ARCADIA, Fla. - Next month will mark four years since Hurricane Charley hit Southwest Florida. Since then, thousands of homes have been re-built, along with hundreds of public buildings. But, there's still a group of people in Arcadia waiting for their turn. That list includes 61-year-old Betty Cooper.

"It was real hard cause we had no electricity," says Cooper. "You couldn't wash no clothes, couldn't do nothing."

Four years later, Cooper is still living in the home damaged by the hurricane. The home has mold, water problems, broken ceilings and an un-stable roof.

She is among 78 people in the area who say they were ripped-off by United Casualty Insurance Company of America. They say they were never given enough money to fix their homes.

That's when attorney Dave Pettinato, from Tampa-based Merlin Law Group, got involved.

"The homes were in such a poor state caused by the hurricane damage, I had thought that it was a Bosnia burnout camp," says Pettinato.

The insurance company gave Betty Cooper just $5-thousand-dollars to fix her home, but when Merlin Law Group had their adjusters come in, they said she was owed at least $20-thousand dollars more.

"I litigate against insurance companies all the time and I can tell you this is not an isolated incidence," says Pettinato.

The company released a statement through their attorney, John Camillo, which states:
"These lawsuits arose from claims that were adjusted over four years ago, and the suits were the first notice that the company received that there was any disagreement over the amounts paid on the claims. While we believe the claims were handled properly, we opted to use the appraisal process provided for in the policies in order to amicably and quickly resolve the disputes, knowing that having the appraisals take place almost 4 years after the storm would make them difficult and involve a lot of guesswork. Though we feel the amounts awarded in many of the appraisals are inflated, and suspect that the appraisers erred on the side of including damage that was due to wear and tear, this is a process we agreed to and, accordingly, the company has paid the awards in order to bring this matter to a final conclusion."

In the end, Betty Cooper and the 77 other policy holders are finally getting the rest of the money they've been waiting for, more than $500-thousand dollars.

"It was a long time coming," says Cooper. "But, the Lord always said wait on the lord and he will see you through."

Now, Betty Cooper will finally be able to fix up her home in Arcadia, the way it was four years ago, before the storm.

The Merlin Law Group says it's very possible others in the state may have similar claims. You're asked to call them at 1-877-449-4700.