Barker Martin

Condo-HOA Blog - JimGuse

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Insurance Discovery Rule

I was flipping through the channels this weekend and stumbled on the Clint Eastwood classic spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Life imitates art and it occurred to me that most situations feature an element of good, bad, and downright ugly. I have a number of "First Party Insurance" claims sitting on my desk (e.g. an Association pursuing its own carrier for discovered property damage). Many of these involve the "discovery rule." Having dealt with this rule on a number of occasions, I've discovered the good, the bad, and the ugly of this rule. read more

The Joy and Pain of Moving

At the end of the month, our Portland office will be moving to a new location. Like any move there is always an element of joy and a modicum of pain. We are overjoyed with the new location and the new space. As many of you can relate, moving comes with a fair amount of work. Offices can accumulate as much junk as any homeowner can and weeding through can be a painful task. In my effort to help clean up the office, I found a package of ramen noodles that expired in 2012. That is two full years before I even started working at Barker Martin! (I apologize to any former employee who was saving those for a special occasion). read more

Spring Cleaning

As my wife is apt to do, she recently gave our house a good spring cleaning. Luckily (for me), I wasn't home. The first sign I had that the purge was underway was when I pulled into the driveway and opened the garage door. There was a rather large plant (fake apparently) taking a prominent spot near the garbage. I asked my wife where the plant came from. Much to my surprise, the plant had been residing in the corner of my bonus room for several years. Despite the fact that I had entered that room every day for the past several years, I honestly could not remember ever noticing it. I'm sure at some point in my life I noticed the plant. Maybe it was on the first day, maybe the tenth, but I must have noticed it at some point. Like many things in our lives, the more we see them, the more they fade into the woodwork and fail to grab out attention. At this point, you are probably wondering what the heck this has to do with insurance. Bear with me. read more

When Cooperation Becomes Evisceration

Most insurance policies contain some form of "cooperation" provision. These provisions exist in both first-party insurance policies (e.g. property policies) and third-party policies (liability policies). When an insured files a first-party claim or tenders a third-party liability claim to its insurance company, the insurance company will often ask for the insured to "cooperate." Generally speaking, the insured must acquiesce to the reasonable requests for cooperation from the insurance company. That being said, there are situations where the insured should tread lightly. read more

Were the Whos in Whoville Covered for the Grinch's Theft?

Every year around this time, my family inevitably settles in to watch an all time Christmas classic: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Of course, the thought of waking up on Christmas morning to find all of your presents stolen (not to mention the roast beast and the last can of Who-hash), would be sad indeed. But, imagine how sad the Whos would be if their homeowners insurance claims were later denied or severely limited? read more

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