Photo: Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder this week indicated that FEMA plans to open a review process to all victims looking to appeal their flood insurance assistance in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. File Photo.
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) this week announced a plan by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to open a review process to all victims looking to appeal their flood insurance assistance in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.
In April, Goldfeder urged FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate to allow families to join a civil lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court over alleged fraudulent actions by flood insurance companies post-Sandy.
According to information provided to Goldfeder by FEMA’s Region II office, which oversees operations in New York and New Jersey, the agency is currently developing criteria for an appeals process available to Sandy victims interested in filing claims.
Details still need to be hammered out, but the agency has informed Goldfeder’s office that letters will be issued around Friday, May 15, to victims explaining how the appeals process will work, and will include a website and toll-free number with additional information.
This announcement comes as FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program is in the process of settling 1,200 civil lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court by Sandy victims. The claims stem from allegations that engineering firms and adjusters sought to reduce payouts to homeowners by falsifying damage reports. In response, Goldfeder sent the missive to Fugate to include all Sandy victims with potential cases of fraud in the settlement, regardless of whether victims were among the cases currently pending in court.
“More than two and a half years after Sandy, many families in southern Queens and Rockaway are still fighting their insurance companies for the assistance they need to rebuild. They diligently paid their premiums year after year only to be abandoned by insurers when Sandy hit,” Goldfeder said. “I applaud FEMA for reopening the Sandy claims process and giving our families a second chance at finally getting the help they deserve.”
By Forum Staff
