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Whose Side Is This Attorney On In Home Inspection Claim?

About once a week, a home inspector who has heard me speak or is otherwise familiar with my work on behalf of home inspectors will contact me to discuss a claim that is already in suit. These contacts are always engendered by the inspector’s utter disgust with the way in which the lawyer engaged by the inspector’s insurance company to represent his interests in the litigation is executing that assignment.

Last week an inspector who had been at the seminar that I conducted for the West Virginia Association of Home Inspectors in February of this year called me about a case that he has been involved in for over two years. The attorney who is representing him has been running up “enormous bills”, currently over $150,000, while taking no action whatsoever to terminate the case.

The inspector’s deductible has long since been exhausted and he has since switched his insurance coverage to Lockton Affinity to avoid any future repeat of this sort of nightmare. Thus, he really has no further financial stake in the outcome of the litigation, assuming, of course, that attorneys fees do not eventually exceed his insurance policy limits. That fact notwithstanding, he is morally outraged at the way that this attorney is exploiting the file financially and wanted to know what he could do about it.
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If You Have ClaimIntercept™, Do You Still Need E & O Insurance?

A home inspector recently asked me a question that I suspect has crossed the minds of a lot of home inspectors who regularly visit this website. “If I have ClaimIntercept™,” he asked, “do I still need to have E and O Insurance for Home Inspectors?”

He has been an inspector for several years and has conducted a couple of thousand inspections. When he started out as an inspector, he owned a home inspection franchise and the franchise agreement required him to carry professional liability insurance. When he parted company with the franchisor a few years ago, he dropped the E and O insurance because he felt that it only protected the client, not the inspector.

That is a very common sentiment among home inspectors, almost all of whom have either personally had a bad claim experience with a professional liability carrier or have a close colleague who has. Interestingly, the bad experience almost never involves the insurer’s failure to pay a legitimate claim. Rather, it predominantly involves insurers who, in inspectors’ minds, seem to have adopted a default posture of settling illegitimate claims rather than aggressively defending them. There is certainly no shortage of anecdotal evidence on home inspector message boards to support this widely-held belief.
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From The Mailbag

Almost every day, I get email correspondence from an inspector who is about to get jammed up royally by the unholy alliance of his insurance company and its panel defense counsel. I really wonder why any inspector, who chooses to be insured or who has to be insured by law, would go anywhere other than Lockton, the only home inspector professional liability insurance provider that endorses my claim response techniques and the only one whose default strategy is not “surrender”.

Consider this very typical situation:

Mr. Ferry:

I am fearful that it may be too late in the process for me to avail your services.  I just today found out about your services.

I am in the middle of a claim against me and my Errors and Omissions Insurance here in [location redacted].

Turns out my insurance company is attempting to defend the claim against me but under a very specific “reservation of rights” clause that appears to ultimately leave me with representation but no coverage.  The Insurance Company is also looking for my deductible up front.
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Is E & O Insurance for Home Inspectors Really Necessary?

A reader recently wrote to me: “One quick question comes to mind in reviewing your E and O insurance for home inspectors blog.  You clearly state a number of times that virtually all claims against home inspectors lack merit and/or can basically be quashed at the point of the initial demand. This being true, why then would one even need to consider E+O when you have made it abundantly clear most if not all E+O claims against inspectors can be successfully defended, likely at a fraction of the cost of insurance?”

In my experience, only three of the over 500 claims that inspectors have asked me to respond to were valid claims. That’s less than one percent. Am I seeing a different segment of claimants than the typical E and O insurer for home inspectors? I very much doubt that I am.

Yet, while my success rate at terminating these claims has been, by any metric, phenomenal, I would still hesitate to counsel inspectors to forgo the back-up protection that an E & O insurance policy with a solid company provides for two very important reasons. One, about 15 % of the time, the first notice of claim is an actual lawsuit. In other words, I will have had no prior opportunity to prevent the suit from being filed in the first place. And while I have successfully persuaded plaintiffs’ counsel to dismiss inspectors from lawsuits multiple times, that is a much more difficult trick with a much lower success rate. Two, my responsive letters are only successful at dissuading claimants 97 % of the time. That means that three knuckleheads out of every hundred cannot be persuaded that they have no claim. In those cases, you will have to hire private counsel and litigation is one of the most expensive undertakings imaginable.
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Tabula Rasa

There’s something about the start of a brand new year that tops off my hope reservoirs and makes me look forward to bigger and better things. Out with the old, in with the new.

