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Light Rain A year after Superstorm Sandy, still homeless in Bellmore
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Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip show that the Standard Fire Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Travelers, repeatedly denied the Weisses' claim. And, the couple said, company officials refuse to negotiate a settlement, leaving them with no insurance money to rebuild their home.
Calls to attorneys for Travelers and the Standard Fire Insurance Company had not been returned at press time.
A long, arduous road
David, an attorney with an office on Bedford Avenue in Bellmore and the chairman of the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals, grew up in Bellmore and graduated from Kennedy High School in 1968. He met Rona, who was raised in Hewlett, while the two were students at the University of Buffalo, where they graduated in 1972. They married in 1976, after David finished Hofstra Law School. Rona, who majored in political science, stayed home to raise their three children, who are now adults.
The Weisses are suing Travelers. Their case sits in U.S. District Court. An attorney who is a family friend is representing them, pro bono. The Weisses are paying the court fees. Standard Fire Insurance hired two law firms –– in New York City and Philadelphia –– to fight the Weisses.
David explained that insurance companies write flood insurance policies, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the National Flood Insurance Program. So, in effect, he said, “The government, instead of paying us to fix our home, is paying all these law firms” to deny their claim.
He added that it is up to Congress to eliminate the earth-movement clause. He noted that the insurance carriers would not fight claims like theirs if they were not instructed to do so by the federal government. “They wouldn’t be interpreting the laws this way if they weren’t told to interpret the laws this way,” he said.
After months of fruitless attempts to secure an insurance settlement, the Weisses reluctantly applied for a 30-year, low-interest Small Business Administration loan to begin rebuilding their home.
All they want, they said, is a home similar to their old one –– without “big debt.” That hope appeared out of reach until last week, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state’s Housing Recovery Program would “fully compensate” homeowners whose houses were damaged by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee or Superstorm Sandy –– and who were not paid by their insurance companies owing to the earth-movement exclusion.
Calls to attorneys for Travelers and the Standard Fire Insurance Company had not been returned at press time.
A long, arduous road
David, an attorney with an office on Bedford Avenue in Bellmore and the chairman of the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals, grew up in Bellmore and graduated from Kennedy High School in 1968. He met Rona, who was raised in Hewlett, while the two were students at the University of Buffalo, where they graduated in 1972. They married in 1976, after David finished Hofstra Law School. Rona, who majored in political science, stayed home to raise their three children, who are now adults.
The Weisses are suing Travelers. Their case sits in U.S. District Court. An attorney who is a family friend is representing them, pro bono. The Weisses are paying the court fees. Standard Fire Insurance hired two law firms –– in New York City and Philadelphia –– to fight the Weisses.
David explained that insurance companies write flood insurance policies, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency oversees the National Flood Insurance Program. So, in effect, he said, “The government, instead of paying us to fix our home, is paying all these law firms” to deny their claim.
He added that it is up to Congress to eliminate the earth-movement clause. He noted that the insurance carriers would not fight claims like theirs if they were not instructed to do so by the federal government. “They wouldn’t be interpreting the laws this way if they weren’t told to interpret the laws this way,” he said.
After months of fruitless attempts to secure an insurance settlement, the Weisses reluctantly applied for a 30-year, low-interest Small Business Administration loan to begin rebuilding their home.
All they want, they said, is a home similar to their old one –– without “big debt.” That hope appeared out of reach until last week, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state’s Housing Recovery Program would “fully compensate” homeowners whose houses were damaged by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee or Superstorm Sandy –– and who were not paid by their insurance companies owing to the earth-movement exclusion.
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