Insurance Company's "Concerted Effort to Cheat People"
An engineering company altered a report to eliminate the significant role wind played in severely damaging the home of an elderly Gulfport couple during Hurricane Katrina, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Mississippi.
A Mississippi lawfirm is asking a judge to order the original report restored and award $5 million in damages to Hubert W. and Joyce Smith, who used retirement savings to repair their home after their insurer paid $16,000 on a policy with a total of $540,000 in coverage.
A lawsuit represents only one side of the legal argument.
Private insurance companies are covering only wind damage from Hurricane Katrina because their policies generally exclude coverage for damage caused by wind-driven water. The local engineer who completed the Smiths' report verified it had been altered and his signature forged, according to the lawsuit and other records obtained by the attorney who filed the suit, William B. Weatherly.
"This to me proves one of my deepest, deepest fears, which is that there's a concerted effort to cheat people," Weatherly said Friday.