Not that last year was too shabby, mind you.

I got speaking invitations from the four corners of the nation, the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf of Mexico, Boston Bay to the Nevada Desert and deep in the heart of Texas. In April, this website launched and has attracted a thousand unique visitors each month ever since. And I successfully terminated an average of two claims per week on behalf of home inspectors from all over the United States.

Looking over the list of claims, I was struck by their variety. Many of the claims were against home inspectors who are not insured but most of them were against home inspectors who were insured and were simply tired of being sold out by their insurance company. In two of the cases, I was able to convince the insurer that both it and the inspector would be better off if it allowed me to respond. Of course, that is not an issue for inspectors insured through the Lockton program that I promote on this site.
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Affiliate Partners

These affiliates are businesses with the like-minded goal of helping home inspectors improve their processes and their bottom lines. Some are educational, some are technological, and some deal with the strategies and implementation necessary to raise revenues and improve client satisfaction.

Errors & Omissions Insurance

We know the home inspection industry and understand the unique risks you face as a home inspector. Professional Liability coverage is a critical step in protecting yourself and your business from those risks.

Professional Liability from Lockton Affinity covers you in the event a claim or litigation is brought against you for the home inspection services you provided. Select the limits to fit your needs and apply in just minutes.

HomeInspectology is the most comprehensive, unbiased resource site for the home inspector community. Whether you are a new inspector, single operator inspector or a multi inspector firm, you can find all the resources to help grow your business.

HomeInspectology has all the industry vendors in one location for a one stop search experience.You can find Inspection Software, Inspection Marketing, Inspection Tool, Inspection Insurance and much more. HomeInspectology is created by home inspectors for home inspectors so we know what you need.

All American Training offers students across the country an innovative and comprehensive public adjusting and home inspection classroom courses. Get the knowledge, tools and support network you need to successfully begin your new business by choosing ATI.

ATI ensures its students’ success by teaching them industry best practices and granting access to powerful marketing tools and ongoing support. Work hands-on with your peers and instructors in our classroom courses, available throughout the country.

InspectCheck Logoinspectcheck.net is an advanced home inspection reporting software program. Our reporting system has been used on thousands of homes since 1999. inspectcheck.net has more free features than other reporting systems, and one they do not:

Inspectcheck.net provides Peace of Mind?

By providing clear direction to your client. Period. Home inspection disputes may arise for any reason. inspectcheck.net is structured to eliminate many of these issues.

inspectcheck.com provides the following safeguards:

  • inspectcheck.com will not allow you to finalize a report until all areas are complete
  • Comprehensive chapter headings that clearly outline to your client the limits of a visual home inspection
  • Detailed explanations for every condition noted
  • Descending item numbers so the inspector knows what areas are left to inspect.
  • Every condition noted on the report is automatically placed in one of three COLOR coded categories when the report is generated.

1. GREEN -Routine maintenance and or minor repair
2. AMBER – Some repair and or close monitoring
3. RED – Necessary repair / further evaluation by a qualified professional

inspectcheck.net and Joe Ferry will give your company ultimate peace of mind!

Find out how inspectcheck will give you Peace of Mind – click HERE

For more information, please check out our YouTube Channel by clicking HERE

Serving home inspectors (like you!) since 1998, we help increase your revenue, maximize your professional image, and make your life easier, giving you the competitive edge.  We are not a call center, but your personal office, handling your calls, email leads, online orders, and bookings the way you want them done, follow up communications on all your orders, always going above-&-beyond for you.  To your callers, we are your friendly and very knowledgeable office right down the street!

And our service to you more than pays for itself…no more missed calls, your callers are impressed, more inspections for you.  Plus we do the follow up calls and legwork to ensure your inspection bookings are polished up, finished up, and ready to go for you, further making your life easier, taking stress and work off your shoulders. We are your trusty office, always going the extra mile for you, in every way, all the time.  And, as our Boss, you are always in control.  You even get your own small office team assigned to you and your own account manager.

Don’t settle for less with poor imitators, try us out, there is no service agreement locking you in.  And it is so easy to get started.  Give us a call or visit our website to contact us today!

Go here for more information or call 888-462-6153

ASHI School LogoLearn to inspect new houses with real home inspectors. The ASHI School has more hands-on, live field training than any other inspection school. Learn to inspect foundations, structure, roofing, mechanicals, plumbing and more. At The ASHI School, you go through 10 eight-hour classes with 4-to-5 training sessions included. The ASHI School also offers support for your new home inspection career pathway.

