March 1, 2026 • 7 mins
Newsradio WFLA's Read Shepherd talks to Tampa attorney Ashley Harris about an important deadline for any homeowner who has recently discovered damage caused by Hurricane Milton.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm read Shepherd, and this is beyond the news. The
twenty twenty four hurricanes left incredible devastation on Florida's west coast,
and sweeping insurance reforms in recent years have stripped away
a lot of the protections policyholders relied upon. One example
is something you may not have heard about, a deadline
to report additional or newly discovered damage from Hurricane Milton.
(00:24):
That eighteen month deadline is coming up in April. It
means basically that anything homeowners discover after that point, even
if it was hidden, slow developing, or discovered during routine maintenance,
could be denied by the insurance company. Ashley Harris is
a Tampa based attorney with the Merlin Law Group. Let's
start with the deadline itself, Ashley, why was this put
(00:47):
in place?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You know? I think the legislature put this in place
so that people weren't coming back five years after the
storm and saying, hey, I have this damage. It makes
it easy here to investigate the damage when it's you know,
more promptly notified and reported to the insurance company.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah. I could see somebody, uh, you know, doing some
you know, putting up some paneling or something like that,
or some routine maintenance around the house and discovering something
long after the fact. What kind of things might a
homeowner discover, uh after, long after, long after the hurricane
has come and gone.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You know, a lot of times what we've seen is
especially with roof claims, especially tile roof claims, you may
not have realized it takes a few of the rainy seasons.
You know, generally over the winter time you don't have
a lot of rain, and so when we get into
the spring, you start getting those rainy seasons, and so
then you see that water intrusion that you know, it
(01:50):
takes some time for that water to work its way
through the roof and through the but it will find
it will find a way. If there was a wind
created opening from from the herdhurricane, it will find water
will find that and work its way through. So things
like that that you may it may not have been
there initially, but then after a rainy season or two,
then you start seeing those interior leaks on the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
These are these types of things that these these hidden
this this hidden damage is that something that unfortunately is
kind of common after a hurricane has passed.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Absolutely absolutely it is I've worked enough hurricane claims in
my over a decade of handling nothing but these type
of losses, And especially I saw it down in Southwest
Florida after Hurricane Irma, after Hurricane Ian back in twenty seventeen,
twenty twenty two, and you see where, you know, two
(02:45):
three years later, then they're realizing, oh my goodness, especially
with seasonal residents that aren't there full time. They come
home or they come for the season and they see,
oh my goodness, there's this damage that I didn't you know,
that wasn't there before. Yeah, and I will say that
the deadline used to be initially, you know, way back
(03:07):
when the deadline was five years, there was no separate
deadline to report this supplemental damage. Then they've the legislator
made it three years, and then now they have now
lowered it down to eighteen months. So they're really restricting
the amount of time that insurance or policyholders can report
this damage, this supplemental damage that they discover.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Now, one thing I noticed from the press release that
I got from you guys is that this was a
deadline having to do with Hurricane Milton. What about Helene.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Helene was in our area more of a flood event,
not as much wind. And so this deadline is specific
to your homeowner's insurance to your windstorm claims from Hurricane Milton.
This is not Helene. Was a flood, mostly flood event
for most people in our area, and so this deadline
(04:03):
doesn't apply to the national flood insurance program they have.
The National flood insurance program has their own deadlines for reporting.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Damage and what is that deadline?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So for Helene, for your national flood insurance program, the
deadline is you have to well, you had to have
submitted a sworn proof of loss on the proper form
within I believe it was eighteen months of the storm
and so, oh, I'm sorry, one year of the storm yeared.
(04:37):
It was extended out one year, and then you had
to from the date of any denial. So if the
if your flood insurance company denied any portion of your claim,
then you have one year from that denial to file suit.
So the restrictions on your national flood insurance program are
even more restrictive than what we're talking about here with
(04:58):
the homeowners insurance restrictions.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And I'm guessing that would also be the case with
respect to Hurricane Debbie, which was even earlier in the year,
in twenty twenty four. I am wondering, really, how many people,
how many policy holders really know about this. I mean this,
to be honest with you, This is just about the
first that I've heard of it, which is one reason
(05:21):
why I wanted to make sure we had a chance
to talk about this.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah. Absolutely, these changes shortening the dead line to eighteen months,
they were put in place in twenty twenty three. And
so you know, the most recent large storm event before
that would have been Hurricane Ian in twenty twenty two.
So it was a three year deadline for Hurricane Ian.
And so this is really the first storm event that
(05:47):
is going to be impacted by this eighteen months deadline.
And I'll say this eighteen month deadline applies to all
types of claims. It's not specific to whin storm or
hurricane claims. It's just that I think it's important to
get the news out there about this deadline because so
many people were impacted by Hurricane Milton in our area.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
All right, So for those people who were impacted by Milton,
as we start to approach this April deadline, what should
they do?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Get together your documentation if you've started repairs, get that
documentation to your insurance company. Make sure they have that
before the April ninth deadline. Even if you don't have,
if you haven't completed all the repairs, but you know
they're the additional damage that they didn't already pay for.
