Dealing with FEMA – Is it the Evil Management Agency?
Her story took place in California, but FEMA has jurisdiction anywhere a disaster occurs.
In 1998, my mother, who was having trouble walking and had recently started living alone and required my help in order to hang onto the house she owned for more than 20 years. I was in Los Angeles during the el nino storms, working in Concept Development for a syndicated television show. A contractor, George, and his staff were working on my mother’s house. I got the call where the development team was staying, in Studio City.
“Your mother’s kitchen is about to fall in. The powder room fell in yesterday.”
“Uh…huh?” Fell in? The powder room had been completely renovated and redecorated. And the kitchen was in the middle of remodeling. “How?”
“The last storm blew part of the roof up, and the water poured underneath. You’d better get back here and file an insurance claim.”
Farmer’s insured my mother’s house. The first adjuster, Christine Randle, came and inspected the damage on February 19th, eight days after the kitchen ceiling fell in. She removed the plastic cover George had placed over the roof, with the result that during the next rain water poured into the kitchen and bathroom. George estimated the damage at $4,000, for half of the roof, and damage to four rooms.
I applied for disaster relief through FEMA. The papers came quickly but couldn’t be returned until the insurance claim was settled — the deadline was April 11th. A week after her visit, we received the estimate Randle had drawn up. She allowed $1,687.63 for $4,000 damage. After the $1,000 deductible that left $687.63.
Brenda, our representative at Cliff King’s insurance, telephoned the emergency catastrophe center at Farmer’s in Kansas and asked for another adjuster. I began a series of conversations with a man named Alan Brown, at the Catastrophe Center. It took until April 1st to get Lee Bishop, Randle’s supervisor, out for another inspection. This time George was in attendance as well.
During the period there was a large quantity of exposed insulation in the kitchen. While I was gone day my mother had a severe asthma attack and plunged face forward into her glass kitchen table, resulting in a trip to the emergency room and severe bruising and trauma to her face. Every time she tried to go into the kitchen she had another attack, triggered by the asbestos insulation, until she realized what was happening and stopped using the kitchen. We believe these attacks led to the onset of Parkinson’s Disease, which killed my mother in April of 2000.
After Bishop inspected the house, it took over a week to get his report, which allowed $2,522.98. After the deductible that left $1,522.98, which my mother had to accept or forfeit her chance at FEMA benefits. The first representative I talked to at FEMA indicated that since she was elderly and disabled, they would cover her deductible.
The money received from Farmer’s covered only the repair of the roof and a new gutter down one side of the house. In order to fend off more problems, I paid to have an entire new roof done. There was still an enormous, gaping hole in what wasn’t a small kitchen.
I contacted Brenda, who couldn’t seem to understand what was happening, since the policy stated full coverage for all losses. Brown insisted the damage could have been repaired with the money allowed, though in subsequent storms the plastic covering the roof had been blown off three times.
A representative from FEMA called King’s office regarding the small settlement. Brown then offered my mother money to relocate to a care facility until the remainder of the damage could be repaired…although they refused to pay for it.
FEMA sent an inspector, and she also submitted a report. My mother was now approved for disaster money from FEMA but she wasn’t told how much. At the end of April she received a letter regarding the continued harassment of Farmer’s Insurance regarding the remaining damage. Daryn Henry, the branch claims supervisor, suggested that if she wasn’t happy with their settlement her policy allowed for independent appraisal. She had to pay for her own appraiser, and then he/she and the company appraiser would choose a neutral umpire, who would decide the amount of the settlement. She would pay half the umpire’s fee as well.
The process could take as long as six months, during which time my mother couldn’t go into her kitchen. But…they would pay for her to stay in a nursing home during that time, for no more than 12 months.
On May 14th, a letter arrived from FEMA, saying they were denying her claim because they also though the damage could have been repaired for the amount the insurance allowed. What had happened to covering her deductible?
I arranged to file a grievance with the state against Farmer’s, and wrote a letter protesting FEMA’s decision. The representative from the state told me there had been many such problems and complaints during the el nino season. On May 25, 1998, I filed a grievance with Chuck Quackenbush, the California Insurance Commissioner.
On May 27th, a letter arrived from FEMA stating they were re-evaluating my mother’s case. On June 9th a form letter arrived from FEMA stating they were denying her claim because insurance had covered her loss. The next day a check arrived from Farmer’s for an additional $1,500.
There was no mention from FEMA about their offer to cover her deductible, a service supposedly available to the elderly and disabled. At the end of June, I received a letter from Carl Dickinson, the housing officer. It stated that FEMA regulations state once appeals have been considered and ruled upon, such decisions are final and binding. No explanation as to why they denied my mother after offering her the service; apparently her age, illness and the way the exposed insulation affected her didn’t matter, as far as the government was concerned.
I moved my business to Northern California permanently and my mother never used her kitchen again.
