If you received a denied Essentia property claim, you may be left feeling as though you have no options. However, you do not need to handle this situation alone. If you feel that the insurer was unreasonable when it denied your claim, the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine might be able to help.
We go the extra mile for our clients. Call us today at 1-800-747-3733. The consultation is free, and there is no obligation.
Why Insurance Companies Refuse to Pay Property Claims
Insurers have many different reasons for denying property claims. Some of the most frequent reasons are:
To Save Money
If an insurance company does not have enough money to pay claims as they get filed, the insurer might try to duck out of its obligations by saying that it does not have to pay you the money. This situation happens more often with companies that have not been in business very long, are small in size, or are undercapitalized.
In other circumstances, the insurer will simply do what it can to avoid paying your claim to protect its bottom line. The longer that the firm can hold on to your money before it pays your claim, the more profit the company can make from investing your premium payments. The courts can deem this behavior to be in bad faith.
Insurance Adjuster Did Not Include All the Damage Noticed in the Inspection
Insurance adjusters are human. Sometimes they forget to write up everything they observed during the inspection. In the eyes of the insurance company, whatever is not on the inspection form does not exist. In this situation, your photos and other evidence of the property damage will be useful in trying to convince the insurer to pay the claim, or to have a judge order the company to cover the loss.
Massive Number of Claims
Hurricanes are not a new phenomenon in Florida. Despite the fact that natural disasters are foreseeable and can cause damage to the property of thousands of people at a time, some insurance companies do not maintain an adequate number of employees to work these claims in a timely manner.
If the insurers frantically hire new workers for a particular disaster, there could be new problems. For example, someone who has never worked in the field might make a mistake that could cost you your property damage claim.
Procedural Reasons
When all else fails, some insurance companies will reject a property damage claim for procedural reasons, rather than on the merits. The insurer does not deny that the damage happened, that your policy was in good standing, or that the damage was a covered loss.
Instead, the insurance company tries to get out of paying an otherwise valid claim by saying that you did not comply with all the rules to get your claim paid. Some of these procedural reasons are:
- You hire a professional adjuster or appraiser to investigate the situation and write a report about the property damage for you to submit to your insurance company. Your professional uses a standard form generally used in the industry. Your insurance company denies your claim because your appraiser did not use the insurer’s form.
- The insurer alleges that you did not give timely notice of the damage and claim.
- Another procedural reason some insurers give for denying claims is a combination of the first two excuses. If you submit your damages claim on a form that the insurance company does not accept as valid, they can deny your claim on the grounds of not being timely. Even though you submitted the form right away, they might say that the one you sent in does not count as giving notice because it was not their form.
When you are dealing with an unreasonable insurer who has violated your rights as a homeowner, you might want to get a property claim lawyer to advocate for you.
A Lawyer Can Help with Your Denied Property Claim—Here’s How
Having a lawyer on your side can increase the chances of the insurance company taking your claim seriously. Make sure that you document everything—every phone call, email, and other types of correspondence. Keep copies of all paperwork, photos, and other evidence that you provide to the insurer.
Take your records to a lawyer who can try to resolve the dispute over your denied Essentia property claim by negotiating directly with the insurance company. Sometimes a disagreement starts as an honest mistake, then snowballs into a much bigger problem. If the attorney can unravel the situation, the insurance company might pay your claim without the need for a lawsuit.
If we need to do so, we can file a lawsuit on your behalf. We first try to negotiate cases that we think are viable candidates for settlement, but some claims denials will not get a fair resolution without getting a judge involved.
When an insurer has no reasonable justification for denying your claim, we can file a lawsuit for bad faith refusal to pay a valid claim for hurricane damage or damage from another event. The judge can order the defendant to pay your reasonable legal fees if we win.
Call the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine today at 1-800-747-3733 to get responsive legal care in regard to your denied Essentia property claim. The initial consultation is free with no risk or obligation.
We Can Help.
