A state insurance group has taken what its claims manager describes as an unusual step of petitioning an Alamance County superior court judge to release body-worn camera footage recorded by two Graham police officers in 2022 in order to substantiate damage to a Graham duplex.
The alleged damages to the duplex at 316-318 Albright Avenue in Graham were repaired before it could be inspected by an insurance adjuster but nonetheless resulted in an insurance claim being filed for the damages, according to a petition that has been filed in Alamance County superior court by the North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association (NCJUA) in Raleigh.
The NCJUA is seeking to obtain copies of police body-worn camera footage recorded during a response to a 9-1-1 call regarding alleged damage from vandalism at a duplex at 316-318 Albright Avenue in Graham on October 15, 2022.
A hearing on the petition is currently scheduled for January 6 in Alamance County superior court.
The video recordings were captured by body-cams worn by Graham police officer Michael Preston Bradley and corporal Benji Haynes, who responded to a 9-1-1 call regarding the duplex at 316-318 Albright Avenue, according to an earlier, unsuccessul motion for summary judgment filed by the NCJUA.
Meanwhile, Andrews Properties of NC, whose manager is William (“Grant”) Andrews, Jr., also filed a motion to intervene in mid-November in order to obtain copies of the body-worn camera footage recorded by the two Graham officers who responded to the 9-1-1 call at the duplex in October 2022.
In its motion to intervene, Andrews Properties NC contends that it doesn’t own the duplex along Albright Avenue, and “has no involvement with the property,” though William G. Andrews, Jr. acknowledges that he had repaired the damages caused by the vandalism on October 15, 2022.
The damaged duplex is owned (and was insured) in the name of Andrews Properties and Rentals, according to court documents. William G. Andrews, Jr. is listed on other public records as a managing member for that company.
The subsequent insurance claim, known formally as a “First Notice of Loss,” was filed in January 2023 by Steven Andrews, who is the registered agent for Andrews Properties of NC, according to insurance documents and other public records.
Though the court file gives no indication of the costs to repair the duplex at 316-318 Albright Avenue, the property was insured for up to $283,325, including coverage on the dwelling and other structures, rental expenses (in the event the property became inhabitable), and other potential types of losses.
The 1,568-square foot duplex at 316-318 Albright Avenue was built in 1945, according to Alamance County tax records, which list the latest assessed value at $125,207.
Andrews Properties and Rentals purchased the property – along with two other duplexes at 304-306 and 310-312 Albright Avenue in Graham, and what tax records classify as an apartment building at 115 Flanner Street, Burlington – for $670,000 in March 2022, according to documents filed at the time with Alamance County’s Register of Deeds to consummate the transaction.
Andrews accused of lying to state insurance group
In its motion to intervene, Andrews Properties NC asserts that the NCJUA has accused William G. Andrews, Jr. of misrepresenting the extent of the damage and the repairs he performed on the duplex at 316-318 Albright Avenue.
Andrews Properties NC also claims that the state insurance group has since refused to renew insurance policies for more than a dozen of the company’s residential properties in Burlington, Graham, and Reidsville. The company says it needs copies of the bodycam footage captured by the two Graham police officers who responded to the 9-1-1 call at the duplex on Albright Avenue in October 2022 “to prepare its defense in an appeal” before the state Department of Insurance.
A claims manager for the NCJUA, Nicole Pepicello, has also filed an affidavit that outlines the circumstances surrounding the dispute. Nothing in the court file lists the purported costs for any repairs to the property or indicates that the insurance group paid the claim later filed by Steven Andrews.
“The [NCJUA] retained an independent adjuster who promptly inspected the [property] but was unable to observe the claimed damages because repairs and renovations had already been made prior to the inspection,” Pepicello states in her affidavit, adding that Andrews Properties and Rentals did not provide the insurer with any photos to document damages caused by the alleged vandalism at 316-318 Albright Avenue in Graham.
However, “in an examination under oath” requested by the NCJUA, an unnamed representative for Andrews Properties NC “testified that all the windows, the front doors, and the floors were damaged due to the alleged vandalism, and that the walls had knife marks, drawings, and holes on them, and feces wiped across them,” Pepicello states in her affidavit.
The recordings captured by the two Graham police officers who responded to the 9-1-1 call in October 2022 are being sought because they’re believed to be the only “documentary evidence” of the reported damage to the property, Pepicello’s affidavit states. She alludes to the possibility that the recordings may be used as evidence in a potential future legal proceeding.
Pepicello also points out, “It is uncommon for an insured to have already repaired the alleged loss when the field adjuster inspects the subject property for the first time”; that she is unaware of any prior claim in which the NCJUA has petitioned for police body-cam footage; and that she had never requested any police body-cam footage during her nearly 25 years’ tenure in the insurance industry.
The NCJUA is being represented by the Young Moore and Henderson law firm in Raleigh. The insurance group’s petition for release of the bodycam footage was filed in Alamance County superior court earlier this year.
The Graham defendants are being represented by one of the city’s attorneys, Bryan Coleman.
Andrews Properties NC is being represented for its motion to intervene by the Carruthers & Roth law firm in Greensboro.
