by Jeff Rapkin admits he prayed for the “untimely death” of the adjuster who examined his home after it was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Rapkin, a Florida resident and father, said the adjuster told him his home would likely have to be completely rebuilt. So Rapkin was shocked when Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance, his insurance company, sent him only $15,000, minus their deductible.
It turns out that the adjuster, Jordan Lee, was also shocked, as he wrote in his report that he believed the Rapkins were owed $231,368.57. Lee says he later learned that dozens of his damage reports had been materially altered.
“It was actually all of them,” Lee said.
Appraising houses after Ian
High winds and heavy rainfall are estimated to have caused $113 billion in damage from Hurricane Ian made landfall in September 2022. The Rapkins had weathered more than a half-dozen hurricanes in their home, but Ian was different, Rapkin said.
“It felt like the hurricane was in the house,” Rapkin said. “We couldn’t keep the windows closed.”
Video shows the steel roof being torn off their home during the hurricane. Ian left trees on and around their house. The roof was torn and everything in the house was soaked.
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The Rapkins called Heritage after the storm to start the claims process. Heritage sent Lee, a certified claims adjuster since 2017, to assess the damage. After major disasters, most insurance companies use third-party companies that hire adjusters, like Lee, to help them with the thousands of claims.
Lee says he leaves his cell phone number with homeowners after appraising a house so they can call him if they have questions. His phone started ringing after Ian was on the other end of the line with angry homeowners.
“I’m swearing at me from left to right, from top to bottom. You know, ‘how can you do this to us?'” Lee said. ‘It was actually very bad. And out of the thousands of claims I’ve handled, I’ve never had calls like that.”
“Allegations of systematic criminal fraud”
Two years later, whistleblowers, all licensed adjusters, say that after Hurricane Ian, several insurance companies used altered reports to mislead customers and reduce payouts.
An estimated 50,000 homeowners affected by Ian are still fighting with their insurance companies to repair or rebuild their homes. The Rapkins filed a lawsuit against Heritage, accusing the company of breach of contract and fraud.
While investigating what was wrong with the Rapkin home, Lee discovered that an agency adjuster, who had never been to the family home, had deleted entire portions of his report but left his name and license number on it, making it seemed like it was his job. .
It is standard procedure for field experts to work with those in the office to make minor changes, but Lee said that did not happen with the Rapkin report.
As he dug into his hurricane work, Lee saw that 44 of his 46 Ian reports had been adjusted to give the policyholder less money. One estimate he wrote for about $488,000 was changed to about $13,000. Another was revised from about $239,000 to about $3,000.
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Lee and two other experts testified before Florida lawmakers on Dec. 13, 2022, about what a watchdog group called “systemic criminal fraud” by the insurance companies.
Ben Mandell, a licensed adjuster for a decade, did not work for Heritage but said 18 of the 20 reports he wrote for another insurance company were changed after Ian. Mandell said he and other experts were instructed by some of their managers to leave damage out of the reports.
“It was a deliberate plan to do this,” Mandell said. “And it wasn’t just one airline that did this. It was six airlines that we found were doing this in the state of Florida, they all got the memo.”
The directive, according to Mandell, was that insurance companies were becoming less willing to replace roofs and only repair them. Mandell said what he was asked to do was illegal.
“It’s illegal because when I go out to do a damage assessment, I have to indicate what the damage is, not what they want the damage to be,” he said.
Mandell said he was fired after complaining to his bosses. Now he and five other whistleblowers, including Lee, are represented by attorney Steve Bush, who himself spent more than a decade as a public adjuster. All were fired or left their jobs because of the changes in their reports.
‘Most people won’t stand up and fight’
Some insurance companies are hoping customers will switch and simply accept the money insurers offer them, Bush said. He said he believes some insurance companies are unwilling to spend money on a roof replacement unless a policyholder files a lawsuit.
“Most people aren’t going to stand up and fight,” Bush said. “I can’t tell you how many people come to me and say, ‘Hey, what did I have to do? I had to replace my roof.'”
Florida’s Insurance Market has been a risky gamble for years. After a decade of costly storms, several national carriers left Florida. Smaller, regional carriers have stepped in, but at least nine insurance companies in Florida have gone bankrupt since 2021 and some of the remaining insurance companies have changed claims reports, Bush said. He says he has evidence that airlines in six different states are manipulating reports, leaving policyholders unaware that they are not getting the money they deserve.
There is virtually no transparency in the claims process, said Doug Quinn, executive director of the American Policyholders Association, an advocacy group he founded after his death. house was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“Victims of insurance fraud are the last people to find out that they are victims of insurance fraud,” Quinn said.
Calling for change, waiting for repairs
Bush gave what he said was evidence of insurance fraud to state investigators and Florida opened a criminal investigation. But two years after the storm, Florida has made no arrests.
“If you really want to see change in the industry, you have to put someone in handcuffs,” Bush said.
According to Quinn, insurance cases are quickly and aggressively investigated and prosecuted when they involve a policyholder or public adjuster attempting to defraud the insurance industry.
“All we are asking is that cases alleged to have been committed by the insurance companies or the salespeople they hire are investigated and prosecuted as aggressively as fraud is discovered,” Quinn said.
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Quinn said it’s difficult to know how many policyholders may have received less money than they were owed.
But two years after Hurricane Ian, every unrepaired house and tarp tells a story.
In the Rapkins’ home, mold and Mother Nature are gnawing away at what’s left. The house’s split roof is an open wound for the family, who still have to mow the lawn every month and pay the mortgage on their rotting house. They also pay rent for a nearby apartment and $4,000 a year to Heritage for home insurance, even after the disaster. premiums went up.
“And obviously we can’t take another insurance company,” Rapkin said.
Rapkin initially believed that perhaps an innocent mistake had been made, but he no longer feels that way.
“This is a scam. That’s what this is,” he said. “This is: ‘Make them disappear at all costs. We won’t pay.'”
Heritage responds
In a statement to 60 Minutes, Heritage said it could not comment on specific policyholders but aimed to “pay every eligible claim” and did not intend to mislead. The company says that in its own random sample, about 42% of claims reports were revised downwards and 26% were revised upwards..
Heritage says the company has made “many reforms” since Hurricane Ian, including updating its claims processing software, which the company blames for not disclosing the names of agency adjusters who changed reports.
Sharyn Alfonsi