  1. A one year membership to ASHI (the American Society of Home Inspectors) is included in your tuition, with access to ASHI Chapters for networking and mentorship
  2. One-year subscription to inspection software program to help create your professional home inspection reports
  3. Create and host your websites for six months

Find out more information today – click HERE

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is ClaimIntercept™?

ClaimIntercept™ is Attorney Joe Ferry’s acclaimed proprietary method of responding to meritless claims made against home inspectors by their clients, by non-client sellers or by insurance carriers trying to assert subrogation claims.

Members of ClaimIntercept™ have access to the Joe Ferry team to deal with client complaints and demand letters. Our team has responded to over 3,000 claims against home inspectors since 2006 with a near perfect success rate at terminating them.

Is there a limit on the number of claims to which you will respond?

No. We will respond to however many claims a ClaimIntercept™ Member has made against him/her while a ClaimIntercept™ Member. This program includes all claims that occur during or were not an active issue prior to an inspector’s membership term. If you have a current issue and are not an active ClaimIntercept subscriber, please contact our office immediately to discuss your coverage options.

Can I contact you for advice?

Yes. While ClaimIntercept™ Members have unlimited access to our team via telephone or email during normal business hours, generally 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, We frequently will call or respond via email to inspectors outside of those hours.

Will you review my Inspection Agreement?

Yes. However, Inspection Agreement review is not a benefit of ClaimIntercept™, and there is a separate $550 fee for that service. Additional agreements and riders can be added for an additional fee. ClaimIntercept™ members save $100 off that price.

Will you respond to reputation management issues?

Yes. With the popularity of online reputation management services such as Yelp, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Facebook and others on the rise, home inspectors must be cautious of business-crippling defamation by disgruntled clients on these review sites. We will respond to these issues as part of a separate reputation management service. These responses are considered ad hoc responses with the fee determined on a case-by-base basis.

Are there any other benefits associated with being a Member of ClaimIntercept™?

Yes. We believe education is at the forefront of any successful professional’s priorities. We want to provide valued professionals with access to special articles, interviews and videos. You can go here to access the Members Only area of the website. Make sure you are logged in.

I am not insured through Lockton Affinity. Can I still take advantage of ClaimIntercept™?

Yes, absolutely.

I do not have insurance through Lockton Affinity. Will having you respond to a claim affect my insurance coverage for that claim?

No. But it is very important to keep your insurance company advised of all of your efforts with the claimant.

Once our team responds to the claimant, the insurance company is put on notice of the potential claim and a copy of our response is provided to the company.

That way, in the unlikely event that our intervention did not terminate the claim, the insurance company would be on the hook regardless of when the claimant resurfaced even if it is many months or even years later — and regardless of whether or not you are still insured with that company or insured at all.

Also, in the unlikely event that our intervention did not terminate the claim, the insurance company will have the benefit of having had us lay out all of the defenses to the claim.

I am not a Member of ClaimIntercept™. Can you still respond to a claim?

Yes. We frequently responds to claims made against home inspectors who either never knew that such a service existed or who never believed that they would be a victim. We undertake those matters on a flat fee basis that vastly exceeds the annual cost of ClaimIntercept™.

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Privacy Policy and Affiliate Disclaimer

Information that is gathered from visitors
In common with other websites, log files are stored on the web server saving details such as the visitor’s IP address, browser type, referring page and time of visit. Cookies may be used to remember visitor preferences when interacting with the website. Where registration is required, the visitor’s email and a username will be stored on the server.

How the Information is used
The information is used to enhance the vistor’s experience when using the website to display personalised content and possibly advertising. E-mail addresses will not be sold, rented or leased to 3rd parties. E-mail may be sent to inform you of news of our services or offers by us or our affiliates.

Visitor Options
If you have subscribed to one of our services, you may unsubscribe by following the instructions which are included in e-mail that you receive. You may be able to block cookies via your browser settings but this may prevent you from access to certain features of the website.

Affiliate Disclaimer
If you purchase Home Inspector Errors & Omissions Insurance and/or General Liability insurance through Lockton Affinity, Joe Ferry may earn a fee. This does not cost the home inspector anything additional and is based off of the professional agreement between Joe Ferry and Lockton Affinity.

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