The short answer: Friedman & Associates represents Cherokee County policyholders in hail, wind, tornado, water, fire and commercial claims, and in our specialty: claims that were denied or underpaid. This is the middle of the corridor we work every week. Fees are contingency only, capped by Georgia law at 33⅓%. No recovery, no fee. Call 770-230-2616 or text the partners.
Call us before you call your carrier. The first phone call shapes the whole claim. Already filed, or an adjuster already assigned? We're still your next call.
O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.3
NOAA ledger
Reg. 120-2-52-.03
Every kind of Cherokee loss.
Results and press
$1,664,329 recovered above the carriers' first offers on just 10 recent published files, from more than a decade of this work. See real case results. You could be next.
"He helped me recover 4 times what insurance was offering… extremely diligent and moralistic in how he worked." Kelly, Google review · 4.8★ across 23 reviews · read them all
When you hire the firm, you get the partners: Joshua and Hannah Friedman, with Callie Macho on client success. Not a call center. And Cherokee is not a pin on our map. The office is in it.
Want the fuller picture first? The film, the results register, and the client portal are all at the front door. Meet the firm →
What a Cherokee County claim looks like
Cherokee is the home county. The office is at 701 Sterling Reserve in Canton, which means inspections here are often same-day and the drive is measured in minutes rather than hours: about ten to Holly Springs, fifteen to Woodstock and Ball Ground, twenty to Acworth.
It is also the busiest storm record in our Georgia book. Tennis-ball hail on the northwest side of Woodstock in April 2025, a tornado down Dreamcatcher Drive, and a steady annual run of hardwoods onto structures from Hickory Flat to Towne Lake. Wind is a covered peril, so those claims are rarely about coverage. They are about scope.
High-value claims get private-client handling: strict confidentiality, your file held at the partner level, and the expert bench a complex home deserves. Private client services →
Not every claim qualifies. Three taps to find out if yours does.
The law and the clock
Georgia puts real deadlines on your carrier: acknowledge within 15 days, affirm or deny within 15 days of your completed proof of loss, and pay undisputed amounts within 10 days of confirming coverage (Reg. 120-2-52-.03). A denial must cite the specific policy provision it relies on. When coverage is admitted and only the number is wrong, the appraisal clause forces a binding valuation (McGowan v. Progressive, 2006).
One clock outranks everything: your policy's own "Suit Against Us" clause. Many Georgia policies allow as little as one year, and courts enforce it (White v. State Farm, 2012). Read yours the day a claim goes sideways — negotiation does not pause it.
The Cherokee County record
This is the county we live in. We read its record every week. 172 logged events in the county since 2020. The 2026 season is already on the record: 18 reports so far. The biggest hail on the record near here in the last twelve months is 1", at 2 Ese Oak Grove, about 11 miles from Cherokee County, on September 6, 2025. Already this year, Mar 16, 2026: 70 mph wind logged at Canton Cherokee Arpt, in this county. Tying your damage to a dated event on this record is how a wear-and-tear opinion gets rebutted.
Inside the one-year window: 19 logged events in this county in the last twelve months, the most recent on Aug 9, 2026, including 1 hail report. Many Georgia policies allow as little as one year from the date of loss to file suit, so those are the dates still working for you.
| Date | Event | Size or speed | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 9, 2026 † | Damaging wind | damage reported | Woodstock |
| Aug 9, 2026 † | Damaging wind | damage reported | Canton |
| Jul 29, 2026 † | Damaging wind | damage reported | Hickory Flat |
| Jun 18, 2026 † | Damaging wind | damage reported | Oak Grove |
| Sep 6, 2025 | Hail | 1" | Oak Grove |
| Apr 10, 2025 | Hail | 2.5" | Woodstock |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Tornado | EF0 | Woodstock |
| Mar 25, 2021 | Hail | 1.75" | South Canton |
† preliminary NWS Local Storm Report; NOAA finalization pending. More of the record lives at Cherokee County: damage figures and per-row federal links, refreshed weekly (last: 2026-08-10). Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, cross-read against NWS Local Storm Reports. Storm reports are point observations from spotters, stations, and survey teams — a sample of what happened, never an inventory. The absence of an entry for a date or place is not evidence that no damage occurred there.
The most severe on the county record
Carriers audit storm claims against this same federal record. By its own measurements, the worst of it looked like this:
| Date | Event | Where | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 30, 2021 | Tornado — EF1 | Keithsburg | EF1 |
| Apr 13, 2020 | Tornado — EF1 | Greeley | EF1 |
| May 20, 2025 | Tornado — EF0 | Waleska | EF0 |
| Apr 1, 2023 | Tornado — EF0 | Woodstock | EF0 |
Ratings, hail sizes and wind speeds as recorded by the National Weather Service. NOAA also logs a rough dollar figure for some events; those are whole-event estimates entered by the local office, frequently blank and often far below real losses, so we do not publish them as if they meant anything about your claim.
Questions from around Cherokee County
Should I call you before I call my insurance company?
Yes. What gets said in the first call shapes the whole claim, so talk to us first. Already filed, or an adjuster already assigned? Call us anyway. We step in at any stage, and the earlier the better.
How much does a public adjuster cost in Cherokee County?
You pay nothing up front. Georgia caps public adjuster fees at 33⅓% of the settlement (O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.3), and we work on contingency within that cap. No recovery, no fee, and the case review is free.
Was there really a tornado here?
Yes, and recently. Two days after Christmas 2024 a brief EF1 crossed the Blackwells area and the federal survey recorded damage to about a dozen homes. If your claim from that week was closed short, the date is still on the record.
Was the September 2023 hail big enough to hurt my roof?
It was. NOAA logged golf-ball hail, 1.75 inches, at Mars Hill Road and Hadaway Road on September 12, 2023, with more of it across the Brookstone side. Hail from an inch up bruises asphalt shingles and dents soft metals, and none of it has to be visible from the ground.
The check will not rebuild the roof. What is the lever?
Your policy carries one. When the carrier admits coverage but the number is wrong, the appraisal clause forces a binding valuation by independent appraisers, and Georgia courts treat the amount of loss as squarely appraisable (McGowan v. Progressive, 2006).
A tree came through the roof. What does the claim actually cover?
More than the hole. Wind is the peril and the tree is the instrument, so the claim runs to the roof system, the framing, the insulation, the interior water and the finishes, plus debris removal under its own limit.
How long do I have to act after a Cherokee County storm loss?
Two clocks matter. Your insurer owes you an acknowledgment within 15 days under Georgia regulation, so report promptly and in writing. The dangerous clock is your policy’s "Suit Against Us" clause: many Georgia policies allow as little as one year from the date of loss, and courts enforce it (White v. State Farm, 2012).
Can my roofer handle the insurance claim for me?
No, and Georgia drew that line to protect you. Adjusting or negotiating someone else’s claim takes a public adjuster license (O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43), and the law specifically bars roofing contractors from doing it (§ 10-1-393.12). That is no knock on your roofer. We handle the carrier, your roofer handles the roof, and we work well beside good contractors.
Prefer a quieter first step? Ask us anything, free: a real answer from a licensed adjuster, no strings.
Friedman & Associates are licensed Georgia public adjusters, not attorneys. Our work is the licensed practice of public adjusting under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43: reading the policy, documenting and valuing the loss, negotiating with the carrier, and preparing appraisal. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and litigation, including bad-faith suits, is referred to independent policyholder counsel.
Don't take the carrier's first number. A free, confidential review by licensed Georgia public adjusters who work this corridor every week. If we take the case, the fee comes from the recovery, never from you.
See if my case qualifies 770-230-2616