In a turn of events that is almost reminiscent of Plant City sinkholes earlier this year, Ocala is seemingly under attack by sinkhole activity. Again and again we have talked about the huge breadth of the sinkhole activity in Ocala and now we can see it at the surface.
The most publicized sinkhole is near the Fore Ranch area and began as a 28 foot wide monster and now has grown to a 50 foot behemoth! Apparently this one is not alone as there have been at least three other cover collapse sinkholes develop in the Ocala area in just a matter of days. City officials blame the heavy rains for the collapses and note that the water level in adjacent retention ponds has dropped six feet since the collapse.
Fore Ranch will likely have to pitch in on the repair bill. Luckily, at this point no homes appear to be in danger but roads have been closed causing hassles and headaches for those in the area. The city has apparently hired Geotech to perform an investigation and begin repairs. We are familiar with Geotech and are a very capable company that should do a good job taking care of this problem.
The long term question is what effect will this have on the homes and businesses in the area. That remains to be seen but nearby residents should surely keep a vigilant watch and report any signs of movement immediately. On a side note, a former client of ours who recently resolved a sinkhole claim on his house in Ocala just moved to this area to get away from sinkhole problems.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
My home has confirmed sinkhole activity. However, my insurance company denied my claim because they said the damage was not “severe enough.” They indicated to me that unless there is damage that constitutes “structural damage,” it is not covered by my policy. Is this correct?
Coverage for Structure and the Land
No, it is not. Under Florida law, an insurance company must provide coverage to repair the “structure and the land.” The definition of what constitutes “structural damage” is not defined in the statute. As such, it’s definition is subject to interpretation by courts, who must determine when structural damage has been met.
The dispute is pretty simple to parse out between the parties. The insurance companies want to take a very narrow interpretation of the word “structure” to mean that it must meet an engineering definition. That definition, from an engineering standpoint, would mean that the sinkhole activity caused a loss of support to the load bearing walls. This definition, however, flys in the face of the actual context of the law, which simply states that the insurance company must pay for repairs to stabilize the structure and the land. It does not say, as suggested, that the damage is only covered if it is structural.
Courts Denying Insurance Company Arguments
At least one judge in Central Florida looked at this, and threw out the insurance company’s arguments. We are working through several of these right now, and I think these arguments will go away once enough courts hear about it. My bigger concern is that there is also discussion between many insurers that the definition in the law and in their policies should be limited to covering only structural damage. In that case, you could have a home with a large, open sinkhole in the yard, but they disclaim the coverage because of this.
That will be the subject of another blog. Let’s us know how we can help.
What can I do about the lost value of my sinkhole home?
Unfortunately, insurance policies and Florida law do not allow for recovery of loss of value to your property. This is an extraneous consequence of having a sinkhole claim that insurance contracts and insurance companies do not take into consideration.
This is a cold business with a cold approach. Insurance companies do not take human factors such as diminution of value of the home, inability to find insurance again or time missed from work to be present for the numerous inspections into account. These are things that you will not recover under the contract. These are things that we hope juries pick up on and take into account when determining the damages to a homeowner.
Repairing a sinkhole home does significantly increase the value of the home but, is unlikely to recoup 100%. The good news is that as sinkholes become a more integral and accepted risks of homeownership in Florida, buyers seem to be a little less bothered by the sinkhole stigma as in years past. Keep in mind that there may be some additional coverages or damages that can be payable for over charged premiums or the cost to move out in some circumstances, so there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for certain homeowners.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
An interesting article posted on TBO.com indicates what most of us know: that sinkhole claims are on the rise. The legislature seems to have caught on to this (probably through insurance lobbyists) and wants to evaluate where and why these claims are on the rise. We do see a common theme in this article which is that sinkhole alley resides in Hernando, Pasco and Citrus Counties and surprise that claims in other areas of the state are becoming more common.
As we have discussed many times before, areas such as Ocala, Gainesville, The Villages, Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties are equally at risk, just not as highly publicized. It is also interesting how the article discusses the difficulty they expect to have in mapping sinkhole locations due to poor and spotty records keeping systems over the years.
