Colorful and strong willed people make the world more interesting. Every meeting and phone call I had with Pat Catania was filled with colorful debate. He was a fighter and always made me rethink issues, methods of adjustment and coverage because he never accepted conventional thinking. When he learned he had liver cancer, he fought the conventional grim prognosis to the bitter end. I would have expected nothing less from him.
Pat’s obituary was certainly right when it indicated that he was a “passionate fighter and a true advocate for the policyholder’s rights.” A lawyer by training, we would share ideas and perspectives about the subtle issues of coverage, adjustment, and unfair claims practice. It was easy to tell that Pat loved the law and lore of insurance. Maybe because of his legal background, he shared transcripts of depositions and his thoughts regarding how to attack an insurance company’s denial of coverage. He made me a better lawyer.
He was very proud of his website MySmartClaims.com. We spent several hours together as he explained the concept and showed me the Google analytics results. He was especially amused at how many hits he received from Bloomington, Illinois. He joked that the State Farm Home Office executives were learning how to adjust homeowners claims based on his website. To say that Pat enjoyed the fight against the largest insurers would be a significant understatement; he loved the battle.
I will miss Pat and our vibrant discussions about the law, insurance and adjusting. There is a time when all fighters eventually find peace.