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The family enlisted a no win no fee lawyer that specialised in insurance cases, but as barrister and other court-related expenses started to mount a final blow forced them to pull out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were also told that in the likely event we won our case, AAMI\/Suncorp would immediately lodge an appeal, tying us up in the legal system for even more years to come,\u201d the Ashfords said.<\/p>\n
Should they lose the case, the Ashfords were warned they risked losing everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cAAMI\/Suncorp emailed a letter to our lawyer late on a Saturday afternoon the week before Easter \u2026 the letter with this threat to sue us also included a threat advising they would make us sell our home if we were unable to pay them the costs they were seeking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know for a fact they do this, and have done it to many other families \u2026 we could not risk this, when our lives have been put on hold for nearly six years already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Henderson, herself a fierce critic of the insurer for its conduct towards Wye River bushfire victims in 2016, previously said it was unacceptable the Ashfords had \u201cbeen forced to go to court to seek justice\u201d.<\/p>\n
Learning of the family\u2019s recent decision to cease legal action, the Senator said she was extremely disappointed the family had discontinued \u201ctheir fight for justice against AAMI due to the unaffordable costs of a court battle\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cutting their losses again, the Ashfords are now turning their attention to pushing for change so that others may not have to experience what they have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is outright bullying, lying and manipulation used as a tactic to pressure valid claimants to walk away from the losses the insurance company is actually liable for,\u201d the Ashfords said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will concentrate our efforts on ensuring a government inquiry or Royal Commission takes place to look into the insurance industry in general, and how they handle the claims process, in particular major loss claims, as there is currently no oversight in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n
AAMI did not respond to questions about whether it intended to complete remediation works at the Ashford’s home or threats to sue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A JAN JUC family that\u2019s spent six years battling AAMI to make good on remediation works that rendered their family home unliveable have been forced to pull out of court action against the insurer due to financial duress. The Ashfords left their Jan Juc home in 2016 after discovering mould, setting them on a long […]<\/p>\n