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Insurance issues compound fire

By Waveney Ann Moore, Times Staff Writer
In print: Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Tony Twigg, 29, holds his son, Pierce, 4, while standing with daughter Mikayla Sanders, 12, his wife, Nadia, 31, and daughter Alexis, 8. Mikayla ushered her mom and sister out of the burning house.
	[DIRK SHADD | Times]

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When Tony and Nadia Twigg bought their house from a Seminole investor five years ago, they said they thought their monthly payments included full insurance coverage for their modest three-bedroom, one-garage home.

Last week, they discovered that they were wrong. By then, it was too late. A fast-moving fire gutted their home, destroying their possessions and throwing the couple and the lives of their three children into disarray.

"I just miss being in my own home,'' said Nadia Twigg, 31.

Richard K. Hainisch, the man who sold the Twiggs the 8393 77th Ave. home in Seminole and remains its owner under a "contract for deed'' arrangement, said he plans to repair the property. He said when insurance premiums and taxes became exorbitant, he dropped coverage and four months ago, decided to "self insure'' his four investment properties in Pinellas County.

"We didn't expect to have this kind of catastrophe,'' he said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

"We were caught between a rock and a hard place.''

Hainisch said the Twiggs got a letter with their Oct. 16, 2003, contract stating that they needed to get insurance to cover personal property and other liabilities.

"This particular letter, we read to everybody. We go over it. They just forgot … (Tony Twigg) took a gamble, the way I took a gamble and we both lost,'' said Hainisch, 65, a retired engineer who invests in houses.

The Twiggs say they were making monthly payments to Hainisch that included insurance and didn't know that they weren't properly covered. Now, they say, Hainisch wants them to make a $2,000 payment to cover the deductible for his self-insurance policy. Hainisch says he was putting their insurance payments and taxes in escrow and will have to mortgage his own home to repair the Twiggs' property.

Last week's fire appears to have been caused by an air handler, said Michael Rodde, fire marshal for Seminole Fire and Rescue.

"It appears that it got hot and caught on fire,'' he said.

Nadia Twigg said it was 12-year-old Mikayla's quick action that saved family members from being harmed. Mikayla was doing her homework after school when she smelled smoke and rushed to wake up her mother and younger sister.

Everything was lost, Nadia Twigg said, adding that the family's photographs and all of her children's drawings were destroyed.

"We have nothing, just memories,'' she said.

She and her husband signed a contract to buy the house in 2003 and made a $5,000 down payment, she said. Recent mortgage payments were $1,006 a month, with $2,000 a year going toward insurance for the house, she said.

"It's all we had. We are really strapped, because we are still having to pay the mortgage, also,'' she said.

Family friend Heidi Ortiz, who has known Tony Twigg, 29, since elementary school, has been working to get help for the family.

"I e-mailed, called everybody,'' said Ortiz, 27, who has also set up a bank account for donations.

Meanwhile, Hainisch is unsure how long it will take to repair the house. He said an engineer has declared that the house is structurally sound, but that the garage trusses will have to be replaced. The house also needs to be rewired, he said.

Hainisch said he is also offering to buy out the Twiggs and will return their down payment and about $3,000 in principal.

Tony Twigg's mother, Cathy, says her son, who works for Jimmy Willett Tree Service, simply wants his home rebuilt. "He likes his neighbors and the neighborhood and his kids go to school there,'' she said.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this article. Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at (727) 892-2283 or wmoore@sptimes.com.