A lawyer whose house was damaged by the floods that hit Windsor, Tecumseh and Lakeshore last week is taking legal action against his insurer after saying that he feels ‘let down’ by the company.
Tony Grassi, from Windsor, was told by his insurance company, AllState Canada, that his policy would only cover a portion of the damage incurred to his property during the torrential rains.
Grassi claims that his 1,800ft basement was severely damaged – to the tune of $50,000 – by the flooding that resulted in a state of emergency being called, and that an AllState representative told him on the phone that his policy included a clause which capped the insurer’s responsibility at $5,000.
Grassi told
CTV News that after reading his paperwork it was not clear that “there was any type of cap whatsoever.”
The lawyer said that he is launching a class action lawsuit against Allstate, for which he has received almost 200 enquiries.
Grassi said that on Tuesday an Allstate representative visited his house, adding that he was pleased to hear the company would in fact cover the clean-up of the basement and the work which is worth about $15,000.
Despite this, Grassi has vowed to press on with his lawsuit, saying he still feels ‘short-changed’.
Allstate Canada told
CTV News: “We follow industry practices and use external data as well as Allstate’s claim experience in an area when factoring how we determine the coverage we provide customers.”
It continued: “We also have clear guidelines and business protocols to guide agents and customers through the details of their policy so they understand their coverage at time of purchase.”
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‘All hands on deck’ in flood-hit Windsor
Windsor and Tecumseh flooding make it to catastrophe list
