A Jacksonville house took wind damage from Hurricane Matthew on October 6, 2016, and the state’s file says it was left uninhabitable. Almost a year later the homeowner picked up a cold call from someone offering to handle her insurance claim.
She asked what it would cost. He said 20 percent of whatever he recovered from her insurer. She answered that her understanding was that a public adjuster could not charge more than 10 percent within a year of an emergency declaration. He replied that he was close enough to the one-year period to charge 20 percent.
She signed on October 2, 2017. Six other Florida households in the same file had signed at the same 20 percent…