Case Study Archive: Archives: Case Studies

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Flooding to historic pub – £500,000 claim including business interruption

After a prolonged period of torrential rainfall, vast areas of Worcestershire were hit by major flooding. A large public house near Great Malvern was completely engulfed: water swept through the picturesque beer garden and poured into the ground floor and cellar. The owners, who lived upstairs, had to jump out of windows and swim across the road to reach safety.

The pub was a listed building, with ancient exposed timbers and brickwork. The owners quickly realised the enormity of what they faced: not simply the re-instatement of their historic property but also the survival of their business. The most pressing worry was that, if the pub couldn’t trade, they would have no income at all. They decided they needed specialist help at this difficult and stressful time and so turned to Morgan Clark.

The claim

Morgan Clark’s team of specialist commercial loss assessors took over everything:

They urgently negotiated with the insurer for emergency funding for the publicans to support them while they were not trading.
They brought in a specialist restoration company who carried out the enormous and complicated task of stripping, decontaminating and drying the substantial property.
They introduced a specialist firm of chartered surveyors to prepare a detailed specification for re-instating the listed building.
They compiled an extensive business interruption claim based on projected turnover during the indemnity period.
They compiled the rest of the claim, comprising buildings (£300,000) and contents/stock (£100,000).

The results

The insurer covered the entire claim which totalled £500,000:

The owners were able to survive financially while the pub was not trading.
The full business interruption claim for the indemnity period totalling £110,000 was met.
The claim was paid in its entirety, covering the building, outbuildings, gardens, stock and contents.
The pub was fully restored to its original specification by specialist contractors, in accordance with listed building regulations. It is now back fully trading.

Flooded industrial unit – £290,000 material damage and BI claim

Cellular Mouldings, based in Kettering, Northants, is a specialist manufacturer of moulded products. In June 2007, a nearby brook burst its banks after torrential rain, and the factory suffered a sudden and devastating flash flood. Over two feet of water swept through the building and then disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived, leaving behind a trail of debris and sewage.

The factory was completely wrecked: as well as ruined plasterwork, doors and furniture, six out of the seven very expensive specialist moulding machines had been submerged and were beyond repair.

Managing Director David Matthews tried in vain to get a speedy response from his insurers but just could not get them to inspect the damage: “I realised that it was essential to have someone working on my behalf to get things moving, otherwise it would have been a major distraction from what I had to do to save the business.” He therefore turned to Morgan Clark to handle his claim.

The claim

Once Morgan Clark was on board, the insurer started to respond and cooperate. The priority was to keep Cellular Mouldings trading and to restore production as quickly as possible. Morgan Clark immediately submitted an interim claim to maintain cash flow. Then, working with Morgan Clark, Mr Matthews located temporary machines and sub-contracted some of the work, while production staff worked overtime to fulfil orders.

Morgan Clark then compiled and presented comprehensive buildings, tenant’s fixtures and fittings, contents and business interruption claims.

The results

Morgan Clark successfully negotiated a claim for £220,000 for material damage. More importantly, it successfully negotiated a business interruption claim of £90,000 for loss of turnover based on the growth the company would have achieved if the flood had not happened, rather than on the previous year’s performance.

By leaving the insurance negotiations to Morgan Clark, Mr Matthews was able to focus on re-establishing his business. Existing customers’ orders were fulfilled through careful distributed production and sub-contracting. At the same time new machines were located quickly and started to be installed a month after the disaster. As a result, Cellular Mouldings survived and has gone from strength to strength.

Residential college fire – £1.5m buildings and contents claim

When an electrical fault caused a major fire at the UWC Atlantic College in South Wales, one of the school’s boarding houses was almost completely destroyed. The College’s immediate priority was to re-house the 52 students who lived there, so it decided it needed professional help not only to make what was inevitably going to be a substantial insurance claim but also to manage the re-building project.

According to Nicholas Marten, Business Manager at the College, “We did some research into loss assessors and, after meeting them, we chose Morgan Clark. We were impressed by their speed of response, what they said they would do and how they would deal with our claim.”

The claim

Once they had been appointed to handle the claim and to manage the re-building project, Morgan Clark immediately appointed a specialist company to carry out emergency safety and protection works to the damaged boarding house. They also arranged for the construction of a temporary pre-fabricated accommodation block for the students.

Hiring this alternative accommodation was very expensive for the insurer as well as disruptive to the students’ lives. The College therefore was under pressure to complete the re-building of the original block as quickly as possible. This was a significant project which included replacing the roof, external cladding, mechanical and electrical services, plasterwork, sanitary ware, fixtures and fittings, as well as complete redecoration.

Morgan Clark arranged for specialist contractors, under the supervision of chartered surveyors, to reinstate the property within a very tight contract programme. At the same time, it prepared, presented and negotiated settlement of the substantial and complicated building and contents claim.

The results

Morgan Clark agreed a final settlement with the insurers of just over £1.5 million, covering the re-building of the accommodation block, temporary accommodation for the students and all contents lost or damaged. More importantly, however, through careful management and close liaison with the surveyors and contractors, it ensured that the reinstatement work was completed ahead of schedule, saving significantly on the cost to the insurer and disruption to the students.

