Authorities ignoring data that can alleviate crumbling foundations crisis, warns captive
Michael Maglaras, the former superintendent of the Crumbling Foundations Solutions Indemnity Company (CFSIC) who recently announced he would step down in October, has hit out at authorities for their inertia in dealing with the crumbling foundations crisis in the US.
Maglaras said CFSIC stands ready to provide comprehensive reports about the crisis that could predict exactly how hard the next wave of the crisis will hit, how much it will cost and what it will take to fix it.
“What we now know in Stafford Springs from CFSIC’s claim data about the extent of the concrete crisis and its remediation will help homeowners a few miles up the road and just over the border in Massachusetts,” said Maglaras. “CFSIC’s data is available to those in Massachusetts who need it. They have only to ask.”
CFSIC’s claim data now indicates clearly which towns and streets are affected and “projects with reasonable precision the extent of the next wave of the crisis to come, most probably in 2024 and 2025,” said Maglaras.
“The data makes clear that the average cost of remediation is currently $144,000, not the $175,000 we keep reading about endlessly and falsely in social media,” he added. “The data also makes clear that the average ratio of expense to revenue in CFSIC’s operations is currently less than 4 percent on a cash basis, not the 10 percent that keeps getting repeated.”
But he warned authorities that could use this data to help resolve the problem are not showing an interest.
Comparing the current situation to the medical malpractice crisis more than 15 years ago, when authorities turned to captives for help, Maglaras said: “In 2002, everyone, including many in state government, quickly learned from captive insurance company data how to defeat the obstetrical crisis. In 2019, not enough people seem interested in learning from CFSIC’s data how to defeat the concrete crisis.”
The only institution that has recognised the value of CFSIC’s reserves of data is the CT Insurance Department, he added.
Maglaras said: “With almost 1,100 claims registered on our books in eight months, CFSIC has now become the single most important source of data on the crumbling foundations natural disaster in Connecticut. There is no better, more credible, or more verifiable source of crumbling foundations data anywhere else in Connecticut on this crisis.”
CFSIC’s claim data is still evolving and still improving, and will continue to do so over the next six months, added Maglaras.
