"The statute of limitations on filing a lawsuit for unreimbursed insuranceclaims is five years from the date of the disaster," said Garfinkel. "Manyhomeowners and associations still may have legitimate claims to make fromWilma, but may be afraid to do so fearing their premiums will spike orthey'll be dropped altogether. These fears are unfounded because state lawand administrative regulations forbid an insurance company from notrenewing or cancelling policies when the insurance claim results from anact of God, and from selectively raising rates."

On October 24, 2005, Hurricane Wilma slammed into Florida's Southwest coastand tore a path through Florida exiting between Ft. Pierce and Ft.Lauderdale, causing billions of dollars in damage. According to Garfinkel,some insurance companies routinely denied claims or purposely valued lossesless than the hurricane deductible.

"Some insurance companies went out of their way to delay and denylegitimate claims, forcing homeowners and associations to go to court toenforce their rights," said Garfinkel. "Meanwhile, three years after thestorm, roofs still have holes, ceilings have leaks and many hard workingpeople have been pinched paying for temporary repairs out of their ownpocket. With the economy the way it is, they could use that money now."

Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum was co-counsel with the law firm of GreenbergTraurig in the Vantage View vs. QBE Insurance Corporation case, whichrecently resulted in a $1.5 million dollar jury verdict to the associationfor hurricane-related damages.

Attorney Dan Rosenbaum, a senior partner in the law firm, won an $8.1million Federal Court Jury Verdict against QBE last year. The firm facesQBE again in another Federal Court trial in the next few weeks.

Garfinkel said despite the challenges some property owners have hadcollecting money from their insurance companies, that should not stopanyone who thinks the insurance company did not fully pay or refused to paytheir claim. This is true even for those owners and associations who havepreviously received insurance proceeds (and cashed their checks) so long asthey did not sign a separate release.

"They have nothing to lose," said Garfinkel. "We will come out withconstruction experts and do an assessment. If we think Hurricane Wilma orany other storm was responsible for property damage and they were notfairly compensated by their insurance company, we'll file a claim at nocost to the property owner or association."

Attorney Alan Garfinkel has devoted his practice for the last 19 years todisaster law civil litigation. He has written and lectured frequently onthe topic. For more information call 800-393-1529 or visitwww.askthefirm.com.

About Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum:

Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum is a law firm that focuses on communityassociationand natural disaster law. With offices in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando,Naples, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach, the firm offers residentsliving in all types of common interest ownership communities with acomplete set of services including general corporate representation,collection, first party insurance claim recovery and construction defectlitigation. It was one of the first firms to advance all fees and costs onbehalf of communities that are forced to pursue collection of delinquentassessments. For more information log on to www.askthefirm.com.

Contacts:Todd Templin or Michelle Friedman954-370-8999cell: 954-290-0810Email Contact / Email Contact