First and foremost, we do not represent insurance companies against policyholders.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, floods, wild fires and other natural disasters are on the rise, damaging or destroying businesses, homes and other property in the process. Electric power and other utilities can be out of commission for weeks, leaving families and business owners to fend for themselves.
Unfortunately, insurance companies do not always respond appropriately. They are typically not good neighbors, on your side, or have your best interests at heart. Insurance companies will gladly take your premiums, but are not generous when it comes to paying claims. Insurance companies hide behind canned computer programs and highly compensated in-house adjusters and experts to pay you as little as possible.
If your insurance company has unreasonably delayed paying your claim, refused to pay the full value of your claim, or denied your claim outright, you may be the victim of bad faith insurance claim settlement practices. Besides being morally wrong, such conduct is against the law. It is bad enough that you had to go through a natural disaster. You should not also have to bear the economic burden—especially when you bought insurance to cover the loss.
We have substantial experience litigating bad faith insurance claim settlement practices cases against insurance companies involving both residential and commercial property.
We also litigate business interruption insurance cases involving lost profits, contingent business income losses (i.e., losses resulting from strategic suppliers or key customers impacted by a natural disaster), expenses incurred to shut down a business, evacuate, repopulate the employee base and restore operations after a natural disaster, and other expenses and losses resulting from natural disasters.
Representative cases:
Wilson v. Texas Windstorm Insurance Association; No. 09-CV-0421 (56th Judicial District Court, Galveston County, Texas) (2009) (Co-Lead Class Counsel) (combination class action and mass action on behalf of over 2000 property owners on Bolivar Peninsula whose homes were completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike; secured approximately $175 million of additional insurance benefits for Firm’s property owner clients).
Hendon v. Texas Windstorm Insurance Association; No. 1:09-CV-00920-RC (E.D. Tex. 2010) (Co-Lead Class Counsel) (class action on behalf of Bolivar Peninsula homeowners to secure refunds of prepaid windstorm and hail insurance premiums for structures that were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Ike to the point of requiring demolition) (full refunds secured for Firm’s property owner clients).
Quebedeaux v. United States; No. 1:11-cv-00389-FMA (U.S. Court of Federal Claims) (pending) (unconstitutional takings case on behalf of business and property owners in a 4600 square mile area of the Atchafalaya River basin in south central Louisiana whose farms, ranches, property and businesses were damaged or destroyed by floodwaters when the federal government opened the Morganza Spillway on the Mississippi River in May 2011).