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If you think your property insurance company is treating you unfairly, our insurance dispute lawyers want to hear your story. Here’s what you need to do:
If your claim is underpaid, denied, or unjustly closed, an experienced Florida property damage lawyer can help recover the insurance policy benefits that are owed by your insurance company. Herman & Wells has a proven track record of successfully disputing property damage claims.
You should get a second opinion if your insurance company denies your claim and consider whether you need to fight the denial. An experienced property damage lawyer in Florida can give that second opinion and help increase your chances of success.
The more damage documentation you provide and the more evidence you provide to support your claim, the more likely an insurance company will settle for a larger amount. If the insurance company does not offer a reasonable settlement, there is a possibility you could go to court, where proving what happened is crucial to winning.
A denial or low claim payment is not always the end of the road. Instead, it can be the starting point for a dispute process. Here is what that typically looks like in Florida:
First, your attorney will conduct a thorough review of the insurer’s decision, comparing it against the specific language of your policy. Sometimes, the insurance company’s own conclusions actually support coverage under the policy.
Your attorney will also investigate the loss. This often means gathering photos, invoices, and estimates. It can also include hiring an engineer or other experts to figure out what happened and what is needed to get back to a pre-loss condition.
While investigating, the attorney is also dealing with the insurance company. The insurance policy sometimes requires certain things to be done for the claim to be payable, and the insurance attorney makes sure all of those boxes are checked.
Once the investigation is done, the client and the lawyer talk about next steps, including whether the claim can be resolved without a lawsuit, whether a lawsuit is needed, or whether there’s some problem with the claim that can’t be overcome.
If a lawsuit is needed and justified, then we walk our clients through what litigation will be like. Most cases we file suit on settle during the lawsuit, before we get to trial. But our lawyers have experience taking Florida property damage cases to trial where they cannot otherwise be resolved with the insurance company.
Insurance companies have a responsibility to investigate and value our losses fairly. But you can’t always rely on them. It’s in your best interest to consult a property damage lawyer to guide you through the claims process if you feel like it’s gone off track.
You should report the property damage claim to your insurance company as soon as possible. Your policy probably requires prompt notice, and late notice is a basis for your insurance company to deny your claim. When you report your claim, you’ll need to provide the following information:
A property claim can be denied if you don’t comply with the stated time limits in your policy contract. Regardless of whether or not you have to evacuate the property, you should still contact your insurance company right away if you know you’ve had damage. You can either call or go online to do this, depending on your insurance company.
As soon as your insurance company receives notification, the claim process begins. You’ll receive the Florida Homeowner Bill of Rights, and your insurance company will assign an adjuster to handle your claim. According to the Florida Homeowner Bill of Rights, your insurance carrier is required to acknowledge your property damage claim within 14 days of filing.
A lot of insurance companies assign claims to two adjusters: a “desk adjuster” who might talk to you on the phone but won’t actually visit your property, and a “field adjuster” who comes to your property. When there are two adjusters, the field adjuster tells the desk adjuster what he or she sees, and the desk adjuster makes the decision about your claim.
Make sure your home and the premises are secure to prevent additional damage to your property. Your policy requires you to do certain things, including mitigating additional damages following a loss if you can.
Before you make changes to your home, contact your insurance company and discuss what repairs are needed and what they will cost. It is important to document all discussions and agreements, especially verbal conversations. If you repair your damage before the insurance company has an opportunity to investigate, the insurance company may say you’ve prejudiced the investigation and try to deny your claim.
If you must do some temporary repairs before the adjuster comes to your property, make sure you document what your property looked like before those repairs. You can do this with photos and video.
After you file a property damage claim with your insurance company, the insurance company will request evidence to support it. This can include personal belongings, damaged items, receipts, etc. Anything that can be used to support your property damage insurance claim should be saved until it can be properly documented by your insurance adjuster.
For example, if a pipe leaked under your sink and you had a plumber fix it, keep the damaged pipe to show the adjuster. If you have clothing damaged by smoke, show them to the adjuster before you throw them away (and be sure to document them beforehand).
If your insurance company pays your claim, you have the right to pick your own contractor or repair vendor. You do not have to use a repair company in the insurance company’s network, and should not if you don’t feel comfortable with them.
On the other hand, some insurance companies will invoke what is called the “option to repair” instead of directly paying you. Under this provision, an insurance company can take control of the repair process and force you to use their preferred contractors rather than paying you the cash value of your loss. Florida law and most insurance policies allow insurance companies the option to repair. But, if any insurance company chooses to repair, they are responsible for making sure your property is restored to its pre-loss condition within a reasonable period of time. If the insurance company fails to do this because its repair contractor does substandard work, walks off the job, never shows up, or is unreasonably slow, the insurance company is responsible for making it right, regardless of policy limits.
Our first step in a property damage case is to thoroughly review all of the facts, hire our own experts, and work with you to determine what decision your insurance company should have made. We make sure you understand how that decision was reached. Following an evaluation of how we think your claim should have been handled, we devise a plan for resolving the issue. It may be necessary to confront the insurance company to persuade it to change its decision. A lawsuit is often necessary to force the insurance company to accept responsibility for covering the loss.
If the structure of your home and your personal belongings are damaged, you will usually receive a separate check from your insurance company for each category of damage.
Additionally, if your home is uninhabitable, a check will be sent to cover additional living expenses you incur while your home is being repaired.
You and your mortgage lender will generally both be listed as payees on any checks for repairing the building.
