Proposal for Action

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CC9966" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04600640dkesoe.jpg"> <bR> <div> <B>Hurricane Wilma</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#006633" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FF3300" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div>                      <B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=250 BGCOLOR="#CC9966" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="77ebffe0.jpg" border=0 width="191" height="254" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>"Foot Traffic" </B></div> <div> <B>210 lb. "Jump"</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="780cb980.jpg" border=0 width="203" height="152" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>"The Landing"</B></div> <div> <B>Wow, Look at the Broken </B><B>Tiles from "Foot Traffic".</B></div> <div> <B>Note the landing is more than 3 inches from the bottom edge of the tiles.</B></div> <div> <B>Have more than 100 similar pictures.  Believe what you observe or what you hear/read?</B></div> <div> <B>Bruce E. Holmes, PE</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  I have been very involved over the past two years in conducting forensic engineering investigations for public adjusters, attorneys and individual policyholders that have had and are still having problems with their roofs from the effects of Hurricane Wilma, particularly in Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade counties. I have conducted over 800 such investigations in the past year and half. In this work, I have also reviewed dozens of "engineering reports" prepared by licensed Florida Professional Engineers on behalf of their insurance company clients. As a result, I have written over 100 effective rebuttals of their work which generally can't stand up under scrutiny.</div> <bR> <div> In many cases, a homeowner gets one of these reports and not being a skilled professional reads the report and gives up on proceeding with a claim. Probably for the 800 such clients I have worked for there are thousands more homeowners that read the "engineer's report" prepared on behalf of their insurance company and just gave up. I probably am just working the tip of the iceberg.</div> <bR> <div> In particular, the engineers and the different casualty companies all come up with the same reasons for why damage observed is not a result of hurricane actions and all use the "same" reasons. It would seem that they all got together and decided to tell the "same" story.</div> <bR> <div> As you may recall, in 2005 Hurricane Katrina first crossed the Florida peninsula before making landfall in the Gulf Coast region. In October, 2005, Hurricane Wilma made a path from just south  southeast of Naples traveling northeast and exiting the state just north of West Palm Beach. It was a large storm and during its transit produced many strong wind gusts that reached from 100-110 MPH that lasted for a brief period.</div> <bR> <div> As a result of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, most Florida based adjusters were dispatched there. After Hurricane Wilma produced widespread damage to southeast Florida, adjusters were brought here from many different locations throughout the US. In many cases, these adjusters had very little knowledge of the construction of tile roofs that were mortar adhered or mechanically fastened with nails or screws. Also, I know, based on discussions with homeowners, many insurance adjusters did not even look at the roofs and offered small sums for "repairs" or told them the problem was "wear and tear" and not covered by their policy.</div> <bR> <div> There are literally hundreds of thousands of tile roofs that were either mechanically fastened with nails or screws and adhered to the roof with mortar patties that were affected by this storm.</div> <bR> <div> The result for mechanically fastened tile roofs is that the lifting action of the wind gusts move the nails creating leak points into the roof or the  mortar patties are un-bonded in a particular pattern that occurs on the roof. This empirical evidence is supported by research conducted by the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University.</div> <bR> <div> Un-bonded mortar roofs will be flying missiles in the next storm. Due to the slow nature of the leaks from mechanically fastened roof, evidence of the failure will ultimately show up in the house's interior first as stains on the ceiling. This latter effect is a slow process and droughts in 2006 and 2007 have delayed the occurrence of these symptoms.</div> <bR> <div> However, insured clients only have till October, 2010 to make a claim as the statutory limit of 5 years after the storm comes into play.</div> <bR> <div> I can assure you there are going to be many hundreds of thousands of policy holders that are going to be left holding the bag as a result of what appears to be collusion on the part of the insurance industry and the apparently complicit licensed Professional Engineers that work for them.</div> <bR> <div> I have encouraged many clients to file complaints with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers regarding these "engineering reports". Contact me if you have gotten one that made you "give up" pursuing your claim from your insurance company.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>