Efforts to mediate Mississippi homeowners claims have gone into high gear with initial efforts accounting for a 71 percent success rate, Donna J. Cromeans, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Insurance Department in Jackson, Miss. told Insurance Journal.
The mediation program kicked off in early February when Insurance Commissioner George Dale directed insurance companies to consider all claims evidence and take into consideration eyewitness accounts of damage as well as damage to neighboring structures, in addition to other evidence compiled by policyholders before making a final decision concerning Hurricane Katrina claims.
“I felt it necessary to take this action due to reports that some insurance companies may be basing their claims decisions solely on a paid structural engineer’s report without the insurance company reviewing or considering other evidence such as damage to the neighboring structures or eyewitness accounts of damage to the property,” Dale said. “All evidence should be considered.”
Sept. 7, Dale directed insurance companies and their representatives to refrain from any activity designed to discourage Hurricane Katrina claimants from pursuing medication through the Hurricane Katrina Mediation Program. He warned companies that they should be aware that any action designed to discourage complainants from pursuing mediation will result in the company being in violation.
Dale urged companies to continue to communicate with claimants, even after mediation is scheduled, in a good faith effort to resolve claims as quickly and fairly as possible.
Mediation begins
Insured parties could officially begin requesting mediation Jan. 30, and Feb. 3, and Dale reported more than 300 insureds requested mediation conferences. The Insurance Department set up the Mississippi Mediation Program with the American Arbitration Association, appointed by the commissioner to mediate claims.
As of noon, Feb. 27, AAA had received 1,072 requests, Cromeans told Insurance Journal. “Through Feb. 23 there had been 24 actual mediation conferences held, so we are sticking to our schedule, of those 24, 17 were settled.
“There were 60 conferences scheduled for Feb. 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23,” she said. “AAA is now contacting homeowners that cancelled their appointments to determine if they cancelled because they settled, or for other reasons. We are hearing from both insureds and the insurance companies that some of these have settled.”
AAA is now scheduling 12 mediation sessions per day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, an initial schedule just to get the program kicked off and up and running.
“They are planning on increasing the number of mediation days and the number of mediations scheduled each day” Cromeans explained.
Topics Mississippi
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