LAUREN PERKINS ALLEN, Federal Disaster Assistance Program, Randy James and Associates Law Firm, Lee’s Summit
Question 1 : The early to mid-May storms that swept through Missouri and the southern part of the state did a lot of damage, so much so that the federal government has declared 46 counties eligible for federal disaster assistance. That’s quite a lot of people. What does that mean…how do those people know if they are eligible for that help?
Question 2: It’s understood that there are going to be a lot of questions and parameters that are unknown….so, Lauren, when people call that number, what are they asking for…what can they apply for?
Question 3: What I’m hearing is that when a storm victim calls that 800 number, they’re going to hear from the American Bar Association and the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers that there are areas that those victims hadn’t even thought of.
Question 4: When there are times of crisis, devastation or disaster, there are those who prey on victims. Can storm victims call the toll free number if they feel they have fallen victim to a fraud or scam?
Question 5: What type of precautions can we take now to better protect ourselves and minimize those legal problems if we become victims of a storm?
Question 6: What is that 800 number for storm victims to call for legal help and questions about disaster eligibility?
Text Transcript of Audio Interview
Shelly Tucker: Welcome to Law in Your Life, The Missouri Bar Broadcast for the Public. I’m Shelly Tucker. Our guest is Lauren Perkins-Allen with the law firm of Randy James and Associates of Lee Summit. We’re discussing the federal government disaster assistance program. There is an 800 number for the victims of storms to call for legal help. That number is 1-800-829-4128.
Lauren with the early to mid-May storms around mid-Missouri, it really swept the southern part of the state and did a lot of damage there -- so much that the federal government is declaring 46 counties eligible for federal disaster assistance. That’s quite a lot of people. What does that mean exactly? How do people know if they’re eligible for that help?
Lauren Perkins Allen: When the United States President declares a major disaster such as in this case in the southern part of Missouri, FEMA, (Federal Emergency Management Agency) in cooperation with the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, establishes a toll-free number for disaster victims to request legal assistance. Public assistance means assistance for the state and local governments and certain private non-profit organizations for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities. Twenty-eight (28) of those counties have qualified for individual assistance, which is what The Missouri Bar Young Lawyers section has developed a hotline in cooperation with the American Bar to provide legal assistance to individuals and their households.
Shelly Tucker: It’s understandable that there are going to be a lot of questions and a lot of parameters that are unknown, so Lauren, when people call that number what are they asking for? What can they apply for?
Lauren Perkins Allen: A lot of the assistance available includes securing FEMA and other government benefits for the actual disaster victim that become available in these times of disasters. These storms hit southern Missouri May 8 through the 16th and any kind of damage to your home or property, there are benefits out there that are available and the hotline is there to be utilized by the citizens of the state of Missouri who are in these counties to call. We can help them get that assistance through the government and through FEMA as well as legal assistance regarding life, medical, property insurance claims. We can also help with home repair contracts and contractors, replacement of wills and other important legal documents that you may have had in your home that were either lost or destroyed in the disaster. We also are able to assist in consumer protection matters and procedures and also provide counseling on any kind of landlord/tenant problems that you’re having. If, for instance, your apartment or your rental home is uninhabitable, we can also help facilitate any kind of counseling or issues that you may be having with your landlord and tell you how to handle that in these difficult times.
Shelly Tucker: Lauren, what I’m hearing is that when a storm victim calls that 800 number, they’re going to hear from the American Bar Association and The Missouri Bar Young Lawyers that there are areas that those victims probably hadn’t even thought about they’re going to need assistance in. I mean you’re bringing up areas that I hadn’t even thought of and you know the victims really aren’t even thinking about those matters at that time of all that storm damage.
Lauren Perkins Allen: And that’s really why we have developed this program to come in and help those kinds of victims. When a disaster strikes and your basement’s flooded and you have important documents such as a will or your insurance policy information that may be destroyed, most people don’t remember off the top of their head what’s covered in an insurance policy and what isn’t. There’s going to be claims that need to be made and you’re not sure where to go or how to start the process -- that is the reason why this hotline is so, so important to individuals when the disaster strikes. They’re trying to clean up their homes and reconstruct their lives and sometimes just want to throw up their hands in the air. That’s just when all these questions that arise and we are there to help. We can help facilitate questions about insurance claims, with getting your life back together in a legal sense from whatever documentation you may have lost.
Shelley Tucker: Lauren, when there are times of crisis and disaster, there are always those who want to prey on the victims. Can people call to find out how to protect themselves or what to do in case they have been a victim of a fraud or a scam?
Lauren Perkins Allen: You have unscrupulous individuals who try to come into these areas and take advantage of people. It may be someone who needs money upfront to repair a roof or wants you to put down a sum of money to deposit to get some work done on your house. It may seem like a good idea at the time, but there are individuals out there unfortunately who come in and try to take advantage of these situations. A simple call to this 1‑800 hotline set up by The Missouri Bar can really help prevent a lot of things that could go wrong in the aftermath of a disaster.
Shelley Tucker: Lauren, what type of precautions can we take now to better protect ourselves and minimize those legal problems that could come up in the wake of a storm?
Lauren Perkins Allen: Some things to think about from a preventative standpoint would be to make sure you have secured those important documents that we all have and a lot of us keep in our home: car titles, home mortgage information, your insurance policies, any kind of health directives or wills or estate planning materials. Another really important thing is any kind of personal identification information, Social Security card, and driver’s license. Sometimes even these essential documents that we have on us every single day get lost or destroyed. Just having copies of those kind of simple cards and that kind of information can really be helpful in putting your life back together. People need to keep those kinds of important papers in a safety deposit box or somewhere they may be able to get to them quickly in case of a tornado that’s bearing down on them, so they can take them with them as they get out of their houses.
Shelley Tucker: Lauren, what is that 800 number for storm victims to call?
Lauren Perkins Allen: The 800 number is set up by The Missouri Bar in Jefferson City and it is 1-800-829-4128. A recording will come on; just follow the recording and it will direct you to leave a message regarding the storm. We need to have your contact information, your name, whatever telephone number is best to contact you, when it is best to contact you, and then just a simple statement from you about what kind of problem you’re encountering. Once that message has been taken by The Missouri Bar it will be forwarded on to Young Lawyers in the state who are able to help and to provide advice.
Shelley Tucker: Our guest has been Lauren Perkins Allen with Randy James and Associates law firm of Lee Summit. We’ve been talking about federal government disaster assistance. The Law in Your Life provides general information about the law for the public. For your specific legal needs remember you can only get legal advice from your attorney. We hope you’ve enjoyed this segment. If you have any suggestions for future podcast topics let us know at mobar.org. I’m Shelley Tucker for the Missouri Bar and Law in Your Life.
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Posted by: lorge | 05/24/2012 at 09:39 PM