Orlando Lawyers Seek E-mail Discovery
As Orlando injury lawyers our cases, like yours, likely include issues of insurer bad faith. Of course, how we respond is critical to our clients' ability to hold insurance companies accountable for their improper conduct. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, litigation has emphasized the importance of e-mail correspondence in proving insurer misconduct in these cases.
In e-mails State Farm Insurance Company had threatened to fire a firm hired to inspect storm-damaged homes after Hurricane Katrina, and firm leaders suggested that the insurer was dissatisfied with how it was reporting damage. Attorneys for homeowners suing State Farm claim e-mails support their argument that the insurer pressured its engineers to alter their reports on storm-damaged homes so that policyholders' claims could be denied.
The e-mails indicate that State Farm was threatening to dismiss Raleigh, North Carolina-based Forensic Analysis & Engineering Corp. less than two months after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005. In part the e-mails contain instructions from State Farm to stop using local engineers to inspect properties because they were "too emotionally involved" and were "working very hard to find justifications to call it wind damage when the facts only show water induced damage."
Of course, handling property damage claims, State Farm like many insurers post-hurricane point out that their homeowner policies cover damage from wind but not rising water, including wind-driven storm surge. That forms the basis for the insurer's efforts to deny coverage to hurricane victims.
In the Katrina cases, the engineering firm sent a reply to State Farm which questioned the insurer's motivations and questioned if there was an ethical problem with State Farm telling the firm what to put in reports. Certainly, this would prove important and quite damaging should these e-mails ever be presented to a jury considering the relevant issues. Obviously, these e-mails provide clear evidence of the independent engineers hired by State Farm expressing concern about being pressured to change reports. As in many insurer bad faith cases, e-mails should be considered when formulating discovery requests.
By the way, in response to suggestions that State Farm acted in bad faith, its representatives recently told the media, that State Farm is committed to conducting itself in an ethical and appropriate manner and any suggestions to the contrary are simply wrong. Does that surprise you?