Get estimates, anything you have, putting the insurance company on
(06:38):
notice that there is additional damage that they have not
paid you for that was resulting from Hurricane Milton.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
All right. Ashley Harris is an attorney with the Merlin
Law Group. Ashley, thank you so much for coming on
the show, and we certainly appreciate your time. I'm read
Shepherd and this is beyond the news
I'm read Shepherd, and this is beyond the news. The
twenty twenty four hurricanes left incredible devastation on Florida's west coast,
and sweeping insurance reforms in recent years have stripped away
a lot of the protections policyholders relied upon. One example
is something you may not have heard about, a deadline
to report additional or newly discovered damage from Hurricane Milton.
(00:24):
That eighteen month deadline is coming up in April. It
means basically that anything homeowners discover after that point, even
if it was hidden, slow developing, or discovered during routine maintenance,
could be denied by the insurance company. Ashley Harris is
a Tampa based attorney with the Merlin Law Group. Let's
start with the deadline itself, Ashley, why was this put
(00:47):
in place?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You know? I think the legislature put this in place
so that people weren't coming back five years after the
storm and saying, hey, I have this damage. It makes
it easy here to investigate the damage when it's you know,
more promptly notified and reported to the insurance company.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah. I could see somebody, uh, you know, doing some
you know, putting up some paneling or something like that,
or some routine maintenance around the house and discovering something
long after the fact. What kind of things might a
homeowner discover, uh after, long after, long after the hurricane
has come and gone.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
You know, a lot of times what we've seen is
especially with roof claims, especially tile roof claims, you may
not have realized it takes a few of the rainy seasons.
You know, generally over the winter time you don't have
a lot of rain, and so when we get into
the spring, you start getting those rainy seasons, and so
then you see that water intrusion that you know, it
(01:50):
takes some time for that water to work its way
through the roof and through the but it will find
it will find a way. If there was a wind
created opening from from the herdhurricane, it will find water
will find that and work its way through. So things
like that that you may it may not have been
there initially, but then after a rainy season or two,
then you start seeing those interior leaks on the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
These are these types of things that these these hidden
this this hidden damage is that something that unfortunately is
kind of common after a hurricane has passed.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Absolutely absolutely it is I've worked enough hurricane claims in
my over a decade of handling nothing but these type
of losses, And especially I saw it down in Southwest
Florida after Hurricane Irma, after Hurricane Ian back in twenty seventeen,
twenty twenty two, and you see where, you know, two
(02:45):
three years later, then they're realizing, oh my goodness, especially
with seasonal residents that aren't there full time. They come
home or they come for the season and they see,
oh my goodness, there's this damage that I didn't you know,
that wasn't there before. Yeah, and I will say that
the deadline used to be initially, you know, way back
(03:07):
when the deadline was five years, there was no separate
deadline to report this supplemental damage. Then they've the legislator
made it three years, and then now they have now
lowered it down to eighteen months. So they're really restricting
the amount of time that insurance or policyholders can report
this damage, this supplemental damage that they discover.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Now, one thing I noticed from the press release that
I got from you guys is that this was a
deadline having to do with Hurricane Milton. What about Helene.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Helene was in our area more of a flood event,
not as much wind. And so this deadline is specific
to your homeowner's insurance to your windstorm claims from Hurricane Milton.
This is not Helene. Was a flood, mostly flood event
for most people in our area, and so this deadline
(04:03):
doesn't apply to the national flood insurance program they have.
The National flood insurance program has their own deadlines for reporting.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Damage and what is that deadline?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So for Helene, for your national flood insurance program, the
deadline is you have to well, you had to have
submitted a sworn proof of loss on the proper form
within I believe it was eighteen months of the storm
and so, oh, I'm sorry, one year of the storm yeared.
(04:37):
It was extended out one year, and then you had
to from the date of any denial. So if the
if your flood insurance company denied any portion of your claim,
then you have one year from that denial to file suit.
So the restrictions on your national flood insurance program are
even more restrictive than what we're talking about here with
(04:58):
the homeowners insurance restrictions.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And I'm guessing that would also be the case with
respect to Hurricane Debbie, which was even earlier in the year,
in twenty twenty four. I am wondering, really, how many people,
how many policy holders really know about this. I mean this,
to be honest with you, This is just about the
first that I've heard of it, which is one reason
(05:21):
why I wanted to make sure we had a chance
to talk about this.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah. Absolutely, these changes shortening the dead line to eighteen months,
they were put in place in twenty twenty three. And
so you know, the most recent large storm event before
that would have been Hurricane Ian in twenty twenty two.
So it was a three year deadline for Hurricane Ian.
And so this is really the first storm event that
(05:47):
is going to be impacted by this eighteen months deadline.
And I'll say this eighteen month deadline applies to all
types of claims. It's not specific to whin storm or
hurricane claims. It's just that I think it's important to
get the news out there about this deadline because so
many people were impacted by Hurricane Milton in our area.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
All right, So for those people who were impacted by Milton,
as we start to approach this April deadline, what should
they do?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Get together your documentation if you've started repairs, get that
documentation to your insurance company. Make sure they have that
before the April ninth deadline. Even if you don't have,
if you haven't completed all the repairs, but you know
they're the additional damage that they didn't already pay for.
Get estimates, anything you have, putting the insurance company on
(06:38):
notice that there is additional damage that they have not
paid you for that was resulting from Hurricane Milton.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
All right. Ashley Harris is an attorney with the Merlin
Law Group. Ashley, thank you so much for coming on
the show, and we certainly appreciate your time. I'm read
Shepherd and this is beyond the news
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