Episode 62: Episode 62 – Questionable Engineering Reports

The Florida Board of Professional Engineers has drafted proposed rules to govern how engineers write formal damage evaluation reports, often used in insurance claims lawsuits. The rules were prompted by an influx of new complaints and mounting frustration about questionable engineering reports and testimony on behalf of plaintiffs – typically involving roof damage.

Former Florida Deputy Insurance Commissioner Lisa Miller sits down with two engineers to discuss the current lack of formal ethics rules, the impact on Florida’s property insurance market, outright examples of fraud, and how the new rules – plus consumer education – will help solve the problem.

Show Notes (For full Show Notes, visit https://lisamillerassociates.com/episode-62-questionable-engineering-reports/)

The Florida Board of Professional Engineers currently has no rules regarding ethics and responsibilities by Florida’s 46,000 licensed professional engineers in drafting damage assessments. Most of the Board’s rules on responsibility have to do with design standards for new projects and other particulars. The podcast discusses new regulations (New Rule Chapter 61G15-38) aimed at improving the accuracy and ethics of damage reports in insurance claims and lawsuits.

Background: Lack of Ethics Rules

George Miles, Senior Principal Engineer with Alligator Consulting Engineers in Edgewater, Florida, has seen the problem first-hand. The 25-year engineering veteran has written damage evaluation reports and testified in insurance claims cases in both civil and criminal court. The lack of ethics rules “has made it a little bit like the wild, wild west,” he said. “One engineer specifically, he made up a method that basically said that wind as it went over a house, would speed up. This is completely untrue. Nothing further from the truth. He testified in court to it for years. When I saw it, I knew it was false. He went as far as taking a NASA document that said this theory was false, cutting out the picture of the NASA document to just show the diagram, and used it to try to prove his method was true.”

Miles said he complained and the board simply told the engineer not to use that method anymore – but he has persisted in doing so. Miles said the Board is “handcuffed” without ethics rules; that its prosecuting attorney has said that it is difficult to find probable cause against an engineer, even when a complaint may be valid, without having rules in place that address reports and standards for existing damaged buildings. Miles said he’s turned in about 18 engineers with questionable reports to the board and is among those leading the charge to implement the proposed rules.... (For full Show Notes, visit https://lisamillerassociates.com/episode-62-questionable-engineering-reports/)