United States Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand this week called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure that all impacted Superstorm Sandy flood victims are included in the ongoing settlement regarding fraudulent engineering reports issued by insurance adjusters, regardless of whether the policyholder has filed a lawsuit.According to federal court records and recent media reports, including a months-long investigation aired by 60 Minutes, there is evidence that private engineering companies purposefully altered engineering reports so as to not fully reflect the true impact and damage caused by Superstorm Sandy to New Yorkers’ homes, which led to the unjust denial or underpayment of flood insurance claims.
FEMA is currently in the process of settling the approximately 1,200 civil lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York that were filed by victims of Sandy against flood insurance companies and FEMA regarding the claims process of the National Flood Insurance Program. Many of individuals that filed lawsuits were denied or underpaid in their NFIP claim following Superstorm Sandy, likely due to the doctoring of engineering reports.
In light of this ongoing settlement, Schumer and Gillibrand this week released a letter written to FEMA deputy associate administrator Brad Kieserman, urging that the settlement include provisions to resolve the legitimate claims of any policyholder denied by engineering companies regardless of whether a lawsuit was filed. In addition, the Senators said that all flood insurance policyholders impacted by Sandy must have access from FEMA to all engineering and insurance documents used to assess the damage on their home, in order to root out other cases of fraud.
“The recent allegations of fraudulent engineering reports and other deceptive practices rampant throughout the FEMA-run National Flood Insurance Program makes your jaw drop…FEMA must ensure that all legitimate claims are included in the pending FEMA settlement, regardless of whether a policyholder has filed a lawsuit,” said Senator Schumer.
By Forum Staff
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