The Texas Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (TAPIA) just finished its fall meeting in Houston. It seems like yesterday, rather than 17 years ago, when Jim Beneke, Art Jansen, Mary Fortson, and I re-incorporated TAPIA. The current leadership has done a wonderful job, and the future of public adjusting in Texas looks bright.
TAPIA has supported and helped pass several bills that benefit policyholders and protect the public adjusting trade. Texas State Representative Matt Morgan and TAPIA’s accomplished lobbyist, Jake Posey, delivered an impressive discussion about the dynamics of Texas insurance politics. One story by Matt Morgan is particularly revealing about how the insurance industry and executives view public adjusters in private conversations.
Matt Morgan was asked by lobbyists for an insurance company if its CEO could visit Morgan about pending legislation that impacted public adjusters. The CEO started telling Morgan that public adjusters were fraudulent and guilty of all kinds of acts of wrongful claims practices. After listening to this, Morgan asked, “Did your lobbyists tell you what I do for a living before coming to see me?” Matt Morgan is a very proud licensed public adjuster. Morgan explained to the CEO what he did for a living and shared the story behind his decision to help policyholders.
Can the world of Texas appraisals and what appraisers can include or not include in an appraisal award be more messed up than any state in the country? There are many reasons for this, including Texas having the most convoluted view of concurrent causation and which party bears the burden of proof for covered and excluded causes of loss. Attorney Hunter Klein gave an encore performance describing and detailing the ambiguous and inconsistent positions Texas judges have taken in these cases.
Public adjusting conferences should deal more with proof of various types of losses, meanings of clauses, and how to professionally and masterfully represent policyholder clients. TAPIA’s leadership gets an A+ for this event, because most sessions were packed with valuable lessons and tips on these areas. I learned a lot from the speakers and their presentations.
Finally, I would like to give a shout-out to the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA). Three of its past presidents, pictured above, showed up in a panel discussion. They explained their view of the current state of the public adjusting industry on a national level. They provided practical considerations for those who are devoting their lives to the work of helping policyholders. They agree with me that the public adjusting trade needs to raise the bar for entry into the profession. They also discussed the continued need for all public adjusters to support efforts in legislative and regulatory halls because the insurance industry has an army of lobbyists and money earmarked to attack the public adjusting profession.
My impression is that TAPIA is in good hands and taking a “contender” attitude, looking to improve itself rather than resting on laurels.
Thought For The Day
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
—Vince Lombardi
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