Virginia Lumber Company Gets Full Claim Recovery After Fire

O'Malley Lumber is a wholesale lumber company and one of the East Coast's largest pallet manufacturers. In addition, they produce wood pellets for heating and cooking. Demand was high when a sudden fire destroyed one of their central buildings at their Tappahannock plant, stalling operations, and substantial income, resulting in multimillion-dollar losses.

• It was very important for the company to fully understand its insurance policy to determine the extent of commercial coverage it had in place and to also be aware of its rights and obligations as a policyholder.
• At first, the company did not want to hire an outside adjuster, but without having experts working on their behalf, they would have to spend extraordinary time coordinating the insurance claim with their insurers, not really understanding the property claims process. They would not have the time to do the most important work of keeping the business operations running in order not to lose customers and threaten their long-term viability.
• Damage to the building and the contents had to be professionally valued and documented in detail.
• Complex business interruption calculations had to be completed and presented and documented in a detailed claim.
• The company had the responsibility of preparing and presenting an accurate and supportable insurance claim that exceeded the normal property insurance industry standards. Anything less could delay the claim or have it outright rejected.

• After Goodman-Gable-Gould/Adjusters International was recommended multiple times to O’Malley, the company understood it could benefit from our expert claim management services. Our public adjusters immediately reviewed the company’s commercial insurance coverage and identified various sources and options for a full financial recovery.
• We outlined the complexities of loss valuations and the subsequent negotiations and adjustments for the property and business interruption claims.
• We organized a team of claim experts to properly document and value the losses – including trusted building estimators, personal property experts, a highly-experienced equipment and machinery consultant, and a CPA from Rollins Accounting & Inventory Services, Inc.
• Rollins Accounting provided precise schedules, analysis, and projections of the company’s business interruption and extra expense losses from the fire, which convinced the insurance company’s forensic accountant to revise their original analyses and estimates of loss which resulted in a more favorable resolution on that part of the claim.
• We presented a detailed claim package that provided comprehensive documentation, which helped the insurance company accept the true extent of the losses. Of exceptional note, we presented very detailed and measured damage valuations of the company’s machinery and equipment losses.
• We initiated and maintained productive communication throughout the claim process with the insurance company, including more favorable coverage interpretation. We also were able to process applications for interim advance payments with the insurance company during claim negotiations.
• We kept O’Malley Timber Products fully informed every step of the way during the entire process, keeping an open line of communication and being available to meet at any time.

Our public adjusters brought unmatched knowledge and experience to the table and settled the claim quickly and more favorably for the company to receive a multimillion-dollar settlement. This enabled O’Malley to begin reconstruction of its destroyed manufacturing plant sooner than expected. This also allowed the company to resume partial operation in time to provide services to its most valuable customers in the next season, instead of losing them to its competition.