You buy homeowner’s insurance to give peace of mind that your home will be protected in an emergency or disaster. But if your insurance company denies your claim following a hurricane, you might be left confused and have financial stress.
If your insurance provider is giving you the runaround on your property insurance claim or has outright denied it, you do not have to accept their decision as final. Instead, you should bring your case to a hurricane property damage attorney in Coral Gables.
We can help you fight the insurance companies for the compensation you deserve. Call us today.
Common Damages Covered By Insurance Companies
While insurance policies vary in what they cover, most homeowner’s insurance coverage in Florida includes protections for some, if not all, of the following hurricane damages:
- Repair or replacement of the home and its contents: This covers the cost of repairing or replacing your home and any personal belongings inside it.
- Repair or replace adjacent structures, such as garages or sheds: This protects the value of your home by ensuring that other buildings are repaired or replaced if they were damaged during the storm.
- Cost of repairs or replacement of amenities like pools or patios: This helps protect the value of your home because it ensures that your pool or patio is restored to its original condition.
- Coverage of expenses while your home is being repaired or your property is being cleared of debris: This allows you to pay for temporary housing, food, clothing, and transportation until your home is ready to return to normal use.
- Payment for lost wages due to having to stay elsewhere: This compensates you for the time spent away from work while your home was being repaired.
- Payment for missed mortgage payments: This lets you keep making your monthly payments without worrying about how much you’ll need to spend on repairs.
- Payment for lost wages due to missing work: This compensates you if you have to miss work to take care of your home.
- Payment for medical bills related to injuries sustained during the storm: This pays for treating injuries, including broken bones, cuts, and bruises.
- Payment for legal fees incurred fighting the insurance company: This pays for treatment related to the lawsuit against the insurance company.
However, the challenge for many property owners is that it can be difficult to differentiate the source of this damage. Often, in the case of hurricane property claims, there is a consideration of wind damage versus flood or water damage.
Wind damage is commonly covered in many homeowners’ insurance policies. But for many, any flood protection comes from a separate policy designed to supplement a homeowner’s insurance policy.
This means that you need to examine all of the complex language included in your homeowner’s insurance policy to understand how you are covered in the case of a hurricane property claim. It also means that insurance companies will often seek ways to sidestep claims.
Denied Insurance Claims Explained
The aftermath of a hurricane can result in a massive swath of the devastated population who will turn to their insurance company to seek the resources to reassemble their lives, especially in a state so prone to hurricanes. Given this sudden swell of claims, insurance companies often deny or limit payouts to safeguard themselves.
Their reasons for claim denial can vary. They might, for instance, claim that:
- The damage you filed the claim for came from a source other than the hurricane.
- You are not covered for the damage claimed.
- Your policy did not cover the damages you reported.
- You filed a claim for damages over the amount for which you were covered in your policy.
While such reasons might seem impossible to overcome, it is important to know that you can challenge their denial.
If you have struggled to determine the precise nature of your insurance coverage or if you believe that the insurance company has wrongly denied your claim, contact a hurricane property claim lawyer in Coral Gables to start your fight for justice.
Our team wants to help you get the settlement and the compensation you deserve.
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We Build Your Case Through Exceptional Evidence Collecting
Our law firm believes a strong case begins with the right evidence, and a hurricane property claims case is no different.
We have worked with scores of clients across South Florida who have suffered the struggles of rebuilding after a hurricane. Our legal team has extensive experience and knows that the best way to build a compensation case is to reinforce our position with strong evidence. That might include:
- The language of your homeowner’s policy: We review every homeowner’s policy to ensure that it covers the type of damage you sustained.
- Your documented losses or damages: We collect detailed information about the damage caused by the storm, including photos, receipts, and estimates.
- Receipts for out-of-pocket repairs or invoices for living expenses while displaced: These documents show what you spent on repairs and how much money you lost due to the storm.
- Records of lost mitigation efforts: This includes records showing whether you applied for FEMA hurricane assistance or received an offer from your insurer to compensate for some of your losses.
- Insurance adjusters’ notes: We use these notes to highlight discrepancies between the information provided by the insured and the insurer.
- Other relevant documentation: We may request additional documentation related to your claim, such as letters from contractors.
- Additional evidence, such as contractor statements, videos, or photographs of the damage: This helps prove that the damage was due to the storm.
We will collect such evidence to resubmit your case to your insurance provider and negotiate a settlement closer to your needs and expectations. We are confident in our abilities that, if these negotiations fall apart, we will not hesitate to pursue a lawsuit.
Time Is Limited to Contact Your Hurricane Property Claim Lawyer in Coral Gables
While we work to navigate the nuances of your insurance coverage and begin a negotiation with your provider, it is important that you also keep in mind that the State of Florida has placed a three-year statute of limitations on claims against insurance companies following insurance disputes.
Our team of experts at the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine will work quickly to file whatever paperwork is necessary to begin the fight for your compensation.
We can assess your case, discuss your options, and start working toward getting your life back on track with adequate compensation for your hurricane losses. We are ready to help. Contact us today for your free case review.
