Local Boys and Girls Club still having troubles with TWIA
6 Investigates: Local Boys and Girls Club still having troubles with TWIA
Executive Director Ware Wendell recently spoke to KRIS 6 News about the complicated TWIA insurance process. Above links to the full story, and below are excerpts.
An insurance process that was meant to help Texans rebuild after a hurricane was redesigned by state lawmakers eight years ago, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, that redesign is being put to the test.
The club filed a claim with the Texas Windstorm Association, and over the next several weeks, things got worse, Barrientos said.
Every time it rained, water collected in buckets at the club and soaked desks.
A few weeks later, Barrientos received notice that TWIA had denied most of the club’s roof repairs.
TWIA sent a check for about $150,000, but the money wasn’t nearly enough to fix the storm damage, she said.
TWIA did acknowledge the errors, but then asked for about half of the claim money back, she said.
At that point, the Boys and Girls Club had a tough decision to make. Under the law change, the nonprofit had two options: accept the dismal claim and go through the appraisal process, or dispute it and file a lawsuit.
They chose to fight. In August, the nonprofit filed a lawsuit against TWIA.
Two months into the suit, TWIA reversed its position and agreed to pay the clubs entire claim.
That kind of behavior allows for no accountability, said a Texas consumer advocacy group.
“It’s a complicated and broken system,” said Ware Wendell, Texas Watch executive director. “With TWIA, it punishes policy holders wrongly, and it needs to be fixed.”
The Boys and Girls Club has asked TWIA to pay for attorney fees, penalties, and interest. That’s the only way TWIA can be held accountable, so that a similar situation doesn’t happen to someone else, said Will Lundquist, an attorney representing the Boys & Girls Club.
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