By Bob Katzen

The Senate, on a voice vote without a roll call, approved and sent to the House, legislation that would prohibit an insurance company from including in an insurance policy, a rider that prohibits the insured from hiring or using a public insurance adjuster or a public insurance adjusting firm.

“When a family loses a home to a fire or a flood, they are living through the worst time of their lives, and they may need the expertise of an insurance adjuster to help understand their own policy and the claims process,” said sponsor Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem). “Massachusetts has utilized licensed public insurance adjusters for more than a century, and having public adjusters at our side, works. I filed this bill so that families in Beverly, Danvers, Peabody, Salem – and across the commonwealth – decide who stands with them when they file a claim, to get the best outcomes they deserve.”