, a civil trial law firm with offices throughout the United States. The Garfinkel Trial Group is designated "One Of The Most Prestigious Law Firms in America" by Martindale Hubbell. The firm is nationally recognized as leaders in Natural Disaster Law and has aggressively prosecuted thousands of hurricane related claims on behalf of Home Owners, Business Owners, and Condominium Associations.
On this show, he discusses his extensive work and authorship of dozens of articles on Insurance Law.
He explains that Insurance companies are for-profit corporations. It benefits their profitability to pay the least amount of money.
After spending many years working with victims of natural disasters, our firm knows the games insurance companies played to reduce consumer claims and the amounts they pay.
Here are the top seven ways they do it.
1. Multiple Deductibles for a Single Claim: Our firm has seen cases in which insurance companies applied multiple deductibles for a single claim.
This practice is unlawful. Some insurance companies assert, "The damage does not exceed the deductible," when, in fact, this position is almost always proved wrong once our law firm conducts an investigation.
2. Blanket Depreciation of Replacement Costs: Some insurance companies may "blanket depreciate" the replacement costs, based on the age of the house, roof or property ruined. The insurance company may, for example, depreciate not only the cost of paint but also the cost of labor. Depreciating material cost is acceptable. Depreciating labor cost is not. The consumer ends up paying the difference out of his or her own pocket.
3. Use the Threat of Policy Cancellation: The insurance policy which is a contract cannot be cancelled because a policy holder presents a claim or retains a lawyer. Hurricanes, just like earthquakes, are natural disasters and are not based on the behavior or maintenance of the property.
4. Underestimate with Estimating Software: Insurance companies use estimating software programs. Many fail to address the sudden increases of material and labor costs due to a regional or national catastrophe. Material and labor costs are a large portions of repairs. Some materials, like roofing supplies, have increased dramatically.
5. Require Receipts to Discourage Self-Repair: Some insurance companies state they will not reimburse the consumer if they do not have receipts or if they do the repair work themselves. This is an insurance trick. Consumers should be reimbursed for repair work regardless of who performs the work.
6. Fail to Advise Policyholders About Carpeting Coverage: Coverage for carpeting can be complicated for policyholders. Garfinkel Trial Group sees examples of insurance companies that fail to fully reimburse carpet damage.
** Some insurance companies try to convince the insured that the carpet needs only cleaning instead of replacing. Once there is water penetration or glass breakage, however, the insurance company is legally obligated to compensate for the replacement of the carpet.
** Some insurance companies may avoid paying for carpet padding. It is necessary to change the pad or eventually the carpet will stick to the pad causing humidity damage and mold contamination.
7. Deny Testing for Mold: The Garfinkel Trial group has seen many cases where insurance companies deny mold testing and payment. Garfinkel Trial Group recommends mold testing. If there is mold present, a claim for remediation should be presented to have the insurance company pay for the affected areas.
Alan is a frequent guest on the network news circuit, appearing as one of the most sought after legal experts in the country on Natural Disaster law. He is "AV" rated by Martindale-Hubbell, twice Board Certified by the Florida Bar and is admitted to the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Garfinkel serves on the board of directors of a charitable organization that provides scholarships to the children of people who have been injured in the work place. He has organized the transportation of three ambulances to needy communities in Columbia and is a board member of the Colombian-American chamber of Commerce of Central Florida and the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida.
In recognition of his knowledge of Latin American Affairs, he was the sole U.S. attorney invited to attend the ANDUSA conference with Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega and Thomas Shannon, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western American Affairs. Mr. Garfinkel is Chief Legal Counsel for the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida. He also participated in Florida¡¯s recent trade mission to Colombia with Gov. Bush.
Arthur Haynes, Jr and his father, Arthur Haynes Sr., prepared the case for James Earl Ray in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., arguing that Ray was incapable of committing the crime he was arrested for. Mr. Haynes also has deep roots in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a judge on the 10th judicial circuit.
Arthur recounts how Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. A little more than two months after King's death, on June 8, 1968, Ray, an escaped convict who had broken out of the Missouri State Penitentiary a year before the assassination, was captured at London's Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder, confessing to the assassination on March 10, 1969, (though he recanted this confession three days later) and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Arthur Haynes Jr and his father, Arthur Haynes Sr represented Ray, prior to Ray¡¯s hiring of Percy Foreman. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and therefore the possibility of receiving the death penalty.
Ray later fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher") claiming that a man he met in Montreal, Canada, using the alias "Raoul" had been deeply involved, as was his brother Johnny, but not himself, further asserting that although he didn't "personally shoot Dr. King," he may have been "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.
In 1997 Martin Luther King's son Dexter King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a full review of the case. That review ended in 2000 with a finding that "no credible evidence" existed to support the claims of Jowers or the various other conspiracy theories. Loyd Jowers was brought to civil court and sued as being part of a conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King; Jowers was found liable, and the King family was awarded $100 in retribution as a sign that they were not following the case for monetary reasons.
Dr. William Pepper remained James Earl Ray's attorney until Ray's death and then carried on, on behalf of the King family. The King family does not believe Ray had anything to do with the murder of Martin Luther King.[2]
Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70 from complications related to kidney disease, caused by hepatitis C probably contracted as a result of a blood transfusion given after a stabbing while at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. It was also confirmed in the autopsy that he died of liver failure.
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