You might be asked to sign a “direction to pay” form to allow your insurance company to pay the contractor directly. This is a legal document, so make sure you read it carefully and make sure you agree with what you’re signing. If you do this, make sure that the work done on your property has been completed to your satisfaction before letting your insurer make the final payment.
Some homeowners and property insurance plans in Florida cover certain equipment and damages, regardless of the policy. The following conditions may result in a property damage claim:
Florida home insurance policies often cover damage from burst pipes or other water-related incidents. This coverage can also include the cost of accessing the pipe to repair it.
Most policies cover mold damage if the mold was caused by a covered event. But almost every policy has a specific lower limit for mold remediation that is lower than the overall limit on your policy.
Most policies in Florida cover damage from wind. There are often fights, though, over how much damage was caused by wind vs. wear and tear. Insurance companies also often dispute whether rain that gets into your property during a storm came in through a storm-created opening (usually covered) or was driven by the wind through existing gaps in your windows or doors (usually not covered).
Almost every policy in Florida covers fire damage. It’s rare for an insurance company to fully deny a fire loss. What we see more often is the insurance company refusing to pay for areas that were damaged by smoke, but not actually burned.
Most policies also cover losses from burglary, theft, or vandalism. This is not always the case when a property is vacant, and it’s a good idea to check your policy if you’re not occupying your property.
Roof damage claims are among the most frequently disputed in Florida, particularly in the aftermath of hurricanes and severe storms. While damage caused by a sudden covered event (such as a wind-driven tree impact or hail) is generally a covered loss, insurers routinely attempt to reframe storm damage as pre-existing deterioration or normal wear and tear in order to reduce or deny the payout. If your insurer has attributed legitimate storm damage to the age or condition of your roof, that determination is worth challenging. Our attorneys have successfully disputed these characterizations on behalf of Florida homeowners.
Standard homeowners insurance policies in Florida do not cover flood damage. A “flood” is when water comes off the surface of the ground and into your house. A “flood” is not when water comes in through damage to your roof, walls or windows. A “flood” is also not caused by a pipe that breaks or leaks in your house.
Protecting against flood losses requires a standalone policy, obtained either through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program or the private market, as this coverage is excluded from standard homeowners policies by design. Even with a flood policy in place, claims are frequently underpaid or denied on technical grounds.
Business owners face a distinct set of challenges when filing property damage claims. Commercial policies are more complex than residential ones, often involving coverage for business interruption, loss of income, and damage to equipment and inventory. Insurers handling commercial claims apply the same tactics they use on homeowners, but the financial stakes are often higher and the policy language more difficult to interpret. Herman & Wells represents both residential and commercial policyholders across the Tampa Bay region and the State of Florida.
As you can imagine, wind and hurricanes are responsible for some of the most destructive weather events in Florida. As hurricanes are common in Florida, the state has unique hurricane coverage rules. Hurricane season can be prepared for, but sometimes these steps alone are not enough. For storm damage, Florida insurance companies offer homeowner’s insurance policies that have a percentage deductible instead of a standard fixed deductible. For instance, a hurricane damage claim would require you to pay the first $15,000 if your home is insured for $300,000 and your deductible is 5%.
Hurricanes typically cause widespread destruction, leading to thousands of related claims. This may overwhelm both insurers and contractors, with the average hurricane causing $20.5 billion in damage. A large number of claims gives insurance companies a strong financial incentive to reduce payouts, which may result in bad faith claims, cutting corners, and unfair settlement offers. In the event of a hurricane damaging your roof, your insurer may claim the damage was due to normal wear and tear. Additionally, the damage may be undervalued. It’s not common for claims to be handled in an unreasonably long period of time after a major natural disaster.
Our Florida property damage attorneys are paid on a contingency basis. In a contingency fee agreement, your attorney is only paid if they win your case. A lawyer’s fee is usually about one-third of the settlement or up to 40 percent if the case needs to be litigated in court. Nothing is owed if our insurance dispute attorneys aren’t able to successfully advocate for you. With a contingency fee, our clients never receive an invoice of any type from us.
Call now if you’d like to speak with our team about your claim. We will review your insurance claim for free. Our law firm’s main offices are in Pinellas Park and Clearwater, but we have attorneys in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Seminole, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, and Sarasota.
If you are denied a claim unfairly or it is undervalued, you have rights. A denied property damage claim can be challenged and even taken to court if necessary.
Has your homeowner’s insurance company unjustly denied your insurance claim?
Get in touch with a Florida property damage lawyer at Herman & Wells today to schedule a free evaluation.
There’s an absolute deadline for making a claim of 1 year following the date of loss. But insurance policies require policyholders to report property damage to their insurer as soon as possible, and a claim can be denied for late notice even if it’s reported within the 1 year deadline.
There is also an 18-month deadline following the date of loss for making a supplemental claim (asking for more money).
An insured has 5 years from the date of loss to sue their insurance company.
No, you don’t. Once a settlement is signed, your options are effectively closed. Before you accept any offer, have an attorney or public adjuster review it if you can. Our team does this at no charge, with no obligation to retain us. If the offer is fair, we will tell you. If it is not, we will explain what a more appropriate recovery might look like and what it would take to pursue it.
Adjusters work for the insurance company, not for you. Their assessment is not necessarily based on a correct reading of your policy. Policy language is sometimes ambiguous, and how exclusions and conditions are applied is often a matter of legal interpretation rather than settled fact. An attorney reviewing the same policy and the same damage may reach a very different conclusion. A free evaluation costs you nothing and may change everything.
Florida law allows policyholders to challenge closed claims. A “closed claim” is just an insurance company designation. But there is a 1 year deadline to reopen a claim.
