Published on November 17, 2015

Sandy Flood Insurance Update

Claims Review

FEMA announced that more than 17,000 policyholders have been determined to be eligible for review. While not every claim reviewed results in a determination of underpayment, additional payments are being made to policyholders whose claim review do show underpayment.

The Claims Review Center is open from 8 am to 8 pm seven days a week with a staff of 215 certified adjusters and 39 support personnel.  As of November 5th, 1051 claim reviews have been closed with claims paid totaling $5,477,252.

In conjunction with the Sandy Claims Review process, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said that it would not seek to recover any additional flood insurance payments up to $20,000.

Litigation

Policyholders dissatisfied with the NFIP payments they received after Hurricane Sandy had the option of filing an administrative appeal with FEMA or filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court. Some did both. Approximately 2,000 policyholders filed litigation against NFIP insurers over their Sandy flood insurance claims in Federal District courts of New York and New Jersey.  Of the 1,689 cases eligible for settlement, 897 cases were settled, with checks issued totaling $94,259,106 (an average of more than $105,000 per settlement).