Finally, you see several hints from certain interviewees that fraudulent sinkhole claims are on the rise. We wonder, if you have damage that looks like it could be related to sinkhole activity such as cracks or depressions in the yard, how can you be blamed for filing a claim and getting some piece of mind? This is especially true considering the trend for carriers today, is to drop or carve out sinkhole coverage for Florida homeowners.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
Optional Sinkhole Coverage has some Ocala homeowners between a rock and a hard place.
Attorney Morgan Barfield of the Barfield Law Group recently provided an in-depth interview to a local Ocala newspaper, the Star Banner. You can read the full article in the insert below or link directly at Gambling with Sinkhole Coverage.
The article focused primarily on the changes in sinkhole laws the past several years and how sinkhole insurance coverage is no longer mandatory but now is an optional coverage. The article encourages homeowners to not take the less expensive road and run the risk of home ownership
in Florida (especially Ocala) without sinkhole coverage.
“This is a good warning to not only Ocala residents but all homeowners in Florida who live in a high risk area for sinkhole damage” .stated attorney Morgan Barfield in a follow up interview.
Many Ocala residents are still surprised to hear
about the large scale sinkhole activity in their area and are not aware that the laws have changed or
their own policies have been modified to comply with the new laws.
Barfield Law Group encourages each home owner to review their current sinkhole policy and make sure it is up to date with the coverage best to protect their home investment.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
Our ears are a buzz with rumors the insurance industry is making plans for an active season of lobbying our legislature, either to limit or even extinguish sinkhole coverage for property owners. I understand recently, as many as a dozen representatives from insurance companies met at a local restaurant to share ideas, fears, or just vent about the payments they must make under their insurance policies. While I can understand, given the financial affairs of many smaller, poorly run insurance companies, I also see this as a threat to the interest of homeowners, mortgage companies, and others who are interested in protecting the value of Florida real estate.
Homeowners should be prepared for a variety of new attempts to limit their insurance coverage, without making any reduction in premiums you pay. While many insurance companies worked with the Florida legislature on bills to automatically delete sinkhole coverage in Hernando and Pasco counties, most of the people in those communities are now experiencing skyrocketing premiums, with increases as much as 30, 40, and 50 percent over the previous year. If, as they claim, sinkhole losses were the problem, I query how they could justify both the loss of important coverage like sinkholes, while at the same time increasing premiums. Note, the trick that was pulled 2 years ago was that they deleted sinkhole coverage in these two counties, and only added it back if you asked. And, if you didn’t ask, they make you pay for a sinkhole investigation to determine if sinkhole activity is present. They only did this because most people who actually read the alternative insurance coverage (catastrophic insurance coverage) figured out it provides no value anyway.
Bottom line, is that homeowners are likely to have a battle next year over protecting their homes, and need to help the legislators who are looking out for their interests and not the insurance lobby.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
As a homeowner, is there is solution to the sinkhole problems and damage we read so much about?
The most any property owner in Florida can do about sinkholes is about as much
as a California property owner can do about earthquakes. While there are things we can do as communities to avoid creating these problems, the individual homeowners must focus on gathering as much sinkhole information as possible so they can protect their investments. Certainly, the news was flooded with reports about Plant City sinkholes caused by the over-pumping of water near strawberry fields, which triggered a lot of damage. We are also aware of homes being impacted by neighborhoods known for sinkhole activity, most of which is now a matter of public record.
Sinkhole Information is Key
In the end, people can find a sinkhole solution by making informed decisions about the homes they purchase, and the insurance they buy. Right now, there are rumblings among insurance companies that there will be significant changes to the sinkhole laws during the next legislative session. Most of these changes are not designed to offer solutions to the sinkhole problem but instead are focused on economic and politic problems most homeowners just do not care about. Although a lot of people want to talk about the sinkhole “problem” being the claims, I do not think this is the issue.
