Insurance consumer advocate group unveils state-by-state guide to insurance legal rights
Insurance consumer advocate group unveils state-by-state guide to insurance legal rights

For Immediate Release:  March 13, 2023 Contact: Amy Bach, Executive Director SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2023 – United Policyholders (UP), a national insurance consumer advocacy non-profit, today announced a major expansion of its services. Insurance company claim adjusters are required to know and follow the…
Thousands of homes damaged by Sandy remain uninsured
Thousands of homes damaged by Sandy remain uninsured

Thousands of Long Island homes damaged by superstorm Sandy are still not covered by flood insurance, leaving much of the region dependent on government aid if another catastrophe hits, a Newsday analysis of federal data has found. Since the 2012 storm, the number of properties…
FEMA’s Sandy Flood Insurance Review Taking Longer Than Expected
FEMA’s Sandy Flood Insurance Review Taking Longer Than Expected

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s review of Superstorm Sandy flood insurance claims is taking longer than expected, with fewer than 200 checks issued. FEMA announced in March the review for as many as 142,000 claims after homeowners complained they were shortchanged. A FEMA official expected…
How Hurricane Sandy created ‘the perfect storm’
How Hurricane Sandy created ‘the perfect storm’

Three years after Hurricane Sandy swept up the East Coast, homeowners are still working to collect money for the damage they sustained. It has been a long and frustrating fight for many. Media reports highlighted their efforts and some accused insurers and engineers of colluding…
Capitol Pressroom
Capitol Pressroom

Amy Bach, the executive director of United Policyholders, looks at a report that shows property insurers have reaped higher-than-average profits in New York State despite losses from major weather events like Superstorm Sandy. Bach argues New York insurance law is crafted in a way that…
FEMA re-opens claims, but some Sandy victims say ‘no thanks
FEMA re-opens claims, but some Sandy victims say ‘no thanks

A few weeks ago, FEMA sent out 146,000 letters to homeowners who were possible victims of Sandy-related flood insurance fraud, offering to reevaluate their damage awards and make them whole. That’s a lot of people with a lot of money at stake.FEMA is also offering…
Insurers reaped outsized profits from NY homeowners’ policies, group says
Insurers reaped outsized profits from NY homeowners’ policies, group says

Despite catastrophic losses from superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, property insurance companies have reaped profits in New York at rates more than double the national average in recent years, according to a study scheduled to be released Monday. Between 2004 and 2013, insurers posted an…
Sandy insurance settlements won’t make homeowners whole
Sandy insurance settlements won’t make homeowners whole

The flood-insurance settlements being brokered for superstorm Sandy victims may be a victory for thousands of homeowners who have long waited for money to rebuild. Yet many, if not most, are still apt to come out behind. Federal law limits how much the National Flood…
The Storm after the Storm
The Storm after the Storm

The following is a script from “The Storm after the Storm” which aired on March 1, 2015. Sharyn Alfonsi is the correspondent. Oriana Zill de Granados and Michael Rey, producers.When Hurricane Sandy made its way towards the East Coast in the fall of 2012, residents…
Lawyers, FEMA in talks to settle Sandy insurance appeals
Lawyers, FEMA in talks to settle Sandy insurance appeals

By JOE RYAN joe.ryan@newsday.com After months of deadlock, lawyers for hundreds of homeowners suing over flood insurance claims from superstorm Sandy said they made significant progress in talks Tuesday with federal officials to design a broad framework to settle the cases.The attorneys spent more than…
Hurricane Sandy Victims Say Damage Reports Were Altered
Hurricane Sandy Victims Say Damage Reports Were Altered

When Frank Johnston’s insurance carrier rejected his claim that flooding from Hurricane Sandy had severely damaged the foundation of his Fire Island home, the company cited an engineering report that seemed to establish his problems were “unrelated” to the storm, and were caused instead by…
N.Y. opens criminal probe into rejected Sandy claims
N.Y. opens criminal probe into rejected Sandy claims

New York’s attorney general has opened a criminal probe into accusations by Hurricane Sandy victims that insurance companies rejected claims for flood damage to their properties based on falsified engineering reports, a person familiar with the matter said.New York homeowners have filed at least three…
Insurers accused of rigging Sandy flood claims with slanted reports, but evidence is elusive
Insurers accused of rigging Sandy flood claims with slanted reports, but evidence is elusive

By DAVID B. CARUSO and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated PressNEW YORK (AP) — When Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast, flood insurance companies working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched an army of structural engineers to do some detective work.Their assignment: Find out how much…
FEMA says it is investigating allegations of falsified Sandy engineering reports
FEMA says it is investigating allegations of falsified Sandy engineering reports

By JOE RYAN joe.ryan@newsday.com An attorney for the Federal Emergency Management Agency Tuesday said the organization was investigating allegations that engineering reports were secretly rewritten after superstorm Sandy to deny claims on government-funded flood insurance policies.FEMA associate general counsel Jordan Fried told a panel of…
U.S. court panel: Why are Sandy flood claims still unpaid 2 years later?
U.S. court panel: Why are Sandy flood claims still unpaid 2 years later?

Thousands of property owners across the metropolitan area who thought their federally funded flood insurance would cover damage from superstorm Sandy were bitterly disappointed when it did not, and many sued for more money. So far, few of those cases have been settled or resolved,…
Sandy insurers may have falsely denied LIers’ claims, federal judge says
Sandy insurers may have falsely denied LIers’ claims, federal judge says

A federal judge on Long Island has ordered insurance companies to release thousands of documents used to deny superstorm Sandy flood claims, saying it appears engineers falsified reports to avoid paying homeowners. In a 27-page order, Magistrate Judge Gary Brown said an engineering firm hired…
Doubt Lingers for New Yorkers Devastated by Hurricane Sandy
Doubt Lingers for New Yorkers Devastated by Hurricane Sandy

NEW YORK – Edith Harris was cornered in her living room, inside her brick house, deep in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Volunteers in green t-shirts swarmed around her. They banged away at new appliances in the bathrooms, studied the interior supports that held up her fragile basement…
Short-changed by insurance, Sandy victims fight back
Short-changed by insurance, Sandy victims fight back

ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Since they bought their oceanfront home in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., 12 years ago, Carla and Vincent Vitale have spent almost $100,000 on insurance premiums. So when flood waters from Superstorm Sandy damaged the heating and electrical systems, they weren’t worried.…