Cabo Rojo’s mayor, Roberto Ramírez Kurtz, said that he had not seen the claims before the public adjuster, Scott M. Favre, submitted them, and that was disturbed to learn the city’s claim was so high. “I was bothered by that, and canceled the contract with the public adjuster,” Mr.
The adjusters’ claims are often accompanied by matching estimates prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said. Mr.Favre, the public adjuster accused in MAPFRE’s lawsuit of inflating claims, said the insurance companies that have contested his claims cannot explain why so many experts agree with his damage estimates. “When the estimate is greater than theirs, the insurance company calls that fraud,” Mr.Puerto Rico has recently adopted some measures to help consumers through the claims process, including mandatory arbitration to settle disputes. ... Because Aguadilla’s sirens are still broken, Carlos Méndez Martínez, its recently retired mayor, gave whistles to municipal workers to alert residents of a tsunami.Credit...Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times · “I think that I have to recognize it could have been a better response, and for that we have new regulations,” Mr.In the interview, Mr. Rivera said that, on average, customers received about 60 percent of the amounts they submitted on their claims, and that the majority were settled within 10 months. Some who got nothing from their insurance had to settle for payouts from a government catastrophe fund, while others are waiting for assets of the failed insurance companies to be distributed.
