I received the below email from a Broad Channel neighbor which describes her family's experience with the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy as nothing less than horrendous.
I am requesting that any attorney who would be interested in assisting this family with their legal difficulties on a pro-bono basis as well as any media source interested in following up on the family's story to please contact me and I will place you in contact with them immediately.
Thanks.
Pete Mahon
(Home) 718-945-0805
(Cell) 347-355-3669
Email: w12thrdblockassociation@gmail.com
***************
Like a lot of people, we didn't take Sandy seriously even though we evacuated inland to my husband's sister's, because Irene was such a non-event in 2011. We left mostly because our 10 year old said she was scared: "How cute was she to pack a month's worth of her clothes!" we thought. As Sandy hit, we knew from neighbors who stayed that water got into our house because they said that the bottom of our first floor front window disappeared under the tidal surge, and all I could think was that we didn't have contents insurance for our furniture. Then it sunk in that our daughter was the smartest of us all.
After the storm, my husband, my stepson and nephew all went to our house to assess the damage. When they came back they suggested I not to go because I'd be heart-broken. They said the house looked as if it had been lifted off the foundation by the storm surge and dropped back slightly off when the water receded, yet the D.O.B. twice said our house was ok (I couldn't believe they were right the first time, so I insisted they inspect again). When I finally did make it to our house, I had to wear a mask because of the sewage and fuel oil fumes that slapped people in the face and gave me (and our first flood adjuster) headaches and nausea. We contacted FEMA, our insurance companies and filed with the Small Business Administration Disaster Relief Division as directed by all officials.
In November, on one of the first weekends when most people were substantially cleaning out their houses, we got a call from a contractor who was friends with my husband, saying he was on his way to us with a pump and generator, to help us clean up. We were so moved by this gesture, the history between my husband and Mr. G. (my husband got and still has a series of jobs lifeguarding and teaching swimming when Mr. G. was in charge of a local swim program), and that he had a reputation for being really good, that we agreed to hire him.
Allstate/flood immediately sent out a check for $2,000 so we could begin cleaning up/mold mitigation, a flood adjuster visited sometime after that in November and was very sympathetic to our plight. We hired two different engineers who noted substantial damage from Sandy (our first floor walls were pitched outward at 5 degree angles – a.k.a., blown out – the roof over our living room was flattening and spreading, the whole house was "racked and twisted"), and we submitted those reports to Allstate. Then in December, Allstate turned our claim over to yet another adjuster, who despite also being sympathetic, told us he was unable to look at structural issues with our house because Allstate was enlisting the services of a forensic engineering firm, from the mid-west it turned out, to determine what structural damage our house sustained from the storm would be covered. The forensic engineers looked at our house in January and the result was that we have been denied for any and all structural damage because they said it was either pre-existing or due to wind. Despite Allstate telling us that they were responsible for everything below the flood line and also accepting our premiums without limitations as to what was covered and never required we fix anything to address structural problems that they say were undermining our house all along. We had to hire a public adjuster who got Allstate to send another engineer to our house again in June, but they said the same thing as the first guys.
We got a total of $76,000 ($69k from flood and $7k from homeowners/wind) with a list from Allstate as to what to fix in the house and with $14k still being held by the bank until we are 90% done – the bank inspector (one of whom said that what is being done to us and the many other Sandy victims is "criminal.") could only say that we were 5% done. He also said this is why he will forever rent.
Our contractor, Mr. G., gutted the first floor walls, floors and ceilings, and second floor walls and ceilings to the studs and rafters, as well as shored up both floors to keep the house from collapse, all of which was needed. For this, to pack up the remaining contents of our house, consult with us about possible design options for rebuilding over a few dinners, as well as to learn about the intricacies of flood-zone construction by attending civic and town hall meetings with us from December until April, he charged us the tidy sum of $51,300 for what should have cost us, generously, around $10,000 or $11,000 tops.
Now, you may ask, how could we have paid him so much with so little return? Well, not only were we hit with Sandy which displaced us, but from mid-September to early October of 2012 my husband had been in and out of NYU's emergency room and finally at the end of September admitted to treat an e. coli infection that was antibiotic resistant requiring intravenous medication. In between the three visits in as many weekends in September to NYU's e.r., my husband had an angiogram and biopsy, the latter verified it was indeed a cancerous lesion on his liver.
