Law firm urges Southside ISD to document roofs, offer free inspections as storm claims rise

A storm‑claims attorney told Southside ISD trustees Oct. 15 that increasing storm frequency, larger hail and rising construction costs are driving insurers to raise premiums and to narrow coverage terms, and urged the district to adopt proactive inspection and documentation practices.

Manny Pelaez (representing a law firm that litigates storm claims) described work the firm does for school districts: meteorological retrospective analyses, expert roof inspections, best‑practice training for district staff, and legislative advocacy on standard policy terms such as out‑of‑state arbitration clauses. He said the firm offers to pay for initial roof inspections and meteorological reports to identify past damaging events (hail, wind) and that clear pre‑storm documentation reduces insurer defenses that damage was preexisting.

Pelaez told trustees some carriers are inserting arbitration clauses that require claims to be arbitrated in other states (he cited New Jersey as an example) and said trustees should ask for arbitration in Texas when negotiating policies. He described the firm’s success in recovering multi‑million‑dollar settlements for other Texas school districts and emphasized that early inspection and documentation can reduce the chance that a future claim will be denied or underpaid. Pelleaz offered to help the district identify likely‑damaged schools, perform inspections and coach staff on packaging claims. He said the firm works on a contingency basis only when litigation is needed and generally seeks to recover attorney fees from the insurance company rather than charging district funds.

Trustees asked whether roofs already inspected by local contractors might show different findings; Pelaez said many contractor inspections focus on leaks and not on subtle storm damage indicators and that his firm’s experts look for micro‑cracking and other storm‑specific evidence. Trustees asked about retaliation by insurers; Pelaez said insurers rarely drop school districts for doing reasonable claims and noted legal protections against retaliatory cancellations.

Ending: Trustees heard an offer of an initial, no‑charge inspection and agreed to consider the firm’s assistance with targeted sites; no binding agreement was signed.