How to file an I-4 damage claim,
could ever show that a cone was improperly placed by SGL as smashing into one erases proof of its original position. Yet motorists typically were adamant that they were not negligent.
“Not in alignment with traffic pattern. (Cone randomly placed) and not visible to drivers,” Deanna Robinson of Orlando stated in her 2015 claim.
Commuting to her Maitland office in December, Anelle Durant struck a cone she described as invisible: it was dark at 5:45 a.m.; her lane was black asphalt; and the cone was tipped over with its black base facing her.
“They stated they didn’t put in the middle of the road,” she said of SGL’s denial. “I didn’t fight it and I think I should have because I feel like it was their negligence.”
Burden of proof
Long before they submit a claim, many drivers realize that proving what happened would be difficult.
Last year, Donna Goerner was on her way to work, heading west in Orlando on the interstate when she struck what looked to her like construction debris.
She watched key evidence — the debris — vanishing in her mirror, engulfed by traffic, realizing she had no way of documenting it.
“I did not stop in the middle of I-4,” said Goerner, whose $3,000 claim for her 2010 Chevy Equinox was denied for lack of proof. “That wasn’t going to happen. There was no safe or reasonable way to stop.”
For proof of damage, the first step recommended by SGL and by the transportation department is taking pictures.
But while a photo may be viable from many roads, relatively few drivers have included any from the region’s most heavily trafficked highway, I-4.
“That could be a real tricky situation,” department spokesman Steve Olson said. “To take a photograph, it has to be a safe setting. Safety is very important.”
The Florida Highway Patrol urges extreme caution.
“I understand the need for documentation so there is not a false claim,” FHP spokeswoman Kim Montes said. “I don’t think anybody would want to put their life at risk to snap a picture.”
Drivers are allowed legally to stop alongside I-4 — and take pictures while pulled over — if their cars are disabled, they have medical emergencies or have crashed, she said.
Still, doing so can put other motorists at risk, Montes said, as “it messes up traffic, people start looking, start slowing down and start having rear-end collisions.”
“FHP would say you have to find another way of documentation,” she said. “If for minor incidents, we absolutely cannot support somebody getting out of their car to take a picture.”
Road Rangers remove debris
Several drivers think that evidence of at least the more substantial construction debris on I-4 could be logged by Road Ranger personnel, who are charged with assisting in breakdowns and accidents, and also with removing debris.
Jan Seldin of Winter Springs was returning home with her husband and son one night in February last year when she came upon a large slab of concrete in the road. “I had no choice but to hit it,” she said.
The impact was astonishing, she said, knocking her 2-year-old Explorer two lanes over.
Seldin feared that “if we stay here we are sitting ducks. We’ve got to get off this road or we are going to get killed.” She realized later that leaving the scene meant she no longer had a chance to document what she had hit.
They limped to a Denny’s parking lot on Lee Road. She called the police, who directed her to an online “Self-Reported Traffic Crash.”
She filed a claim and followed up by insisting that SGL check with Road Ranger personnel to see if they noted the concrete object.
“I was told they don’t keep a record of what they retrieve,” Seldin said.
SGL’s claims processor, The Hartford, wrote to Seldin: “We have found no evidence to suggest that the unidentified item you struck was related to our insured’s ongoing project operations in the area.”
Road Rangers are largely under the direction of their sponsor, which is SGL for I-4 patrols.
According to SGL, Road Rangers have “responded” to an average of 57 incidents of road debris a month.
“But they don’t necessarily document it,” Olson said.
Independent appeal
For motorists who suspect that SGL is protecting profits by denying claims, there is an independent appeals process.
Olson said an appeal may be conducted by the Florida Division of Risk Management. The division would pay a claim if it finds it to be valid and would seek reimbursement from the contractor.
But the transportation department could not cite any instance of making the appeal option known to I-4 drivers, nor is appeal information on the I-4 website.
Alexandria Washington of Orlando said she asked repeatedly to appeal SGL’s denial of her claim from being pelted by concrete rubble under a bridge near Maitland.
She had submitted supportive evidence from Maitland police and from another driver who had similar damage at the same time and place.
Washington said she was told by an I-4 Ultimate spokesman, Dave Parks, that an appeal might be possible through SGL.
“He told me that unfortunately there isn’t much we can do if SGL refuses and you might want to hire a lawyer,” said Washington, a single mother of two and a child-welfare worker.
She said SGL and The Hartford did not respond to her request for an appeal.
An SGL spokeswoman, when asked if the company knew of any instance of referring or helping a motorist appeal a denied claim, responded in an email that: “SGL has never received a formal request for an appeal.”
‘Onus of proof on the driver’
How the state regards SGL’s handling of claims contrasts with procedures at the Central Florida Expressway Authority, which operates 118 miles of toll roads in the Orlando area.
Significant portions of the authority’s roadway have undergone recent overhauls, including State Road 408 and the East-West Expressway.
The authority’s construction director, Ben Dreiling, said his agency requires a written explanation from contractors when they deny claims.
If a driver appeals, “we will hire a thirdparty adjuster or do it ourselves and determine if they are entitled to something,” said Dreiling, who declined to discuss the handling of I-4 claims.
The authority will verify a driver’s account of the cause and location of damage, including through toll-transponder data.
“If they [drivers] are honorable and did everything they said, then the contractor is going to pay,” he said.
Dreiling said his agency will hold road builders accountable for use of cones and barrels.
“It’s a hazard whether the contractor didn’t put a cone in the right place or didn’t maintain it,” he said. “They are responsible for it.
“If a contractor won’t pay it, I’ll take it out of their payment and they can argue and file a claim if they want, but we’ve never had anybody buck the system, because we’ve tried to be reasonable,” Dreiling said.
He said his agency understands that motorists would otherwise be at the mercy of contractors.
“The proportion of power is completely uneven,” Dreiling said. “Contractors put the onus of proof on the driver.”
Defeated by exhaustion
Drivers typically don’t seek help from lawyers because of the dollar amounts involved.
Lawyers Matthew Rabin and Shaun Serelson represent a driver and passenger injured when a metal rod impaled their car within the I-4 work zone. They said without an injury, lawyers probably won’t want to take part in a damage claim.
“If it’s just property damage, forget about an attorney because most of their work is on a contingency-fee basis and as much as I would love help with that, I’m not going to take 33 percent of repairs to their vehicle,” Serelson said.
There are many accounts of I-4 motorists angered by SGL denials and unwilling to give up easily.
Mary Ann Black was driving along Maitland Avenue two years ago when a temporary I-4 detour sign toppled over onto her windshield and side mirror. “I didn’t know if I had been shot,” she said of her shock.
She summoned police, took photos and filled out a detailed narrative. She sought $500 to cover her insurance deductible and $120 for a rental-car fee.
“Their excuse for not paying me was that the sign was inspected that morning and may have been moved,” Black said. “I asked for the inspection report and they said ‘we can’t do that.’ ”
Black said assembling her claim and the ensuing back and forth with SGL’s insurer was exhausting.
“I finally had to ask if the $620 was worth my time,” she said of admitting defeat.
More often, drivers have neither resources to pursue claims nor the cash to fix their cars.
Brown-Haynes, whose encounter with three cones left her bumper and lights damaged, is a single mom. Her deductible is $500 — and so, her car remains unrepaired.
“It’s not that easy when you have to put groceries on the table,” she said.