Two weeks after his October 3rd discharge from his 6 day hospital stay for e.coli, he under-went radio frequency ablation to remove the tumor from his liver.
In November, my husband began chemo-therapy as follow-up treatment for liver cancer. In January my big, strong man had a procedure to address his enlarged prostate, and in February I had abdominal surgery.
Please note that until the first of December we were with my sister-in-law, and then four of us (my husband, 20 year old stepson, our 10 year old daughter and me), began renting a one bedroom apartment about 15 miles from our home until mid-August, in case you were wondering where we were staying during all of these medical issues since our house remains uninhabitable.
From August 15th until now we have been living with some of the most wonderful neighbors ever, who are five doors down from our home because we couldn't sustain paying a rent and mortgage on a house we can't live in, and we obviously need to keep a closer eye on what goes on with our house as we try to rebuild. Oh yeah, and we trusted Mr. G., that was a big one.
FEMA assistance was a fleeting mirage. We were initially given rental assistance for four months and about $7,100 for our uninsured first floor belongings. However, once we qualified for an SBA loan, our first payment from SBA required we pay back the "grant" for our contents from part of our loan, that we will have the privilege of paying interest on for the next 30 years, or no other disbursements would have been made. But whatever payments made to us from our insurance companies for specific things were factored into our loan, reducing the total we got so as not to double-dip. Why not treat the FEMA money the same way as insurance payments rather than the government make money off disaster victims? Good question. See: government shutdown and sequestration for clarification.
We are mandated by our mortgager to maintain flood insurance, yet the bank does nothing to assist us in dealing with insurance reimbursement for a property in which they have a substantial investment – the temptation to just walk away is hard to resist, but that's not who we are.
Then Allstate denies our claim for damage that was clearly caused by more than 20 hours of flood water inundating our house. This arrangement sounds like taxation without representation, or legalized extortion…or something yet undefinable. We were initially assisted by the government via FEMA with rental assistance and grant money toward the uninsured contents of our house, but later we were required to pay this "grant" back with funds provided by a Small Business Administration Disaster Relief loan. Then there's the Department of Buildings…no love there either.
So where's the help for Sandy victims?
We had insurance to protect us, yet it was so woefully inadequate once we really needed it that we now find ourselves draining retirement monies and far deeper in debt then when our biggest problem was that our house was "up-side-down" with our first mortgage because of the bursting of the housing bubble.
In addition, we had to hire a public adjuster to fight the insurance companies for what our premiums paid for, yet public opinion seems to suggest people think Sandy victims are looking for hand-outs.
Let's not even talk about our rogue "contractor" who it turns out has only a vendors license (he showed my husband that license number when we hired him) and nothing for home improvement or general contracting and that we now have to chase him for a refund we may never see – yes, we've filed claims with the State Attorney General and the Department of Consumer Affairs, contacted all local politicians and spoke with private attorneys from both pre-paid legal plans we subscribe to, but so far no help. Isn't the attorney general a prosecutor?
Aren't they outraged by people taking advantage of disaster victims? I guess, but they say they can only contact Mr. G. and hope he complies and provides us a refund. Are these officials paid only to get re-elected or to do things to maintain their own jobs?
Then there's Biggert-Waters which threatens all coastal and river communities, and our very economy with looming exorbitant flood insurance rates: that's a whole other kettle of fish. We got an SBA loan and will now likely not qualify for any of the state block grants because we took the loan and our income is also probably too high. So my husband began withdrawing money from one of his teacher retirement accounts to make up for what we were robbed of and not only does he have hepatitis c, but last week we found out that he has another tumor on his liver and that he now needs a transplant because of cirrhosis.
I can only pray to God that we will be experiencing the latter part of the Book of Job where we'll see considerably more favor from the heavens and that by the time a donor liver is found, that we are back in the comfort of our own home and no longer imposing and relying on the kindness of neighbors.
I can document everything I have said above.
[Name Witheld]
Broad Channel
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