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Southwest Illinois | So just out of curiosity, what was the yield reduction? For starters you have a claim before it can be denied so I assume you had something documented when you submitted a claim. I am sure they are taking the position that they will not cover it, after all I have not heard any documented results of loss yet, but if I get drug into court for a couple hundred grand of damage you can bet your behind I will be taking them to court with me. I hate the way this is heading but it is ultimately going to have to wind up in court neighbor against neighbor. You have big insurance companies who want to pay no claims and you have a large manufacturer who is denying they have a problem. Just to throw some numbers out there, and this is purely a what if scenario. If you had 2,000 acres of beans and 10% were damaged and you could prove a 5 bushel reduction on the damaged acres, you wind up with a grand total loss of 1000 bushel. At $10 you have a $10,000 loss. While not small potatoes is a farmer of any size going to go to court to fight over $10,000? We have certain varieties that we plant each year that wind up being worse than others and easily lose that and more based on decision we made at planting. Maybe the percent damaged is way more than I see locally and maybe the damage will be more than 5 bushels per acre and if so the numbers get more significant. But even at 20% damaged and a 10 bushel per acre loss you still only have a $40,000 loss. Again not a small amount but are your really going to go to court for that? Then factor in that I bet not the same guy damaged all your beans which now means you may have to take multiple people to court for smaller amounts which will likely wind up in small claims court. I am not saying it is right, but just being realistic since legal fees are not exactly cheap. | |
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Insurance denying claims
