Hurricane & Property Insurance Claim Attorney

No. A denial is one company's position, and denials are reversed regularly once an insurer is presented with a properly documented claim, a correct reading of the policy, and a policyholder who is represented.

The first step is obtaining the complete policy and the claim file to find out what the carrier actually relied on — the stated reason in a denial letter is often a conclusion without the reasoning behind it.

It is one of the most common ways a hurricane claim stalls. Wind damage is generally covered by a homeowner's policy, while flood and storm-surge damage typically falls under a separate flood policy. When a storm causes both, each carrier has a financial incentive to attribute the loss to the other.

The policyholder ends up in the middle, with two insurers pointing at each other. Resolving it usually takes engineering expert opinion on the mechanism of damage — which is a normal part of building these claims.

Yes. Underpayment is at least as common as outright denial, and it is frequently harder to spot — a payment arrives, so it looks like the claim worked, until the contractor's estimate comes in far higher.

Accepting a payment does not automatically close your claim. Have the adjustment reviewed against the policy limits, the scope of loss and independent repair estimates before you treat the number as final.

Right away. Insurers expect prompt notice after a storm, and delay invites additional scrutiny from adjusters about whether the damage really came from the event you are claiming. Florida also imposes statutory deadlines for property claims, and those have been shortened in recent years.

Florida also sets statutory deadlines for reporting property claims and for bringing suit, and those have been shortened in recent years. Because the deadline that applies turns on your policy and the date of loss, call 850-215-2195 and have it confirmed rather than assuming.

Broadly, it is an insurer failing to handle a claim fairly and honestly — unreasonable delay, failing to investigate properly, misrepresenting what the policy covers, or refusing to pay a claim it knows is owed.

Florida provides a statutory framework for these claims, including a required notice and cure period before suit. Whether conduct rises to bad faith depends heavily on the specifics of how the claim was handled.

Yes — commercial property losses, including business interruption, follow the same basic pattern of denial, delay and underpayment, usually with larger sums and more complex policy language at stake.

Call 850-215-2195 and we will review the policy and the claim file.