Author Archives for Bryan Holtzman
About Bryan Holtzman
Bryan Holtzman is Vice President of Swerling Milton Winnick, with more than 15 years of experience helping businesses and homeowners navigate complex insurance claims. He specializes in building estimates and policy interpretation.
Policyholders Beware: Sump Pump and Sewer Backup Language
March 5, 2024 2:08 pm Leave your thoughts Do you have a sump pump in your home or business? If you do, you need to know what your insurance policy will and will not cover in terms of resulting property damage. If your sump pump fails resulting in water damage, it is likely excluded from coverage in most homeowner and commercial policies. Homeowners… View More
Do You Understand Your Flood Policy?
February 6, 2024 1:51 pm Leave your thoughts With all of the recent storms tearing through the coast of New England, SMW’s loyal client base has been “flooding” our offices with calls for help to assist with the handling of these claims. Below is a quick description of the flood policies that we encounter while working on these claims. But…. What if a… View More
ITEL: Part III
July 25, 2023 1:01 pm Leave your thoughts A question we recently received from a subscriber in response to our ITEL blog reminded us of a funeral home’s claim we handled a few years ago. After a small fire, only the rear portion of the building was damaged. To ensure that the siding would match across the whole exterior of the building, we… View More
ITEL: Part II
July 11, 2023 12:59 pm Leave your thoughts We recently received a question about our ITEL blog from a subscriber in California: Q: I came across your website and was reading a blog post on how ITEL reports vary and how they don’t even use the same sample comparison. I wanted to see further blog posts on how your office dealt with that…. View More
If You Have a Hall of Claims Event, You Might Not Have Coverage At All
May 23, 2023 12:50 pm Leave your thoughts JK Simmons, we love you – but those TV commercials are going to drive us crazy! You know the ones: a national insurance carrier depicts an outrageous, catastrophic property loss. A dog starts a fire by playing with laundry detergent, for example. Or a mountain lion drags its claws extensively over a homeowner’s property –… View More
Condo Associations: Make Sure Your Building Code Coverage is Enough for Current Requirements
January 17, 2023 1:57 pm Leave your thoughts In a previous post, we recounted the mold exclusion challenges facing a condominium association after suffering a large fire. That property loss claim had an additional challenge, one that turned out to be a building code nightmare. The claim stemmed from a fire in a multi-structure condominium complex consisting of four older buildings. These condos… View More
Condo Associations: Be Aware of Mold Exclusions in your Insurance Policy
January 10, 2023 1:47 pm Leave your thoughts Recently, we handled a property loss claim stemming from a fire in a multi-structure condominium complex. The complex consisted of multiple identical buildings, each connected by a common wall. The fire burned one section of one of the buildings to the ground, while the rest of that building sustained extensive smoke and water damage. On… View More
Understanding Building Holdback Claims
June 7, 2022 1:36 pm Leave your thoughts In a recent post, we explained the elements of a “holdback” claim, including terms such as “Replacement Cost,” “Depreciation,” and “Actual Cash Value” (ACV). This explanation focused on personal property items such as furniture, clothing, electronics, etc. To round out the discussion, we wanted to give an example of how the Replacement Cost issue plays… View More