One matter. Seven claims. Then a harassment letter.
I went to the City’s insurer, GIRMA, and its claims administrator, Gallagher Bassett, to try to change the City’s behavior. Their system split one matter into seven claims, ghosted my requests for disability help, and then their outside counsel called my emails harassment.
What GIRMA is
The Georgia Municipal Association identifies the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency (GIRMA) as its property and liability program for eligible Georgia local governments. GMA says the program provides coverage, loss-control services, training and other risk-management resources.
This page addresses only the documented claim-handling record involving the City of Brookhaven and GIRMA, GMA, and Gallagher Bassett. It does not assess GIRMA’s other members or claims.
Official source: GMA Property & Liability Insurance Service Details
Every word that matters on this page is theirs. Here is what GIRMA, GMA, and Gallagher Bassett put in writing.
The seven claims were “mistakenly set up as new claims.”
The April 1 denial folded my ADA accommodation complaints in with “various administrative tasks” and closed the file. The date was the day I was in surgery.
“You have presented dozens of emails to Ms. Boscoe and others in volume and frequency that is not productive and has crossed into the realm of harassment. […] Your efforts seem to be less intended to vindicate any bona fide legal right than to exploit laws unrelated to the merits of the claim for the purpose of annoyance.”
Where it stands, as of September 5, 2026
- Claim file closed April 1, 2026 (the denial). Reopen request of April 2: no response.
- Five written accommodation requests, March 13 to April 12: zero substantive responses. ADA coordinator and grievance procedure: never identified (the April 12 demand).
- May 1: GIRMA’s counsel calls the requests harassment; Gallagher Bassett’s counsel says it has no involvement (Westbury, Wall).
- Twelve-item retraction demand of May 6: zero cured by the deadlines (the scorecard). Last institutional word: GMA General Counsel, May 21.
- Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance: consumer complaint on Gallagher Bassett opened May 20, 2026; no substantive update (the case).
One Matter, Seven Claims
I went to GIRMA and Gallagher Bassett to try to change the City’s behavior. Their own system split one matter into seven separate claims. Their Senior Resolution Manager, Belinda Boscoe, admitted they were “mistakenly set up as new claims.”
The Silence, Then the Denial
I waited for calls that never came. I sent request after request for disability help and got ghosted, until Boscoe’s April 1 denial folded my ADA accommodation complaints in with “various administrative tasks” and closed the file. The date was the day I was in surgery.
The Harassment Letter
Their outside counsel answered a request for disability access by calling it harassment. James R. Westbury, Jr. had never met me. Neither did he have any reason to answer a request for disability access with this kind of disproportion, or anything remotely like it.
Why I Went to Them at All
The City of Brookhaven refused to discuss a simple complaint by email, in person, or on the phone. It asked me more than five times who my attorney was. Its City Manager declined “any meetings” and cited “potential litigation.” It priced a single records request at $49,385.
An insurer exists precisely to change the behaviour of the party it covers. Going to GIRMA was not an escalation for its own sake. It was the next door, and by then it was one of the only ones left.
The Accommodation Requests, in Order
I asked, in writing, for an ADA contact, a phone call, and one answer about the claim structure. Then I asked again. Then a third time. Then a fourth.
- March 13, 2026. ADA accommodation inquiry to Gallagher Bassett.
- March 16, 2026. Time sensitive follow-up. Unanswered.
- April 2, 2026. A request to reopen and reassign the claim.
- April 6, 2026. Fourth accommodation request, to the Gallagher Bassett supervisor with GMA’s chief executive copied. His mailbox returned a read receipt at 4:41 PM the same afternoon. No reply.
- April 12, 2026. Title II demand to the Gallagher Bassett supervisor, asking a question that should have taken one line to answer: who is GIRMA’s ADA coordinator.
- April 14, 2026. Certified Title II notice to GMA’s chief executive, with eleven exhibits.
A read receipt is a specific kind of document. It does not prove anyone considered anything. It proves the message was opened. When a fourth written accommodation request is opened the same afternoon and never answered, that is not a message that got lost.
What Two State Offices Did With the Same Facts
Two Georgia state offices looked at parts of this record. Both engaged. That contrast is why this page ends the way it does rather than in despair.
- The State ADA Coordinator’s Office answered the GIRMA request point by point on May 13, 2026. Read the reply
- The Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance opened a case on Gallagher Bassett, running from May 20 to June 16, 2026. How that route works
Open Questions
- Who is GIRMA’s ADA coordinator, and where is that published?
- Where is the published grievance procedure for a disability access complaint about claim handling?
- How were seven claim numbers created from one matter, and what was done about it beyond calling it a mistake?
- On what basis was the file closed as “various administrative tasks”?
- Will the characterisation of accommodation requests as harassment be retracted?
Every word here is theirs. Read the claim-handling record and see how the other institutions answered.
Gallagher Bassett Claim HandlingGeorgia InstitutionsState Bar of GeorgiaSee the ProofFrequently asked questions
What is GIRMA?
The Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency, the property and liability program run under the Georgia Municipal Association. It is the risk pool that covers member cities, including Brookhaven.
What is the difference between GMA, GIRMA and Gallagher Bassett?
GMA is the statewide association of Georgia cities. GIRMA is the risk pool run under GMA. Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. is the third party claims administrator that handles the claims day to day.
Does a risk pool have ADA obligations?
That question was asked in writing four times between March 13 and April 12, 2026 and was never answered. Who is GIRMA’s ADA coordinator remains unanswered.
Why did one matter become seven claims?
Gallagher Bassett’s Senior Resolution Manager said the seven extra claim numbers were mistakenly set up as new claims.
Who speaks for GMA and GIRMA?
On May 21, 2026 GMA’s General Counsel confirmed in writing that outside counsel represents both GMA and GIRMA regarding these matters, and asked that correspondence go through him.