E-mails support Katrina cases against State Farm, lawyers say

[snopes]

Attorneys for homeowners suing State Farm Insurance after Hurricane Katrina have long accused the insurer of pressuring engineers to alter reports on storm-damaged homes so that policyholders' claims could be denied.

Now, some of these lawyers claim they have evidence to prove their allegation — internal e-mails from an engineering firm that helped State Farm adjust claims after the August 2005 hurricane destroyed thousands of homes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition...rina12.art.htm

[Kutter]

Um, that's how adjusting works.

A field adjuster sends in a claim report, which then reviewed by a supervising adjuster. This report is dozens of pages long and includes photos of every bit of damage being claimed. If the supervisor sees something in the photos that his training and experience tell him isn't covered, then he sends the report back to the adjuster for revision. Usually with a lot of arguing.

If an adjuster, or in this case a company hired for adjusting, is bouncing a lot of claims, you can pretty sure the insurance company is going to express its displeasure.

Now, it's possible that these engineers were hired to settle disputed claims, in which case they might not be subject to the same review process. The article, however, doesn't make this clear.