Property Damage Claim Denial

We serve insurance policy holders who have been victims of unfair insurance company tactics and practices, including the following:

• Vehicle Property Damage

Vehicle crashes, accidents, theft, fire, or adverse weather conditions can result in substantial vehicle property damage.  Auto insurance companies often fail or refuse to cover the full extent of the property damage.  For profit’s sake, insurance companies try to pay consumers the very least amount of money possible for vehicle property damage.  Insurance companies are required, however, in virtually every State, to honor the terms of their policies. If they fail to honor their policies terms, in many case insurance companies can be sued for bad faith.

More often than not, auto insurance companies attempt to repair the damaged vehicle instead of declaring the vehicle a “total loss,” or “totaling” the vehicle.  Not only does this improper tactic greatly diminish the vehicle’s value, but may also place the consumer at risk of operating a defective and unsafe vehicle.

• Fire Insurance

Fire insurance protects against fire damage to homes and businesses.  When a substantial claim is made under a fire insurance policy, insurance companies often seek to deny coverage on several grounds: (1) arson; (2) electrical fire; (3) appliance and product malfunctions.  Insurance companies also often refuse to pay the correct  for repair, replacement, relocation, or rebuilding.

• Water Damage

Water damage to the home is caused by many sources:  broken washer lines/hoses, broken refrigerator water lines, broken ice machine hoses, or leaking roofs.  Insurance companies may be held liable for failing to pay a water damage claim, or when they fail to pay the correct amount.

• Flood Damage Claims

Water damage in the form of flooding often ruins a home.  After the water has been removed, there is often mud residue and toxic mold which take hold of the structure itself, rendering the home uninhabitable.  Major appliances and electronics, including washer, dryer, refrigerator, furnace, water heater, televisions, computers, and other related products and irreparably damaged and require replacement.  Carpeting and drywall have to be replaced.  The damage to the structure itself – called structural damage – may be insurmountable to repair, meaning relocation or rebuilding are the last available options.

Most homeowner, condo owner, and business insurances cover water damage, but exclude “flood” damage.  Because of this standard exclusion, insurance companies often attempt to delay or deny claims for water damage by simply categorizing the damage as flood damage.  There are strict legal definitions that apply to these situations, and quite often the insurance company’s claim denial based on claiming the damage is flood-related can be defeated in court.

• Hail Damage

Hail damage to homes and business is often covered in homeowner and business insurance policies.  Often, the insurance company claims the roof damage or other property damage caused by hail was pre-existing, or was not the result of hail damage.  Where these claims have been wrongfully denied, then the insurance company is often liable to the policyholder for the claim as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

• Home Owner Insurance (HOI)

Homeowners’ insurance (HOI) protects the home itself as well as the contents, or personal property inside the home.  Most consumers have paid their HOI premiums for years, even decades, without filing a single claim.  When a home and/or its contents are damaged or destroyed in a hurricane, tropical storm, thunderstorm, lighting strike, fallen tree, or even an errant vehicle, then a HOI generally covers the claim, including repair, replacement, and rebuilding.  Insurance companies are increasingly refusing to pay valid claims, delay paying the claim, or underpaying the claim. Because an insurance policy is a contract between a homeowner and an insurance company, the insurance company must abide by the terms of its contract.  Where the insurer wrongfully delays or denies paying a valid claim, it can be held liable not only for breach of contract, but also for bad faith.

Consumer Injury Lawyer

If you have been the victim of an insurance company’s bad faith, then contact a consumer injury attorney at our law firm regarding your bad faith claim. You may be eligible to receive compensation for your losses due to the insurer's misconduct.

We may team up with, co-counsel, or jointly prosecute, your bad faith claim with an insurance claims attorney whom we know and trust. We are sensitive to your needs, share your values, and work hard for you and your family to secure justice.