Insurance meeting set for shore-area homeowners

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Insurance meeting set for shore-area homeowners

By DEREK HARPER Statehouse Bureau, 609-292-4935

Published: Wednesday, July 09, 2008

TRENTON - Assemblymen John Amodeo and Vince Polistina will host a town hall meeting next week about the problems people with homes along the coast face when getting homeowners insurance.

Amodeo and Polistina, both R-Atlantic, said they invited industry officials as well as people from the state Department of Banking and Insurance to answer questions. If time permits, Amodeo said, they could field questions on the state budget and other topics.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. July 17 at the Margate Performing Arts Center, 7804 Amherst Ave., Margate.

Amodeo said constituents began contacting their office after State Farm notified residents in April that it was no longer writing policies on barrier islands.

"It's a pretty devastating issue when someone has paid their insurance premiums for 30, 40-plus years, they never put in a claim and then they get a letter saying in 30 days they will not have insurance," Amodeo said.

Amodeo, a Margate resident, said he faced insurance problems when he moved from Linwood in 2005. The longtime insurance company that wrote his auto, life and other policies notified him that it would not cover his home, forcing him to use another firm.

"As legislators, we want to make sure New Jersey, through the Department of Banking and Insurance, fosters a market where people can get affordable insurance," he said in a statement. "If the state isn't doing what it should be doing, then we can step in with a legislative remedy."

E-mail Derek Harper:

dharper@pressofac.com