Hurricane Sandy Damage Lawyers
Please note: Matthews & Associates is no longer accepting Hurricane Sandy cases.
Bad insurance companies can be notoriously slow to pay business or homeowner claims. Sometimes insurance carriers or FEMA commit outright fraud, as appears to be the case with thousands of homeowners damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Wright Flood fraud appears to have run rampant for Wright-insured homeowners injured by Hurricane Sandy.
FEMA Fraud exposed after Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy Lawsuit
Whether you have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, or by any other hurricane, fire, tornado or other property insurance dispute, you will quickly gain access to our team of experienced trial lawyers who have for many years battled many of the largest corporations in the world.
We work on a contingency fee basis, which means our services come at no cost to you unless and until we successfully resolve your case. That means you will never pay any out-of-pocket expense ever.
Talk to an Insurance Lawyer
To contact a personal injury lawyer to review your Insurance Lawsuit now, please claim your free legal case review. You may also e-mail inquiries to Matthews & Associates Law Firm. Ask us any questions you need answered. Find out how much money you may be entitled to for the damages or injuries you have suffered. If you want to speak to us immediately, just pick up the phone and call us now. We are here to help.
Five things all Homeowners should know
Insurance companies that provide hurricane coverage often deny a policy holder’s valid insurance claims for damage. Or they may try to pay as little as possible. You must make your insurance company treat you fairly. Here are five things all homeowners should know.
1. You are entitled to complete replacement of damaged property if your policy includes replacement cost. Some insurance companies may address your hurricane damage in a piecemeal fashion that is insufficient. They may try to put your property back in the condition it was before the hurricane, but that may not be enough for a complete fix. Some companies may try to replace only a few damaged singles or replace just one side of your roof. Roof patching as opposed to total replacement often leads to later leaks. Consequently, a homeowner is often entitled to complete replacement of damaged property, which may include an entirely new roof. Insurance companies may not tell you that they must pay the cost of replacing an item, and not just cover the actual cash value of the property damages.
2. The narrow definition of flood damage puts the burden of proof squarely on the insurance company. A home or business owner’s insurance often excludes flood damage; consequently, insurance companies often claim any type of water damage is a result of flooding. But if the insurance company cannot prove that the water damage meets the specific, narrow definition of flood damage, the company must pay the claim. Property is often damaged by both wind and flood, but the burden of proof is on the hurricane insurance company to prove that the property was damaged by flood and not damaged by wind. Proving a property was damaged by water but not wind is frequently impossible. Furthermore, the law states that if property is damaged by both something which is covered (like wind), and something which is not covered (like flood), then that loss is covered.
3. An insurance company must pay living expenses. If a hurricane makes your home uninhabitable, your insurance company must pay for your residence in a place of like, kind and quality of your own home.
4. Your recovery may exceed the amount for which you have insured your property. Some insurance companies offer inflation guard coverage that covers losses to a home whose value has increased since the policy’s purchase. So if you insured your home for $400,000 and included an inflation guard provision, and, say, your home was worth $500,000 when it was hurricaned, your policy would cover most, if not all, of the increase in your home’s value.
5. Special circumstances and damages may also be covered in your policy. Read the fine print yourself because your insurance carrier may neglect to inform you that your policy covers debris removal, damaged screened pool enclosure replacement and the costs of bringing a building up to code. These costs are in addition to simply returning a house to pre-hurricane condition.