According to Nicholas Marten, “Morgan Clark kept us fully informed at every stage, and they took away the headache of organising repairs as well as making the claim itself. We were busy with the aftermath of the fire, and particularly with re-housing our students, so it was great that we could just leave them to it. It meant that we could be much more effective in our response to what was a major incident.”

No matter what has caused the damage to your home, Morgan Clark will guide you through the insurance claim process and ensure you are back in your home as quickly as possible while ensuring you receive the full settlement you’re entitled to. Contact our Wales insurance claim experts today to find out more.

Fire and smoke damage in rental property: £80,000 claim

When a fire broke out in Mr Seedat’s rental property in Manchester, a full refurbishment was needed. The fire started from a drier, which was installed by the tenant living in the property at the time. The accident led to fire damage in the utility room, along with extensive smoke damage throughout the rest of the property.

Due to the extent of the damage in his property, Mr Seedat decided to employ the services of a Loss Assessor to help navigate the insurance claims process. He felt that he would get a much better claim settlement by using a Loss Assessor than he could have on his own, and appointed Morgan Clark to handle the case.

The claim

Morgan Clark took over the insurance claim on behalf of Mr Seedat straight away. Due to their knowledge of landlord insurance policy wording and experiences in helping clients with claims on rental properties, Morgan Clark knew how to get the insurance company to accept liability.

The damage from the fire and smoke was extensive and the property needed a complete refurbishment. Morgan Clark liaised with the insurance company to achieve a claim settlement that would cover the cost of overhauling Mr Seedat’s property and restore it to its pre-fire condition.

The results

Mr Seedat is happy that he appointed Morgan Clark to handle his insurance claim. Morgan Clark’s expertise was vital in getting the insurer to accept liability and was therefore crucial in getting the claim settlement the client had hoped for. The property was completely refurbished, with the costs of the reinstatement totalling circa £80,000.00.

Mr Seedat feels that “with Morgan Clark acting on our behalf we got a far better claim settlement than we would have got if we had not used Morgan Clark. We cannot thank Morgan Clark enough for completely taking the stress and worry out of the otherwise very stressful situation for us.”

Dealing with a difficult Loss Adjuster to claim £60,000

When Ms M noticed a large escape of water in her home, she needed to claim for water damage on her home insurance policy. The escape of water was deep under the concrete of her home’s ground floor and affected the entire floor of the house.

The Claim:

The leak had been going on for around 9 months before Ms M noticed the problem. It was only when she began to smell damp throughout the house and noticed a pool of water under the house that the issue was identified. By this time, the damage was already significant.

During the initial stages of the claim, Ms M found that the insurer and the Loss Adjuster appointed to investigate the insurance claim became difficult to deal with and she began having serious problems.

When a friend informed Ms M that she had the right to hire independent help with the claim, she began researching options and found Morgan Clark. She decided to hire one of our experienced Loss Assessors to help manage the claim.

The Results:

Having never experienced anything like this before, Ms M was unsure whether to believe what the Loss Adjuster was telling her or whether they were acting in the insurance company’s best interests. After the settlement of her claim, Ms M explained she was “so grateful to have an experienced and knowledgeable professional taking the lead to represent our best interests, which is exactly what Morgan Clark did”.

Morgan Clark took over the entire case and instantly took away much of the stress for Ms M. With Morgan Clark’s help, Ms M’s claim was successful and she received circa £60,000 for the building repairs needed. After the difficulties encountered in the claims process before Morgan Clark arrived, Ms M says that she “cannot imagine how much more stressful or consuming this would have been without Morgan Clark’s help” and that she will be “forever grateful for the support Morgan Clark gave [her]”.

Overturning a dismissed water leak claim from insurance company

Mr & Mrs Alton suffered an escape of water at their home but following an unsuccessful insurance claim with their insurers, they approached Morgan Clark to help them manage their claim to ensure they received a fair settlement.

The escape of water began from a leaking drain under the property. The drain had been leaking for some time unbeknown to them.

The Claim

Morgan Clark took over the insurance claim and managed to persuade insurers to accept the claim following their initial dismissal.

Mr & Mrs Alton felt they had great support throughout their claim, explaining that Pino was “such a calming influence which is exactly what we needed” and that he took away as much of the stress as possible. They also noted that “he communicated extremely well and constantly kept us up to date. Both Pino and Sarah were in constant contact with us and offered support throughout the claim. I honestly don’t believe we could have had better support; I am extremely grateful.”

The Results

Mr & Mrs Alton felt that Morgan Clark exceeded their expectations with their final claim.

The costs to reinstate were potentially more than the sums insured, however despite this, Morgan Clark still managed to get the insurers agreement to pay more than the sums insured if the repair costs exceeded it.

The final claim was agreed at £101,900. Mr & Mrs Alton felt that they could not have had a better team of people working together and noted that “if it wasn’t for Pino we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in today”.