Hurricane Insurance Claims
Hurricanes are a common occurrence living in Florida and Georgia, so it's important to make sure your business or home is properly insured. If you experienced property damage from a hurricane, you will likely need repairs and need to rely on your homeowner's insurance to cover some or all of the costs. These costs can be enormous due to the amount of property damage a hurricane can inflict. Unfortunately, hurricane claims and other natural disaster claims can take a long time to recover losses because insurance companies oftentimes fail to follow through on their own obligations to policyholders. Though it is their duty to pay out losses, insurance companies will do everything to minimize how much they actually pay policyholders. The problem has grown in recent years as the number of hurricanes increases each year, resulting in insurance companies having to pay out more and more money to policyholders. Even when they do pay, insurance companies will try to give you the least amount possible, unfairly evaluating damages and delaying the process to force you to accept a low offer. In these instances, it is important to have an experienced insurance lawyer on your side so you know your rights during an insurance dispute for residential claims or commercial claims.
There are a number of unfair practices insurers will try to use in order to avoid paying for repairs. They will often deny covering property damage when a hurricane occurs, claiming damages occurred from water and flooding, rather than the hurricane itself. They may also point to certain policy exclusions and limitations that were not apparent at the time the policy was purchased. Insurance companies will also try to make damages from a covered claim fit into an excluded category. Least of all, many insurance companies will refuse to pay a claim until an investigation takes place but then delay an investigation from taking place. When an insurance company is delaying or denying payment, it is best to hire an insurance attorney in order to quickly recover losses and be compensated for your claim. An insurance attorney will hold insurance companies accountable, gathering evidence and helping you prove property damages are a result of high-powered winds while making sure losses are documented and repair costs are recovered in a timely manner.
The insurance attorneys at The Property Claims Litigation Group handle both residential claims and commercial claims to help you recover losses and have repair costs covered in the event of an insurance dispute. Hurricane claims can be complicated, but our team of insurance lawyers will make sure you understand the process every step of the way.
So where do you start? Get a copy of your insurance policy. Your policy holds all the information on how much you should get paid, who is going to pay, and what you need to do to get paid.
Next, you need to report losses and damages to your insurance company. It is important to report these losses quickly. An insurance lawyer from our team can help you determine the cause of a loss and whether specific damages are covered by your policy. Insurance agents will sometimes not understand their own policies and tell you something is not covered by your policy when it actually is. That is why having one of our insurance lawyers during this step is crucial.
An insurance company cannot deny your claim without first conducting a thorough and reasonable investigation based off your reported losses and what is entitled to you in your policy.
After you report losses and damages, an adjuster will come to evaluate your property to see how much your insurance company should pay. It's important to be aware that some adjusters estimate very low repair costs to save insurance companies from paying too much in damages. If you are not represented by an insurance attorney at this point, adjusters and insurance companies have an unfair advantage and can quickly force you into a scenario where you do not receive a fair amount for repairs. Having experienced legal experts on your side during the process takes away this unfair advantage.
Going through a traumatic weather event like a hurricane is bad enough, but dealing with a deceptive and unfair insurance company makes it all the worse. Having an experienced attorney on your side during an insurance dispute can make recovering losses and receiving your rightful repair costs all the more easy. Our team of lawyers knows how to identify deceitful and harmful insurance company tactics, and we are dedicated to helping our clients get every dollar they deserve. If you have suffered a hurricane loss, contact us at (404) 937-3176 to discuss how we can help you get the compensation you deserve.