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You’ve suffered significant property damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy and you want
to know are you going to have to pay the hurricane deductible on your homeowner’s property
insurance? Would you like to learn the answer? Come join me as I share with you this important
answer. Hi. I’m Gerry Oginski. I’m a personal injury trial attorney here in the state of
New York. And it is now 11 days after Hurricane Sandy. Just yesterday we were wholloped with
another big Northeaster that dumped 6 inches of snow to make things even worse. But to
answer the question as to whether or not you have to now pay a hurricane deductible to
repair your property damage, the answer is – as of today, November 18, 2012 – is
no. And why is that? See years ago, the insurance companies got smart after suffering massive
losses after natural disasters. They decided that they were going to increase – massively
– the amount of money a homeowner would have to pay first as a result of hurricane
damage before they started to kick in and pay for the damage. The governor has now required
that all insurance companies doing business in the state of New York have to waive that
provision that requires a homeowner to pay the hurricane deductible. Now the hurricane
deductible in many insurance companies was a percentage of the assessed value of your
home. That could be anywhere from 1% to 5%. And no matter what value your home was it
was going to be sizeable, especially when you have significant damage. So thankfully
the governor has gone ahead and made efforts to mandate and require that all the insurance
companies have to waive that provision and only require you to pay your normal deductible
for any other claim. That’s a remarkable thing and I want to thank Governor Cuomo for
doing the right thing for New Yorkers who sustained massive damage. So why do I share
this information with you? You might not have known about that particular provision and
if your insurance company turns around and tells you “Hey listen, we have to charge
you that hurricane deductible of a percentage of your assessed value,” you should turn
around and tell them I’m sorry, that’s not true and in fact the governor has required
that you waive that. And if you have problems, there is a hotline that the governor has set
up so that you can address these disputes with the state insurance department and your
insurance company. So I hope you’re staying warm, I hope you’re safe. And if you have
any legal questions, what I encourage you to do is pick up the phone and call me. Although
I don’t have power at home for now 11 days, my office is fully functional where our phones
are working. So if you have legal questions pick up the phone and call at 516-487-8207
or by email at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I’m Gerry Oginski, here in New York. Stay safe and stay
warm.