Photo: Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder this week sent a letter to FEMA, calling on the agency to ensure all affected Sandy flood victims are included in the ongoing fraud settlements. File Photo.
With more than a thousand civil lawsuits pending in federal court following allegedly fraudulent actions by insurance company-contracted engineering firms and adjusters aimed at limiting payouts to Superstorm Sandy victims, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) this week wrote a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate calling on the agency to ensure all affected Sandy flood victims are included in the ongoing settlements.
Goldfeder also called on FEMA to make insurance and damage report documents available to policyholders for possible future claims.
“Families in southern Queens and Rockaway have been bled dry trying to recover from Sandy. Many have fallen into debt from the costs of rebuilding or the process of fighting insurance claims,” Goldfeder said. “Having to fight possible fraud on top of everything else is simply unacceptable. The least FEMA can do is ensure that all our families have access to justice if they have been victimized by these fraudulent practices.”
In his missive to Fugate, Goldfeder requested FEMA allow Sandy victims potentially defrauded by falsified engineering reports and other questionable insurance company practices to join in the settlement currently in New York District Court, regardless of whether or not they were among the initial claims. Goldfeder also asked that the settlement include provisions allowing victims the opportunity to obtain all insurance and engineering report documents. This, Goldfeder wrote, would allow for reopening of FEMA aid claims to review possible fraud or underpayments for damages sustained during the 2012 storm.
FEMA is in the process of settling 1,200 civil lawsuits filed by Sandy victims pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The suits stem from alleged fraudulent practices by engineering firms and adjusters contracted by Write-Your-Own (WYO) insurance companies that sought to reduce aid payouts to families by doctoring damage reports. The scandal came to national attention following a recent high-profile report by the CBS News program “60 Minutes” into the insurance companies, which are overseen by FEMA and the NFIP.
By Forum Staff
