I already have legal representation, so I’m not asking for legal advice.
I’m mainly looking for constructive (non-legal) advice, such as "watch out for _____ ", "make sure you/they don’t ______ ", “this is what happened to me, and this is whatI would do it differently next time” and “this is how it works” because I have absolutely no experience in these types of matters.
I already managed to screw myself out of a few hundred when the insurance company sent a “fabric renewal” company over to presumably see if some of my clothing could be salvaged. I was told that I wouldn’t be charged for cleaning of garments that couldn’t be salvaged, but the minimum charge that no one bothered to tell me about came to three times the cost of cleaning what could be salvaged, and the cost came out of the property portion of my policy. I’m looking for ways to not do this to myself again, mostly because I can’t afford it.
Long story short:
I was renting a house. I had a very small tenants policy for contents and liability. Foolishly, my policy was only for a fraction of what my belongings were worth. My next door neighbors house caught on fire (electrical overload and they had an illegal apartment in the basement) and the fire spread to my (rented) house. It was a total loss. My insurance company paid the full value of my tenants policy, less 10% to the public adjustor that I hired for the inventory.
My lawyer is now going after the liability policy of the owners of the house where the fire started. In between the 33 1/3% that my lawyer will get and the 10% that the public adjustor will get, I will be left with approximately 56% of what is collected, less costs. I understand that I won’t be getting replacement cost from their insurance company, and that they will presumably try to devalue everything that was inventoried.
I have been told that certain things will not be considered/covered, and I am truly puzzled as to why. The first is that my cat was trapped in the house. I was at work when the fire started. Besides the trauma my cat went through, I had to stand there for hours on the sidewalk, hoping and praying that my cat died quickly rather than being roasted alive. I can’t even begin to put into words what that experience did to me.
Amazingly enough, I found my cat (a little worse for the wear) in the rubble almost seven hours after the fire started. Although I am extremely grateful that my cat is ok, it doesn’t take away from what I/we experienced. I know my lawyer can’t sue on behalf of my cat, but I was diagnosed with acute stress disorder a few weeks after the fire. I kept having flashbacks, nightmares, and had trouble leaving my new place because I was afraid the same thing was going to happen. I have it under control now with meds, but it was very traumatic. I also had to go to the ER about a week after the fire because I was on the verge of collapse. I was completely exhausted from no sleep and I couldn’t stop vomiting. I really don’t understand why pain & suffering and medical expenses aren’t part of a suit of this type.
I also don’t understand why certain things are considered to have no value. For instance, my family history project. I literally spent years of my life doing research, paying for copies of birth and death records, research trips, etc. I understand the concept of personal papers having no value (i.e. my journal), but this stuff wasn’t free. The time and labor I put into this was extensive, and much of it had a price tag. Can someone explain why records I paid for and my project have no value?
I also have lost wages, etc. and there seems to be no way of recouping a lot of these costs and expenses as they are not covered under the temporary living expense portion of my policy.
Any tips and advice would be helpful. Thanks.