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Welcome and thank you for joining me. I’m Gerry Oginski, a New York medical malpractice
and personal injury trial lawyer practicing law here in the state of New York. Today’s
video tip explains a case I handled recently involving property damage as a result of a
fire. Here’s what happened. I got a call one day from a gentleman who told me he lived
in a condo with his wife and they lived on the 9th floor of an apartment building in
Queens. One day there was a fire in his building. There was a massive fire that was widely reported
in the news and as a result, his entire apartment was damaged – not by the fire, but by the
water damage by the fire department that they used to put out the fire. So why did he need
my help? He needed my help because the condo association and the building owner’s insurance
company were refusing to pay for his replacement costs in his apartment. They refused to pay
even the most basic things. They were only willing to replace the walls and the floors
and some basic replacement cabinets, and that was it. My clients were displaced from their
home and they had no place else to go. So they’re living in hotels, they’re living
out of nothing more than the clothes they had on their back when they left that morning
for work. They’re eating in restaurants 3 times a day. Because my client’s didn’t
have homeowner’s insurance, they now had to seek reimbursement of their expenses from
the condo association, the owner of the building, and the people who caused the fire. And who
was it? There was a roofing company on top of the roof, they were literally putting on
a new roof, and the tar that was in this tar kettle had overflowed causing a fire on top
of the roof. So this gentleman came to me and said “Help, nobody is giving me what
I am supposed to get back. I didn’t cause this fire; I had nothing to do with it. The
responsible parties are not helping out.” So we had to bring a lawsuit against the people
who started the fire – the roofing company, the condo association, and the owners of the
building. You may know people who have had fires in their homes and everything has been
destroyed. And now the insurance company comes to you and says “Hey, show me proof that
you had that TV. Show me proof that you had a $3000 couch. Show me proof that you had
this expensive item.” Most of the time, you can’t because everything has been destroyed.
So how do you actually show? Well, you do your best by trying to re-create everything
that you had which is really hard – which is one of the reasons why I strongly urge
people to create a video about the contents of their home. Take that video and put it
somewhere else besides their home because this way it clearly documents what you had,
when you had it, and nobody can dispute that. So why do I tell you this? I mention this
because if you find yourself to be in a situation where you have suffered significant property
damage, where the contents of your home or your apartment have been totally destroyed
and devastated, and your insurance company is not compensating you properly then I strongly
urge you to pick up the phone and call me because I can answer your legal questions.
I can help you sort through what you need to know in order to help guide you through
the process of documenting your claim. And if you’re not getting satisfaction of what
the insurance company is providing to you, then we can proceed forward if needed. If
you have legal questions, pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by email at
lawmed10@yahoo.com. I welcome your call and I want to thank you for joining me. I’m
Gerry Oginski, have a great day!