Vendor claims no insurance.

Started by FionaC • 3 replies • 1616 views

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FionaC (California)
Posts: 212

Posted:

I had mishap last summer with a hired vendor that caused water damage to our flooring.

We were in the middle of painting our building and the painters came through with notifications of a power wash which included keep all front door and windows shut.

We had about a gallon of water which was sprayed under our front door, this damaged and warped the flooring after 8 hours ofbeing there ( this was done when nobody was home. )

Fault was not disputed. The HOA stated contact the vendor, they have insurance. My homeowner's plan kicked in and paid for the replacement and 6 months later the vendor claims "we don't have aliability plan" and will NOT give you the information.
Right now I managed to get a copy of the insurance plan which was provided to our HOA when services were done.

My question? What happens if in fact this vendor did NOT have insurance and this copy is null?

I am prepping for a small claims case to recup some of the out of pocket expenses.. Curious if any of the other HOA people here have had similar issues with insurance and a vendor.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Shame on that contractor for not having damage liability insurance when he uses such dangerous and potentially accident-prone machinery.

Shame on your HOA for not requiring and having on file all the necessary insurance papers before hiring a contractor.

IMHO - the HOA should cover your deductible or other related damages that you have receipts for. Go after them. The contractor is a dead end claim, probably dried up, too.

Hope this is a wake-up call for your HOA board.

RobynH1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 39

Posted:

There is only one way to make sure the vendor has coverage.

Vendor stands infront of HOA BOD responsible to verify coverages from vendors hired to do work in the HOA.

Call the Insurance Agency listed on that Certificate of Coverage he/she was given by the vendor and insist they go lineby line on that cert. and make
sure he has liability and workers Comp. coverage and completed opps. coverage. If he doesn't have that....you have a vendor with no insurance.

Ask him politely to leave the grounds. So situations like yours do not keeping costing all Owners money.

Could cost all of you a standard rating on your commercial policy due to claims made for numerous claims made.

Without workers comp. worker falls off building HOA can find themselves
with a claim.

Call the Agency listed on the Certificate always. Watch the dates.
Many use old certs. out of date. They also use each others certs. copy and change names. Thats why you must always call the agency. No company, but agency.

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

As to your personal claim: I am not familiar with California, but in Arizona a painter must have a license issued by the Registrar of Contractors (ROC). To get his license, the painter or other contractor has to post a bond ($25,000 I think). A person who suffers damages due to a contractor's negligence may file a claim against that bond by filing a complaint with the ROC. Look in California's licensing and see if there is a similar bond to recover damages from.

I was previously involved in a business where we and others in the same business quite often have to provide certificates of insurance. One thing I found out was that both the insurance company and an individual agent can issue a certificate of insurance. If the agent issues a certificate, the insurance company may have no record of it. If the insurance policy is cancelled, the company will usually notify those parties it has issued certificates to but the agents are not as likely to do that. I would always recommend that a person get a certificate of insurance directly from the insurance company and not from an agent.

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