It’s the Home, Not the Homeowner
If we were to really focus on the how this problem began, it would have been decades ago when most of the construction occurred. While most of the community developers were aware they were building homes in areas where sinkhole problems were likely, they built the homes without doing any pre-construction testing, nor did they even consider modifying the foundations to try and avoid settlement damage. Now, homeowners are buying those houses, and are relying upon the insurance they purchased to recover their losses. This does not make the claims “bogus,” as many are suggesting. Instead, it simply means that insurance companies are making considerably less money than they always have, and must now pay claims.
Be forewarned, that there will be change next year, and we will be watching from here. Visit us frequently so you can have your input into the new laws.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
This is a kind of wacky story from the St. Petersburg Times about a family in St Pete who literally built a fortress made of steel and concrete that could withstand almost any hurricane that hit Florida. Despite that, State Farm dropped their coverage. Of course, State Farm claims it was solely due to a random reduction in the number of policies that they lost coverage. We get the question a lot; what happened to State Farm? I thought they left? Well, in short, State Farm did threaten to leave Florida but since having State Farm in the state is better than not having State Farm here, the State of Florida later allowed State Farm the ability to raise premiums and in return State Farm is allowed to drop a large chunk of its policies. So State Farm is here for now with higher premiums and less insureds but, ultimately this was a good move for the State of Florida and State Farm.
Overall, State Farm adds a great deal of value to the Florida insurance market, and tends to handle their claims better than most of the companies providing sinkhole coverage. At the same time, while it is good that State Farm is staying, the State of Florida must do more to draw other, quality insurance companies into the State. Several of the companies Charlie Crist bragged he brought into the State have already gone out of business, and some have even been sanctioned by the State for a lack of proper funding.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
Check your foundation repair company to ensure your home is being properly remediated.
As much as we discuss insurance companies and their tactics, there are times when they do the right thin
g and an attorney is not necessary. In those cases, the homeowner is on their own to find a foundation repair company to fix their house. As with any company you hire for any work, we strongly recommend you evaluate each company carefully before hiring. First, it never hurts to get several bids or quotes from several companies. For each company, make sure they are licensed and fully insured and/or bonded. Ask for references if you feel it necessary and even ask for credentials of the people who will be doing the work. Since the Barfield Law Group was recently accredited by the Better Business Bureau, we would be remised if we didn’t tell you to check each company with the BBB or look up public records to see if they have ever been sued before.
Also, keep in mind that you will require an engineer to supervise the work that the foundation repair company does so talk to whoever your chosen engineer is and see if they have done work with any of your proposed companies and how there experience was working with them. Remember that just because your home is repaired does not mean a 100% guaranty that you will never have issues with sinkhole activity again and insurance for future problems may be costly or impossible to find so make sure the work is done right and by a reputable company. Finally, don’t be afraid to be present while the work is being performed. You may not know what to look or but, your presence alone may be enough to make sure the work is done properly.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
If my insurance company paid to grout my house, how can I still have ongoing sinkhole activity?
This is a common issue we face and could be the result of numerous individual issues or several of these issues working together. The first issue is that grout alone will never guaranty that sinkhole activity will never rear its ugly head again. Sinkholes are a natural disaster which no one can truly prevent. Grout may lessen your chances of having problems but is no guaranty. Your chances of a stable home certainly increase if grout is combined with underpinning, polyurethane or both but; even then there is no guaranty.
Where Does the Grout Go?
Another issue with grout is once it is pumped into the ground, no one really knows where it goes. It sounds funny but it’s true. Grout will fill voids but no one knows where these conduits run underground. Think of them as underground caverns. Once you pump concrete into the cavern, who’s to say it doesn’t all end up under your neighbor’s house? The lack of control is an issue with grout that needs to be considered.
Foundation Repair Concerns
One last issue that may arise and we hope it never does, is that the foundation repair company may not have done the work properly and may have cut corners. We never want to say this happens but, reality is that is does happen on occasions. This is why we stress that a homeowner should do a background check on the company they are using to do the work and remember that this is your best chance at getting the house repaired. As a homeowner, I would never count on getting a second chance at repairing the home.
Read our tips on filling out a sinkhole claim.
Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.
