Montgomery, ALCustomers of home warranty companies, such as American Home Shield can take heart that some previous home warranty lawsuits have resulted in settlements. One American Home Shield lawsuit resulted in a settlement, although the company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability in the settlement.The settlement was the result of a class-action lawsuit filed by Laura and Steven Faught against American Home Shield on behalf of people in the US who purchased or were issued a home service contract from American Home Shield from July 24, 2001 through October 19, 2009. As part of the settlement, American Home Shield agreed to establish a review desk to consider claims from settlement class members whose claims were denied during the class period. Despite entering into a settlement, American Home Shield denied any wrongdoing or any liability. READ MORE BAD FAITH INSURANCE LEGAL NEWS New Home Warranty Lawsuits and Horror Stories That denial of wrongdoing has not prevented a different lawsuit, also alleging American Home Shield failed to pay its customers' claims, from being filed.

The lawsuit, filed by Bridgette and William Guadet, was filed on June 23, 2011, according to The Louisiana Record (06/30/11), and alleges American Home Shield denied claims made by class members under grounds of "'lack of maintenance,' 'pre-existing condition,' or 'failure to clean,' despite not inspecting the appliances when policies are issued."air handling unit support Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges, American Home Shield denies claims because of minimal uncleanness, even if outside factors were the cause of the appliance's breakdown. parts of air handling unitPlaintiffs allege contractors were given a bonus for denying legitimate claims. ac unit for old carsThe lawsuit claims breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. Plaintiffs seek damages in excess of $75,000.

Meanwhile, customers of other home warranty companies have filed lawsuits of their own or may be investigating possible lawsuits, alleging their claims were improperly denied.READ ABOUT BAD FAITH INSURANCE LAWSUITS bad faith insurance Legal Help If you or a loved one have suffered losses in this case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to an insurance lawyer who may evaluate your bad faith insurance claim at no cost or obligation. ADD YOUR COMMENT ON THIS STORY Fields marked are mandatory. Please read our comment guidelines before posting. Are you the defendant or a subject matter expert on this topic with an opposing viewpoint? We'd love to hear your comments here as well, or if you'd like to contact us for an interview please submit your details here.Jul 7, 2014 Most central air conditioning units last about 20 years. At 12 years old, your air conditioning unit is passing its mid-life point. Even if your air conditioner is only 10 years old, you may save 20-40 percent of your cooling energy costs by replacing it with a newer, more efficient model.

When replacing your central air conditioning unit, look for a SEER of at least 15. A variable speed air handler for new ventilation systems is best, but two-speed is still much more efficient than single speed. Ensure the unit has a thermal expansion valve, which maintains efficiency even with less than optimal refrigerant charge. If you live in a humid climate, make sure the sensible heat ratio is .7 or higher (this means the unit has good performance at high humidity). Of course, also make sure the unit is ENERGY STAR® rated. In addition to purchasing an energy efficient unit, correct installation is critical to getting the performance you expect. First have the installer perform an industry-approved sizing calculation (e.g., ACCA Manual J and S). During the installation process, make sure the ducts don't have any hard bends, kinks, or excessive lengths. Have the installer check your air ducts for leakage and seal them if they leak more than 8 percent of the air conditioner’s airflow.

Once the new unit is installed, have the installer verify the airflow across the coil and in each room. Learn more about replacing your air conditioner. Don’t forget to weatherize your building or residents!  This will help stabilize the temperature within the building.  This will help keep the cold air “in” and the hot air “out!"As a committed TreeHugger, one of the most important goals of my recent house renovation was to reduce energy consumption per person. The first thing many people do in a renovation is replace all the windows, even though study after study have shown that it has just about the worst bang for the buck of anything you can do. It also doesn't even make that much difference; a single paned window has an R value of perhaps 1, a new double glazed window between 2 and 4 unless you go very, very expensive.Then there is the issue of character and appearance. My 100 year old house has beautiful 100 year old windows, with divided lights at the top that give the house its charm.

They will also last as long as the house; double glazed units will not, as they lose their seal and the argon leaks out, as the vinyl or finger-jointed wood deteriorates.The salesmen keep pitching the energy savings of replacement windows; It's a huge problem for those of us concerned about preservation and conservation, where replacement windows ruin heritage houses, at great cost to owners and for very little long term gain.But double hung windows are very hard to seal, the spaces where the counterweights go are big empty wind tunnels. Air leakage becomes a far bigger problem with them than heat loss through the glass.One solution that has been around for a while is the window insert, an acrylic window that fits inside your existing windows, often held in place with snap fittings or magnetic strips. I have been considering them for years, but worried about the fit (thanks to settlement over the years, all these windows are parallelograms, not rectangles) and the look of the strips that held the windows in.

Then there is the Indow window. It has a compression tube around the edge that holds it in place so that nothing needs to be fastened to the window frame. This also seals it really tightly to the frame so that there is no air leakage around it. But what I found most impressive in discussions with Indow was their measuring system, where they promised that they could deal with parallelogram or trapezoid windows.In their literature, Indow promises an almost doubling of the R value of my single glazed windows, from R-1 to R-1.87. That's not a lot, but not much worse that replacement windows that cost a whole lot more. But as I mentioned earlier, that is only one of a number of factors that affect comfort, which is really a misunderstood concept. Engineer Robert Bean explains that your body absorbs or radiates heat from the surrounding surfaces:The less efficient a building, the greater the temperature difference between your skin and the temperatures of the walls, windows, doors, floors and ceilings.

It is the temperature differences between you and the building which causes discomfort.These walls and windows are COLD, as seen in this thermal image taken last January, pre-construction. It was always uncomfortable in this bay window. Even the piano was suffering.However the Indow insert promised to significantly reduce draftiness, to well below even what new windows would deliver. And although noise from the street is not a problem where we live, even the standard inserts offer significant noise reduction. They don't feel cold, because acrylic is not as good a conductor as glass.Michael Ruehle, an Indow authorized dealer with GREENheart Buildings Inc, arrived with a little laser measuring device and a netbook running an online program, and measured the length and width of the windows. Then he used the clever little device to measure the diagonals, and entered all the data into the program. Voila: a trapezoid is on the screen.A few days ago he returned with the inserts. They are delivered with a protective coating on the acrylic which is peeled off;