Construction Defects Must Trigger Property Damage for Coverage Under Florida Insurance Law

Tue Mar 17th, 2020 on     Homeowners Insurance,    

Leading Insurance Law Firm in Miami, FL Homeowners’ insurance coverage can often lead to confusion down the line when policyholders are attempting to secure a payout after having experienced property damage to their home.  As with other types of insurance plans, homeowner’s insurance payouts are manipulated cleverly by insurance companies to minimize their liabilities — wherever possible (so long as the language of the plan supports it, and even when it doesn’t), the insurance company […]

Understanding Homeowners’ Insurance in Florida

Fri Apr 19th, 2019 on     Property Insurance,    

Floridians are well aware of the importance of homeowners’ insurance.  Planning ahead for the possibility of hurricanes, windstorms, sinkholes and other disasters, as well as individual losses such as home invasions or fires, can bring peace of mind and help minimize the disruption to your personal and professional lives. As Miami property insurance lawyers, we are experienced in assisting homeowners in maximizing their recovery following a loss.  The first step to a successful outcome for […]

What You Should Know About Sinkhole Coverage

Fri Mar 15th, 2019 on     Property Insurance,    

Florida has more sinkholes than any other state; thousands of sinkhole insurance claims are reported here every year.  Unfortunately, not all homeowners’ insurance policies provide coverage for damage to your home resulting from sinkholes.  Florida law, which defines a “sinkhole” as “a land form created by subsidence of soil, sediment or rock as underlying strata are dissolved by groundwater,” only requires insurance companies to cover “catastrophic ground cover collapse.”  What’s the difference between coverage for […]

Concurrent Causation in Property Insurance Disputes

Thu Jan 10th, 2019 on     Property Insurance,    

Miami Property Insurance Lawyer In Florida, and elsewhere, property insurance policyholders frequently have their claims denied due to the existence of “concurrent causes” of loss.  A concurrent cause is one of multiple causes that contributed to the damages at-issue.  For example, if your house is damaged in a severe tropical storm, some of the losses may be due to water, and some due to wind.  The wind conditions and the water damage might each be […]

Common Justifications for Homeowner’s Insurance Claim Denial

Fri Dec 21st, 2018 on     Property Insurance,    

In the homeowner’s insurance context, insurers deny claims for a variety of reasons, some reasonable, some not so reasonable.  Fundamentally, insurers are incentivized to deny claims and minimize their payouts.  For example, if you are entitled to recover $100,000 in a homeowner’s insurance claim, but the insurer’s initial denial convinces you not to bother pursuing the insurance claim, then the insurer will have saved a substantial amount of money by simply acting adversely to your […]

Benefits Available in a Property Insurance Claim

Fri Oct 26th, 2018 on     Property Insurance,    

Property insurance claims can leave many policyholders feeling vulnerable, and for good reason.  Whether they have had their home destroyed in a natural disaster, or have had their vehicle totaled in an accident, the policyholder may find that the property insurer is rather aggressive in denying, undervaluing, or otherwise mishandling their claim for benefits — given how difficult their circumstances may be at such a time, the adverse decisions of their insurer can deepen the […]

Diminution in Value and Securing Maximum Benefits

Fri Sep 28th, 2018 on     Property Insurance,    

If you are involved in a dispute with your insurer over benefits owed in the event that your property has diminished in value (following an accident), then you may be entitled to bring an action against the insurer to secure the desired benefits.  Effectively bringing a diminished value claim can be quite a challenge, however, given that Florida law does not allow such benefits recovery by default unless the insurance policy specifically empowers the claimant […]

Can You Make a Property Insurance Claim That Includes Damage for Loss of Use?

Fri May 11th, 2018 on     Property Insurance,    

In Florida, where hurricanes, tropical storms, and other natural disasters are a regular feature of life, property insurance claims frequently involve “loss of use” coverage issues.  Standard property insurance coverage does not necessarily cover all the various losses suffered by a policyholder.  Loss of use coverage — which may be its own separate policy, or simply a provision built into an existing homeowner’s insurance or renter’s insurance policy — helps fill in the gaps, so […]

Florida Property Insurers Must Cover Damage to Personal Property Too

Fri Mar 16th, 2018 on     Property Insurance,    

Usually, property loss does not involve exclusive damage to the dwelling unit itself — there may also be damage to other, non-dwelling structures (such as a fence around the property), or more commonly, to items of personal property that also reside within the dwelling.  In some cases, the personal property of the policyholder may be of significant value, and as such, their loss may expose the policyholder to unexpected financial vulnerability. For example, suppose that […]

Property Insurance Provisions Must Be Construed in Favor of Coverage

Wed Feb 14th, 2018 on     Property Insurance,    

If you are challenging the wrongful denial of your property insurance claim, the insurer is likely to assert that the language in the insurance contract is rather ambiguous, and that it should be interpreted in a manner that favors them. For example, suppose that your property insurance contract includes various provisions that exclude lightning damage from coverage.  A tree near your house is hit by lightning, which results in a fire.  The fire then spreads […]

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