Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
On October 29 2012 Superstorm Sandy caused severe damage to many areas on the eastern seaboard. As the Sandy waters started to recede thousands of homeowners began the process of piecing their lives back together and the disaster public service initiative of the Touro Law Center began. Our initial organization TLC-HEART which provided referrals assistance and legal advice for local residents and small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy has now evolved into a full service Disaster Relief Clinic offering a wide range of pro bono legal services to Sandy survivors. Our mission at the Disaster Relief Clinic is to assist Sandy- affected New York households that are mainly in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. We focus our intakes on homeowners that are seniors working families and households that are financially burdened as a result of Sandy. The Clinic handles Sandy-related disputes with insurance companies individuals seeking public benefits or appealing adverse benefits determinations home-owners contracting with or in disputes with general contractors and homeowners who must engage in real property loss mitigation such as a mortgage modification or a short sale to avoid foreclosure. In June 2013 Governor Cuomo created New York Rising a program that set out to centralize recovery and rebuilding efforts in impacted areas of New York affected by Hurricane Irene Tropical Storm Lee and Superstorm Sandy. Unfortunately New York Rising had a large turnover of its staff. Some of its applicants had documents misplaced and awards miscalculated. A number of New York Rising applicants turned to the clinic for assistance particularly in obtaining grants on hardship applications to move homeowners in the acquisition program and also to clarify reduce the Duplication of Benefits analysis. Systemically we provided the proposal to deduct the untaken portion of Small Business Administration Loans from the Duplication of Benefits Analysis allowing homeowners to keep thousands of dollars of grant money. By January 2014 there was evidence of widespread flood insurance underpayments which resulted in flood insurance lawsuits being filed in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York. We remain the only non-profit legal services provider that filed flood insurance lawsuits and to date have successfully settled cases for our clients netting over 500000. By October of 2014 two years post-Sandy many individuals who had received aid during Sandy began to receive notices from the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA asking for the money to be returned but in almost all cases this money had already been spent. When our clients receive a FEMA recoupment letter we are able to appeal the recoupment by requesting an oral hearing with FEMA and submitting documentation in our clients defense of the recoupment thereby having the recoupment terminated. We have been able to successfully appeal these debts and have also raised awareness of the many issues surrounding FEMAs claw-back process in the media. To date the Clinic has successfully appealed 50480 worth of debt. In the wake of allegations of widespread fraud on the part of flood insurance carriers and engineering companies hired to inspect homes in May 2015 FEMA agreed to reopen approximately 142000 claims for flood insurance proceeds. This review process has substantiated those allegation of fraud on the part of the insurance carriers revealing damage adjustment reports were deliberately altered resulting in underpayments and denials for thousands of homeowners. To date the Clinic has taken on over fifty cases for legal representation throughout the review process and continues to receive intakes daily. While we have many more success stories to share our work is far from over. As time continues to move forward and recovery continues to advance the Clinic will continue to evolve and address those needs of our local community. In the last three years since Sandy the Clinic is proud to have spoken with over 4000 households in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and represented over 1000 households in full or limited scope representation netting over 1184646 for our clients. T O U R O C O L L E G E J A C O B D . F U C H S B E R G L A W C E N T E R NEWSLETTER FALL 2015 Clinical Programs Superstorm Sandy A Storm That Changed New York Forever By Melissa H. Luckman Practitioner-in-Residence of the Disaster Relief Clinic and Daniel Strafer Staff Attorney of the Disaster Relief Clinic