Helping Property Owner Associations, Commercial Businesses and Other Victims of Hurricane Damage
Our Hurricane claims lawyers represent hurricane victims whose lives, homes, and businesses were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and other hurricanes that have passed through the Metropolitan New Orleans Area, Southern Louisiana, and the Southern District of Mississippi.
Thornhill Law Firm, A PLC, is considered one of the most experienced insurance litigation law firms in the region. We have successfully pursued hurricane damages against some of the biggest insurance companies in the United States, including Allstate, Nationwide, State Farm, USAA, and Zurich. When we agree to represent you, we will zealously pursue your claim so that you can begin rebuilding your home or business.
Hurricane Insurance Disputes
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for insurance companies to use “the fine print” in many policyholders’ contracts as grounds for denying their claims. Many homeowners, tenants, and owners of business or commercial properties have had their claims rejected on the grounds that their claims only cover property damaged by winds and wind-driven rains, but not damages from floods, waves, surface waters, and spray water, which The National Flood Insurance Program generally covers.
Our New Orleans-based hurricane law firm handles all kinds of hurricane claim cases, including those involving homeowner claims, business owner claims, apartment claims, commercial claims, property loss, general liability coverage, and environmental claims.
In Louisiana, insurance companies have just 30 days to resolve a claim with a claimant upon receipt of “satisfactory proof of loss.” An insurance company that fails to reply to a claim may be subject to additional penalties. An insurance company that offers a policyholder a bad faith offer is in breach of contract.
Real Property and Personal Property Damages
Real property damages are physical or economic damages resulting from damages to a building, a house, a piece of land, or another form of real estate. Homeowners insurance, hurricane insurance, business interruption insurance, business property insurance, farm property insurance, and flood insurance are some of the types of insurance that cover damages to real property.
Personal property damages are physical or economic damages resulting from damages to personal property that is not real estate. Auto insurance, motorcycle insurance, boat insurance, and truck insurance policies usually provide coverage for physical injuries and damages to the motor vehicle of the policy owner or other parties. Homeowners insurance and renters' insurance provide coverage for personal property items, such as jewelry, furniture, electronic items, fine art, and collectibles.
Property Damage Insurance Claims
In Louisiana, insurance companies have just 30 days from the time you file your notice of "satisfactory proof of loss" to settle your insurance claim. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not always have a claimant's best interests at heart and may attempt to delay your claim, deny your claim, or pay you the least amount of money possible.
Whether you are filing a property damage claim directed at your own insurance company or the insurer of the party that has damaged your property, it is important that you have an insurance claims attorney on your side that will protect your legal rights. Our New Orleans insurance attorneys at Thornhill Law Firm, A PLC, have successfully dealt with all of these issues on many occasions.
Filing A Business Interruption Claim
Business interruption claims are generally filed when a disaster has made it impossible for a business to stay in operation. This was the case for many business and commercial owners in Gretna, Jefferson, Pearl River, Metairie, Franklinton, Madisonville, Covington, St. Bernard, Mandeville, Kenner, Chalmette, and Slidell, and other cities in the Metropolitan New Orleans Area after Hurricane Katrina.
Ideally, business interruption coverage should cover reconstruction costs and income lost while a business gets back on its feet. A business owner may also purchase extended business interruption coverage, which covers, for a set period of time, any income loss between the time a business resumes operation and when it becomes restored to its pre-loss state. Contingent business interruption coverage is an additional type of coverage that can be purchased and is meant to cover lost income from physical damage that is not considered property damage.
Let's Take Hurricane Katrina as an example...
Hurricane Katrina left behind some $20.8 billion in commercial losses alone. Many businesses suffered serious property and physical damages, lost many of their business records, and saw the number of their employees and customers dwindle significantly because of injuries, deaths, and the evacuation of many flood-ravaged areas.
Many of the business owners that stayed behind to rebuild their businesses experienced further setbacks when their insurance companies rejected their business interruption claims on the grounds that their insurance polices only covered certain kinds of perils, such as “wind-related damages,” but excluded damages caused by floods. However, a lot of the damages were in fact caused by heavy winds and wind-driven rains and therefore covered by their business interruption claims. Some insurance companies even rejected claims made by businesses that had purchased flood coverage prior to Katrina on the grounds that many areas were evacuated. Orders of civil authority are cited as an exception to business interruption coverage.
For business owners that have received payments from their insurance companies, the issues of whether a temporary business site is now a permanent one and how much damage a business has suffered because of business interruption are common matters of contention between business policy holders and insurance companies.
What Our Clients Are Saying...
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Unlike many insurance litigation law firms, we do not represent any insurance companies so there is never a conflict of interest in terms of where our loyalties must lie. We have successfully pursued claims and lawsuits against some of the biggest insurance companies in the United States, including State Farm, Allstate, and Zurich.