Insurance Claim Handling Assistance: Helping You File Your Home Insurance Claim to Maximize Your Benefits
You’ve suffered a loss from a fire, flood, wind, or some other misfortune to your home or property and you need to file an insurance claim. Having a great lawyer on your side to help you through the process is the best decision you should make if you want to ensure the insurance company gives you a fair settlement on your property or home insurance claim. Whether you’re dealing with your own or someone else’s insurance company, remember that insurance companies are not your allies—they’re your adversaries. Insurance is a profit-driven industry, and your claim is nothing more to them than a business transaction and they are aiming to gain at your expense. A good lawyer at your side will aid you in asserting your rights and represent your best interests throughout the claims process. Otherwise, the insurer will underpay or deny your claim.
When you file a claim, you will be dealing with an insurance professional hired by the insurance company. Because an insurance company’s goal is to maximize profit, they will look for ways to minimize what they pay out on your claim. In these circumstances, you need to know your rights, the laws that govern what insurers are allowed to do during the home insurance claims handling process, and how often an insurance company is supposed to talk to the property owner in order to resolve your claim as fairly and expeditiously as possible. A lawyer specializing in insurance claims will represent you during the claims handling process in order to maximize your claim so that you do not have to deal with the insurance company.
What to Do after Suffering a Loss from a Fire, Flood, or Other Calamity to Your Home or Property
STEP 1: Report Your Loss to the Insurance Company Right Away.
You should report your loss to the insurance company within 24 hours. You shouldn’t waste any time in notifying the insurance company of your loss because your timing will be used against you. A lot can happen in a couple days, and the insurance company will use the window of time between when the loss occurred to when you notified them to defend their position in deciding to pay you less than your home insurance claim’s worth. The sooner you notify the insurance company of your loss, the better.
How to notify the insurance company of your loss and what to say.
The best way to notify your insurance company of a loss is to call them and speak with a live person. DON’T provide information about your loss to an automated telephone system or report your loss using the internet.
In your first initial contact by phone, you want to provide as little information as possible with the goal of simply opening a claim and getting a claim number. You don’t want to go into too much detail right away because anything you say will be used against you. You only want to provide the essential information that’s necessary for opening a claim such as the date of loss, the address of where the loss occurred, the type of loss such as water or fire damage, and your contact information. You should respond to any other questions the insurance company representative asks with, “I do not know at this time. The purpose of my call today is to notify you of the loss and get a claim number so that I can provide you with more information later.”
You don’t want to give the insurance company any more information than is required by law or contract to open a home insurance claim because you really don’t know the facts until you’ve had professional inspections establish a record of facts and evidence. It requires more time and delays your claim if you say something to the insurance company that you thought was true but later was found to be untrue. Setting the record straight in order to be successful in your claim will only hinder the process. Instead, keep it short until you get all the facts and make your next call or visit to your lawyer.
STEP 2: Hire a great lawyer who is able and willing to assist you with handling your insurance claim from inception to closure.
A great lawyer who represents your best interests should be able to take your home insurance claim from here and be the only person the insurance company communicates with when they want to communicate with you. Let your lawyer do all the talking and speak on your behalf unless your lawyer allows you to communicate under their supervision with the insurer. At this early stage of the claim, the insurance company is trying to collect as much information as possible with the goal of denying your claim. Your lawyer should know what and when information should and needs to be provided. It’s for your own protection and interest in getting just and maximum compensation for your claim.
What happens after I hire a lawyer?
Every stage of the claims process has a time limit that provides how long the insurance company has to process your home insurance claim by communication and the exchange of information. These time limits are set forth in your contract/policy and by law. For instance, your policy may require that you report your loss to the insurer within three (3) days of the date the loss occurred. Once you report the loss and your attorney sends the insurance company a formal notice of representation, the law or contract/policy provides the amount of time the insurance company has to perform certain functions in furtherance of your claim.
To establish a claim, in most cases an insurance adjuster or agent performs an inspection of the loss and may hire experts to assist them in their investigation. They will investigate how the loss happened and whether the insurance policy provides coverage for the loss as it is established by the investigation. Your lawyer should have their own team of professionals and experts do the same.
Throughout the investigation stage of the home insurance claim, information will be recorded, exchanged, and scrutinized, evidence will be gathered and analyzed, the value of your claim will be calculated, a formal demand for payment of the claim will be made, and negotiations will commence between your lawyer and the insurance company in an effort to resolve the claim.
Based on the investigations, a lawyer’s job is to negotiate the best possible offer that you agree to settle your home insurance claim. A lawyer wants not only to make you whole, but to get you fair and just compensation that is going to cover the array of expenses associated with your loss. Very often your loss requires compensation of the maximum insurance policy limits—something the insurance company usually never wants to do.
If you and your lawyer can’t come to an agreement with the insurance company to settle your claim or the insurance company denies your claim, depending on your circumstances, the next recourse is typically a lawsuit against the insurance company for breach of contract and possibly negligence and bad faith.
Deciding to settle your home insurance claim for the amount offered by the insurance company or file a lawsuit to get fair, just, and maximum compensation for your loss.
Insurers generally attempt to convince their customers when selling the policy that everything is covered and convince the court when a home insurance claim is made that nothing is covered. The bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims, and they’ll do anything to avoid paying if their own analysis concludes it would be worthwhile for them to fight you rather than pay you.
There are many variables that systematically affect insurer’s actions when handling claims, but it ultimately comes down to the money. For instance, if you have a two-million-dollar policy and your claim demands the full amount, then the insurance company will fight you in court before cutting you a check for two million dollars, even if you’ve properly established your claim and proved your damages. In this case, the insurer has likely made an economic business calculation that it’s less costly and more worthwhile for them to go through litigation than cut the check. The insurer will likely be banking on their analysis that in the long run overall it will cost them less than two million dollars by going through litigation to ultimately resolve the claim. The litigation process can take years and, in the meantime, they’re holding onto the policy money while you’re spending all of yours, tempting you to take their lowball offer.
Ensuring a fair settlement to your insurance claim.
The lawyers and professionals at Smythe Law Group, Inc. can help you through the difficult process of filing a home insurance claim and obtaining a fair and reasonable settlement for your loss. Our legal team has decades of experience successfully assisting policyholders with insurance claims and bad faith litigation. We specialize in insurance law and we know insurance company practices. Smythe Law Group, Inc. has a solid network of experts, professionals, and consultants that will work diligently on your behalf. We’ve assisted hundreds of people in recovering millions on their insurance claims, and we hope we can help you. Contact us today for your free consultation and case review.