New Insurance Mediation Program to Expedite Sandy-Related Claims [AUDIO]

Almost four months after Superstorm Sandy, some New Jersey homeowners and business people are still waiting to resolve their insurance claims.  To get things moving, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance is ready to launch a new mediation program.

"Policyholders and insurance companies will be offered a program to efficiently and inexpensively resolve any disputes that may be ongoing," according to DOBI Commissioner Ken Kobylowski.

He says the mediation will focus on homeowners claims, auto claims, and commercial property claims.  It won't include flood insurance claims because DOBI does not have any regulatory authority or jurisdiction over the federal flood program.

Learning from Experience

The idea from the program, according to Kobylowski, sprung from discussions with Gulf Coast officials, who had used mediation to settle insurance fights after hurricane Katrina eight years ago.

He added his department is in the process of setting the mediation program up, and in about a month or so the insurance companies will notify their policyholders that this program is available to them.

"We're rolling out this program to hopefully help both the policyholders and the insurance companies get these claims resolved quickly," said Kobylowski.