Houston (October 27, 2012) – Public insurance adjusters across Texas have teamed up to form the Texas Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (TAPIA).  The organization elected its inaugural officers and board of directors.

TAPIA aims to promote professionalism and ethics within the public adjusting industry, and to protect the rights of Texas homeowners and businesses that have sustained an insured property loss.

Ronald Delo, President of Insurance Claim Consultants, dba The Public Adjusters, has been elected as a member of TAPIA’s board of directors.  In addition to his involvement with TAPIA and as a licensed public adjuster in Houston,  Ronald has served on various industry boards and panels to promote and improve the public adjusting industry over the past 25 years.

The Public Adjusters opened operations throughout Texas in 2008 after Hurricane Ike caused widespread damage across the state. Ronald played a large role in the highly publicized insurance claim battle between Texas Windstorm Insurance and the homeowners and businesses of the Bolivar Peninsula who had claim disputes. He wrote the forward to Winds Over Bolivar, a book authored by former client and investigative journalist, Brenda Cannon Henley. The book chronicles her life-changing loss and insurance claim battle after Hurricane Ike destroyed much of the Bolivar Peninsula.

Since 2008, The Public Adjusters has successfully settled hundreds of wind claims, hail claims, fire claims, water damage and other types of insurance claims throughout the state of Texas. The company has operations and partnerships throughout Florida, New Jersey, New York, Mississippi, Alabama and 7 other states.

For more information about public adjusters in Texas call TAPIA at 407-712-4979 or contact The Public Adjusters 24 hours a day.

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Knowing that time is always of the essence for homeowners and business owners in the aftermath of a catastrophic weather event, The Public Adjusters jumped into action. We have a great deal of experience with residential and commercial insurance claims over the past 20-plus years of named storms in the Gulf of Mexico region and on the southeastern Atlantic coast. That experience gave us the knowledge required to be able to provide unique assistance for a large northeastern population of homeowners and business owners who had never before experienced the incredible force of a tropical system such as Hurricane Sandy.

One of the first steps we took at The Public Adjusters was to partner with a local public adjuster, a name the entire Northeast has come to trust as an advocate for those who require expert assistance filing insurance claims. That name was Adam Sitt of Atlantic Insurance Adjusters. Working closely with Mr. Sitt, The Public Adjusters founder and president Ron Delo set about helping homeowners and business owners handle the task of preparing home insurance claims and business insurance claims. In short order, The Public Adjusters realized that Hurricane Sandy was one of the most significant tropical events in recent years. Early estimates had the total damage at about $65.6 billion. That would make it the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane in history. Only Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 2005) was costlier. A total of 24 states were affected by Sandy. Dozens of Americans were killed, and millions were left without power. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed.

The incredibly low barometric pressure – among the lowest ever measured in the United States – coupled with 90 mph winds and a substantial storm surge, wreaked untold havoc on the Jersey shore, Staten Island, Long Island, and even on communities well inland from the point where Hurricane Sandy made landfall. Other than the barometric pressure, Hurricane Sandy was, in many respects, a typical tropical system for that time of year in the Atlantic Ocean. It deviated from the norm in two major respects. One, it made landfall just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey, a densely populated area and far north of where these storms typically hit land. And two, once it made landfall, it combined with an inland storm that already was affecting the Northeast. The resulting amalgam was what prompted many media outlets – especially in New York City – to dub the system “Super Storm Sandy.”

Here is how The Public Adjusters, working with Adam Sitt and Atlantic Insurance Adjusters, are able to help victims of Hurricane Sandy who must file home or business insurance claims in order to rebuild their lives. First, our in-depth knowledge of policy language can help a policy holder understand exactly what is and what is not covered. Second, our experience with and knowledge of construction and how storms cause obvious and unseen damage – instantly, and over the long term – can help us unearth every potential example of damage that should be covered under the settlement from your insurance company.

Because there are so many different perils associated with a hurricane, and so many different forms of damage, it can be difficult for policy holders to know where to begin when filing hurricane claims. Our goal is make sure that our clients’ claims related to Hurricane Sandy result in settlements that reflect what insurance companies are obligated to pay based on the language within the homeowner’s or business owner’s policy, rather than what insurance companies want to pay.

We at The Public Adjusters are dedicated to educating our clients and others about their rights when it comes to their insurance policies. To that end, we partnered with the mayor of Union Beach, N.J., one of the hardest hit areas for flood damage during Hurricane Sandy, to schedule a town hall meeting for about 7,000 people in January of 2013. There, we explained the importance of distinguishing between flood damage – not covered by the typical homeowners policy, but by the National Flood Insurance Program only – and damage caused by wind or another of the many perils associated with hurricanes. We also explained that the damage you can see is almost always only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to storms like Hurricane Sandy. As an example, we were quickly able to help one client whose 25,000-square-foot beachfront retail store in Long Beach, N.J., had experienced major flooding, but who was unaware of potential structural damage to the roof. Because there was no breach, or hole, in the roof, it essentially appeared undamaged. However, after putting one of our roofing experts to work with moisture detection equipment, and after taking core samples of the roof, it was determined that microfractures did, in fact, exist because of the low pressure and high winds associated with the storm. With this kind of scientific evidence in support of the business insurance claim, the client was able to receive a fair and fast settlement from the insurance company.

That is the kind of aid we strive to provide for all of our clients at The Public Adjusters. We have achieved a 100 percent success rate with every re-opened claim, so even if it turned out the original settlement was not enough to completely repair or rebuild, you might want to consider turning to us for an expert opinion. The Public Adjusters belong to the Windstorm Insurance Network, the Texas Association of Public Insurance Adjusters, and the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters. We are licensed and have operations in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi, California, and Michigan. Contact The Public Adjusters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and a licensed public adjuster will gladly help you with insurance claims related to Hurricane Sandy or any other major destructive wind event.

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