Barry Zalma, Inc.

Barry Zalma founded Barry Zalma, Inc. in 1979 to help resolve every insurance claim problem faced by you or your clients. For more than 51 years as a claims person and insurance coverage attorney, Barry Zalma has represented insurers, advised insurers on claims handling, interpreted coverages and testified as an insurance coverage, insurance bad faith, insurance claims handling and insurance fraud expert on behalf of insurers and policy holders’ suing insurers. He now limits his practice to consultation and service as an insurance claims handling expert.

Website: http://www.zalma.com/
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Latest from Barry Zalma, Inc.

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ZALMA’S INSURANCE FRAUD LETTER JANUARY 15, 2021 See the full video at https://youtu.be/QgrIYI0K_SQ Professional Insurance Adjusting and Insurance Fraud At the turn of the century, insurers, in a search for profit, decimated their professional claims staff. They laid off experienced personnel and replaced them with young, untrained and unprepared people. A virtual clerk replaced the old professional claims handler. Process and computers replaced skill and judgment. Insurers intentionally forgot that the promises made by an…
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A Video Explaining the Three Major Responses to Insurance Fraud See the full video at https://youtu.be/P2wMCMkoIDM Insurers are faced with three major types of insurance fraud: Fraud in the inception of a policy of insurance. Fraud in the presentation of a claim by the insured. Fraud in the presentation of a claim by a third party claimant. Fraud in the Inception The insured misrepresents or conceals facts material to the decision of the insurer to…
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Denial for Fraud Not Bad Faith But Contract Claim Remains Tammy Lou Hope appealed the trial court’s order granting Defendant Integon National Insurance Company summary judgment on her claims in Tammy Lou Hope v. Integon National Insurance Company, No. COA20-265, Court Of Appeals Of North Carolina (December 31, 2020). BACKGROUND Plaintiff sued Integon alleging that Plaintiff purchased from Defendant an auto liability insurance policy and that her vehicle was damaged. She claims that her vehicle…
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The U.S. Supreme Court’s Explanation of False Swearing at Examination Under Oath that Results in a Policy Being Declared Void See the full video at https://youtu.be/SZHkAZ33dZU The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in CLAFLIN and others v. COMMONWEALTH INS. CO. OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, et al, 110 U.S. 81, 3 S.Ct. 507, 28 L.Ed. 76 (January 14, 1884) is the premier precedent that establishes that a falsely sworn statement at an insurance examination under oath…
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Doctor Makes a Mockery of the Probation System & Loses His License to Practice The problem with professional misconduct is that the punishment for wrongful conduct is handed down by members of the same profession. As a result more often than not the wrongdoing professional is given probation whose terms are seldom followed. In the Matter of Muneer Imam v. New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct et al., 2020 NY Slip Op 08138,…
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Florida Makes it Impossible for a Public Adjuster to act as its Client’s Disinterested Appraiser Because a Contingency Fee Makes him Interested Appraisal is a contractual provision of a first party property insurance policy designed to allow insurers and insureds to resolve the disputed quantum of a loss by the work of three disinterested appraisers. It works efficiently and easily when done fairly. It does not work at all when one or more of the…
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Testing for Mold See the full video at https://youtu.be/FNPhuYgzYSQ There are many testing methods that can detect molds. Some methods can identify a portion of the types of viable molds but these may also miss or undercount those that are not viable or will not grow well on the nutrients used to incubate the sample. Even tests that are done well only give a partial estimate of the amount and types of molds actually collected…
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How to Prove the Existence of a Lost or Destroyed Policy See the full video at https://youtu.be/3R70RRxjl18 Need to Prove the Policy The first obligation of an insured suing an insurance company is to prove the existence and the terms of the insurance policy on which the claim and suit are based. The party seeking coverage bears the burden of proving the existence of the policy as well as its material terms. Insurer in action…
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Convicted of Massive Insurance Fraud by Vendor to Insurance Industry In The People v. Cornel Lucaci, E072740, Court Of Appeal Of The State Of California Fourth Appellate District Division Two (December 23, 2020) a case that should give honor to all insurance fraud investigators and claims personnel, after a thorough investigation, a jury found defendant and appellant Cornel Lucaci guilty of multiple crimes. The convict included convictions for (1) arson of a structure (Pen. Code,…
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Appraisal Determines the Amount of Loss and When Paid the Amount of Claim is Resolved Appraisal under an insurance policy involves a contractual process by which the insurer and the insured select third parties to determine the amount of a claimed loss when the insurer and the insured cannot agree what the amount of the loss is. This appeal poses the question of how an insurer’s payment of an appraisal award triggers the deadlines and…