ADA Matters Because All People Matter

A DISABLED DAD’S ADA MATTERS
Georgia on My Mind
STATE BAR OF GEORGIA • CITY OF BROOKHAVEN • GIRMA, GMA, AND GALLAGHER BASSETT • GEORGIA POST • STATE ADA COORDINATOR’S OFFICE

One Case, Eight GIRMA Claim Numbers. Then Its Lawyer Said My Emails Crossed Into Harassment

One case. Eight claim numbers. Then “harassment.”

I went to the City’s insurer, GIRMA, and its claims administrator, Gallagher Bassett, to try to change the City’s behavior. Their intake system opened seven extra claim numbers for one case, ghosted my requests for disability help, and then their outside counsel called my emails harassment.

One case, eight claim numbersDenied on my surgery dateCalled it 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 counts on this page is theirs. Here is what GIRMA, GMA, and Gallagher Bassett put in writing.

“The numerous emails that you have sent to the claim intake department were mistakenly set up as new claims.”

Belinda Boscoe, Senior Resolution Manager. March 13, 2026. Don’t believe me. Read it here.

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.

Belinda Boscoe, Senior Resolution Manager. April 1, 2026. Don’t believe me. Read it here.

“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.”

James R. Westbury, Jr., outside counsel for GMA and GIRMA. May 1, 2026. The bracketed ellipsis marks one omitted sentence: “If you are unsatisfied with the decision as to the claim that has been presented, you are welcome to present your claim in court.” Don’t believe me. Read it here.
Who is speaking: Belinda Boscoe, Senior Resolution Manager, Gallagher Bassett · Robert Angotta, Gallagher Bassett · Cameron J. Wall, Litigation Counsel, Gallagher Bassett · James R. Westbury, Jr., outside counsel for GMA and GIRMA · Rusi C. Patel, General Counsel, GMA · Larry Hanson, CEO, GMA. All people in the record.

Where it stands, as of September 5, 2026

  • Claim file closed April 1, 2026 (the denial). Reopen request of April 2: no response found through October 19, 2026.
  • 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 wrote that my emails had “crossed into the realm of 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 Case, Eight Claim Numbers

I went to GIRMA and Gallagher Bassett to try to change the City’s behavior. Their own intake system opened seven extra claim numbers for one case, eight in all. 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

On May 1, 2026, their outside counsel, James R. Westbury, Jr., wrote that GIRMA is not required to designate an ADA coordinator, asked “What is your disability?”, and wrote that my emails had “crossed into the realm of 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 three 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 City of Brookhaven record

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. No response found through October 19, 2026.
  • April 2, 2026. A request to reopen and reassign the claim.
  • April 6, 2026. Fourth accommodation request, to Robert Angotta of Gallagher Bassett with GMA’s chief executive copied. His mailbox returned a read receipt at 4:41 PM the same afternoon. No reply found through October 19, 2026.
  • April 12, 2026. Title II demand to Robert Angotta of Gallagher Bassett, 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 documents.
  • April 15, 2026. The intake system opened a ninth claim number for the same case. On March 13, 2026, Belinda Boscoe had written: “All claim numbers that were set up after your initial report of this incident have been voided.”

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 has no answer through October 19, 2026, 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 extra claim numbers created for one case, and what was done about it beyond calling it a mistake?
  • On what basis was the file closed as “various administrative tasks”?
  • Will James R. Westbury, Jr. retract his May 1, 2026 statement that my emails had “crossed into the realm of harassment”?

Does a Georgia risk pool have to comply with the ADA?

Every word here is theirs. Read the claim-handling record and see how the other institutions answered.

Gallagher Bassett Claim HandlingThe StoriesState Bar of GeorgiaSee the Receipts

Frequently 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 five times between March 13 and April 12, 2026 and was never answered. Who is GIRMA’s ADA coordinator remains unanswered.

Why did one case get eight claim numbers?

On March 13, 2026, Belinda Boscoe, Gallagher Bassett’s Senior Resolution Manager, wrote: “The numerous emails that you have sent to the claim intake department 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 cases, and asked that correspondence go through him.

Correction, September 28, 2026: This page said one case became seven claims. The record shows eight claim numbers for one case by March 13, 2026: the original and seven opened automatically by the intake system. A quotation shown as describing “the seven claims” has been corrected to Belinda Boscoe’s exact words, which describe my emails.

The documents, in date order