Q: Insurance Agency trying to backdate a coverage change without permission so they don’t have to pay a claim.
Filed a flood claim a week before Christmas. Our policy was written by the agent with an Elevated-with-Enclosure Foundation and confirmed our basement type carries $100,000 of contents coverage.
We met with the cat. adjuster who off the record told us the agent had our policy written with the wrong type of basement & we shouldn’t have contents coverage. The agency called a few days after after Christmas advising they needed to alter the foundation to correct the policy how would we like to pay for the change to retroactively adjust the policy to its inception in March 2022. I told them I absolutely did not agree to any retroactive changes while a claim is ongoing.
Today I received a notice from the agency that they changed our policy (without permission) and we need to pay the difference within 30 days or lose coverage. This change would make basement contents excluded.
Is this legal? A private adjuster we reached out to suggested we seek legal advice.
A: A Massachusetts attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for a week. The private adjustor gave you good advice. An attorney may want to review your matter in detail, in terms of the underwriting error and the confusion in coverage it created, and what your best and most cost-effective options are. Good luck
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