Roofs, Insurance, and Shakedowns

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/roofing-scams-florida-property-insurance-hurricane-rcna29649

This article exposes the inherent immorality of the American tort system. When individual Right-wing people go after institutions by means of shake-down lawyers, then it's just fine. It's the American way. In fact there are large numbers of so-called Christian lawyers engaged in this very practice. But when insurance companies are being taken advantage of by means of a coordinated effort, then it's a problem that even GOP governors want to address.

And let's not mince words. These shakedowns whether big or small are a form of extortion. But here's the funny thing. This is precisely what the insurance industry does on a daily basis. If your house burns down, your insurance company sends out an investigator and they pour over everything. If they can find an electrical or building code violation – even if it had nothing to do with the fire, they'll go after that contractor. Practically this means that they go after the contractor's insurance company. It's a shakedown.

The targeted insurance company has a meeting with their in-house lawyers and they discuss the costs to litigate. $100,000? Offer them $50,000 and they'll go away and in the grand scheme of things – some money is saved. After negotiations, the threatening company that's looking for money to pay for the fire benefit will take $35,000 and walk away. And for what? Nothing. Nothing was proved, no justice was done. It's a shakedown. It's extortion but this is how the industry works.

If you get an 'accident lawyer' or ambulance chaser after you wreck your car or a family member is injured or killed, they'll go after car manufacturers, townships and municipalities, the Department of Transportation, the insurance companies of other drivers – anyone that may have even the most tenuous connection, or even none at all. I know of 'Christian' lawyers who have done this and garnered well over a million dollars in settlement money because someone's child was killed a car accident. Was it anyone's fault? No, if anything it was the driver of the car in which the person was killed. But it doesn't matter, as these companies and entities will settle rather than bear the full costs of litigation – and risk a judgment. This is why when someone dies in a car wreck the heirs receive lawyer packets by express mail the very next day. They scan death notices and directories and send out the packets to survivors.

Right-wing folks are upset by this practice when it's some Black welfare mom suing a store or restaurant but in other cases they like the system just fine. Indeed Greg Abbott the governor of Texas has made use of it and by all accounts he's still seeking money for the accident that put him in a wheelchair. So much for humble submission to Providence.

And so in this case we have lawyers in Florida who are gaming the already crooked system. For Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, it's okay if the thieving insurance industry engages in extortion, but the insurance industry doesn't like it when they're being gamed by aggressive and rather clever lawyers. It's called a 'scam' and yet that's a stretch. In some cases it is to be sure, but in other instances, the homeowner was within their legal rights to sign away their standing in the suit. How many insured people realize what rights they sign away to the insurance company in order to secure the policy? What if I don't want to sue (or more likely threaten to sue) someone because my car was totaled? I don't have a choice because in order to get the auto policy I effectively signed away my standing to the insurer. They're going to pursue the money (by means of their dirty tactics) and I'm compelled to cooperate. I find this very offensive but it's completely legal but oh, how they howl when some lawyers figure out how to get homeowners to do the same!

The whole thing reeks. It's not just the roof-scammers. All they're doing is emulating the 'big boys'. The entire American insurance industry and judicial system is little more than a big scam. You can take the 'if you can't beat them, then join them' attitude or you can step back and retain some moral standing and call out these folks on all sides. It's your choice.

But it's ironic that the Right wants regulation? Why? What happened to caveat emptor and the forces of the market?

The Big Money forces are calling the shots and since they're being beat at their own game, suddenly the Free Market and its rules aren't enough. It's rank hypocrisy on their part and certainly on the part of their political cronies who are quick to do their bidding.

Sadly, there are many Christians tangled up in this world – not just as lawyers, but in government, and certainly in the insurance industry – which is at times a necessary evil, and one that we cannot escape. But it's a filthy industry. It's one thing to deal with the agents of Caesar's system but it's another thing to become one of those agents and to cash in on the woes and manipulation of other people.

I've told the story before but my late grandfather often spoke of his foray into the industry. A mail carrier for decades, he had a friend (I'm sorry to say I think it was from church) who convinced him to become an insurance agent and salesman. My grandfather gave up after a matter of weeks. He couldn't do it. His conscience wouldn't allow it and he went back to being a mailman. My grandfather was a pretty simple guy in terms of ideas and ethics. I think it's a testimony to his conscience and the role of the Holy Spirit that he walked away from that industry. He couldn't do that to people, manipulate them like that, shade the truth, whitewash things, play word games and engage in forms of legal sorcery in order to deny claims and the like. It was a big scam and he knew it.

It's only that much worse today and so this story just makes me laugh. I'm afraid it's not in me to shed tears for the insurance industry. They're slime only exceeded by the lawyers who work for them and go after them.

Are the claims fraudulent? Maybe. Are they padded? Probably, but when insurance companies are engaged in their shakedowns they pad and inflate prices too. That's how the game is played. It's a bargaining tactic.

In fact in the case of a death, if the person killed was White and good looking they'll include a nice enlarged photo in the 'shakedown' packet. Why? So that the opposing lawyers can see and envision this photo (poster size) on an easel in front of a jury. In other words it ups the ante. Let's be blunt, White good looking people are worth more money and so those under threat are more likely to settle. It's an ugly world but this is how it works. Nice, isn't it? Would you want your children to work in this industry? Oh, and in this instance I can point to a specific case I know of (involving people we know well) in which the 'Christian' lawyer specifically wanted a picture of the dead relative – in this case a young woman barely out of her teens.  They got well over a million dollars – the lawyer took forty percent of course. He probably had about forty hours of work involved. It was a shameful and disgusting episode. I never had any respect for the lawyer to begin with but as for the people we know – I lost a lot of respect for them.