Texas Insurance Commissioner Stacks Mold Task Force

[Guest guest]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Janet Ahmad, National President 210-494-6404

HOMEOWNERS FOR BETTER BUILDING

Email: president@... -

Website: www.hobb.org <http://www.hobb.org>

Commissioner Stacks Deck with Special Interests ³No Consumer Participation²

San , Texas, January 16, 2002 - Insurance commissioner

Montemayor appointed a Task Force of insurance industry representatives,

bankers, builders, contractors and adjusters to assist in developing ³best

practices² for handling and processing claims for water and mold damage. As

a token jester he appointed Consumers Union and Texas Watch, two well-known

consumer organizations that deal with a broad spectrum of consumer issues

but failed to appoint anyone from the hundreds of consumers who volunteered

to give of their time. ³It is ludicrous to appoint a task force to deal

with this states biggest, most important consumer issue without actual

consumer participation. What is needed are consumers that have actually

dealt with the problems, gone through the horrors of mold contamination,

disruption of family life for year and have seen first hand the pitfalls of

dealing with health issues and insurance claims,² said Janet Ahmad,

president of HomeOwners for Better Building.

³The biggest question is, why the appointment of Citizens Against Lawsuit

Abuse with ties to special interests, whose sole purpose is to limit

consumer redress and access to the courts. What have they done for the

consumer? What useful purpose could be served by their participation,

unless Montemayor¹s intentions are not in the best interest of the consumer

but for the protection of the insurance industry from responsibility and

liability,² asks Ahmad.

Montemayor recently initiates an investigation because ³his office has

received numerous complaints from homeowners throughout Texas on the

Œexorbitant rate hikes¹ on policies sold by Farmers Insurance Group and

Allstate Insurance Co.,² simultaneously Montemayor appointed both to the new

Task Force. ³There are hundreds of insurance companies in the state, why

would he appoint Farmers Insurance, whose track record speaks for itself ­

Farmers is the very company who started the national media frenzy last year

when they lost a $32 million dollar lawsuit for bad faith and fraud in the

handling of a mold claim?²

³The system is broken and the causes of this ³Mold and Health Crisis² are

not being addressed. Unfortunately, it is obvious Montemayor¹s recent

decisions are not in the best interest of the consumer. The commissioner

should immediately appoint consumers with real life experience,² said Ahmad.

[Guest guest]

I sent a rather scathing letter to Mr. Monetemayor yesterday, if anyone is interested in the letter or his pathetic response, please email me and I will send them to you.

----- Original Message -----

From: R. Cobarruvias

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 12:51 AM

Subject: [] Texas Insurance Commissioner Stacks Mold Task Force

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Janet Ahmad, National President 210-494-6404HOMEOWNERS FOR BETTER BUILDINGEmail: president@... -Website: www.hobb.org <http://www.hobb.org> Commissioner Stacks Deck with Special Interests ³No Consumer Participation²San , Texas, January 16, 2002 - Insurance commissioner Montemayor appointed a Task Force of insurance industry representatives,bankers, builders, contractors and adjusters to assist in developing ³bestpractices² for handling and processing claims for water and mold damage. Asa token jester he appointed Consumers Union and Texas Watch, two well-knownconsumer organizations that deal with a broad spectrum of consumer issuesbut failed to appoint anyone from the hundreds of consumers who volunteeredto give of their time. ³It is ludicrous to appoint a task force to dealwith this states biggest, most important consumer issue without actualconsumer participation. What is needed are consumers that have actuallydealt with the problems, gone through the horrors of mold contamination,disruption of family life for year and have seen first hand the pitfalls ofdealing with health issues and insurance claims,² said Janet Ahmad,president of HomeOwners for Better Building.³The biggest question is, why the appointment of Citizens Against LawsuitAbuse with ties to special interests, whose sole purpose is to limitconsumer redress and access to the courts. What have they done for theconsumer? What useful purpose could be served by their participation,unless Montemayor¹s intentions are not in the best interest of the consumerbut for the protection of the insurance industry from responsibility andliability,² asks Ahmad.Montemayor recently initiates an investigation because ³his office hasreceived numerous complaints from homeowners throughout Texas on theŒexorbitant rate hikes¹ on policies sold by Farmers Insurance Group andAllstate Insurance Co.,² simultaneously Montemayor appointed both to the newTask Force. ³There are hundreds of insurance companies in the state, whywould he appoint Farmers Insurance, whose track record speaks for itself ­Farmers is the very company who started the national media frenzy last yearwhen they lost a $32 million dollar lawsuit for bad faith and fraud in thehandling of a mold claim?²³The system is broken and the causes of this ³Mold and Health Crisis² arenot being addressed. Unfortunately, it is obvious Montemayor¹s recentdecisions are not in the best interest of the consumer. The commissionershould immediately appoint consumers with real life experience,² said Ahmad.FAIR USE NOTICE:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.