The unthinkable occurred at the Rutland Plywood Corporation’s plant in Rutland, Vermont, when a spark ignited the manufacturer of hardwood composites and specialty plywoods. A massive five-alarm fire engulfed the entire plant, eventually burning the facility to the ground, despite the efforts of six fire departments and 100 firefighters.
Founded in 1957, the family run business has occupied a niche in the hardwood composite industry and provided a stable environment and livelihood to many families over its 58+ years in operation. Working with his attorney, Jack Barrett, company owner, initially attempted to handle the adjustment of the loss. They soon recognized the overwhelming demands and requirements of responding to their insurance company’s inquiries, attempting to calculate and document the damages incurred, and maintain the operations of the business. As a result, after three weeks of attempting to manage the claim on its own, Rutland turned to the Alex N. Sill Company.
Dealing with an insurance carrier which had never incurred a loss of this size, Sill provided a very experienced team made up of a former insurance company adjuster with over 30 years in the adjusting industry, a building expert with similar background estimating and documenting building losses, a forensic accountant with similar credentials and background, and an equipment specialist with vast experience in heavy manufacturing equipment. The issues were many, involved, and difficult, including policy interpretation, (terms such as “actual cash value” under Vermont law), and depreciation on an aging plant and to aging equipment in a rural region.
The final result was an overwhelmingly successful recovery of over 300% greater than what the carrier was offering to Rutland. As Mr. Barrett has told Sill:
“We couldn’t have done this without your help. To say that the claim was difficult would be an understatement…As the claim unfolded, the divide between what they thought the claim was worth and what we thought the claim was worth grew larger and larger. Because of the solid documentation prepared by [Sill] and because of your tenacity in dealing with the insurance company, we were able to settle that claim for a much higher figure than what the insurer wanted to pay…300% more…If anyone reading this letter is contemplating hiring your company for their loss, I can only say…’Hire the Sill Company as soon as possible’. We had no idea how much work went into handling such a large claim and in retrospect realize that us trying to do this without your team would have been disastrous…Finally, let me state unequivocally that your fee was more than absorbed (and then some) in the higher recovery we obtained.”
Jack Barrett, Owner & Chief Executive Officer