Insurance Claims in Houston

Houston Business Law Attorney

If you have incurred damage to your business, then you may want to take out an insurance claim in order to compensate for your losses. I am Patricia M. Davis and I offer a valuable service to business owners that have dealt with the financial cost that can be suffered in these situations. Your business may be your livelihood and it is my goal to protect it. You have likely put in extensive time and dedication to get your business to where it is and as a result of the destruction, you may have had to watch some of this effort regress. I am able to assist in filing a claim or a lawsuit against third parties that are responsible, persistently seeking you the compensation you are owed.

An insurance claim is the official request that you make to an insurance provider to receive money for the damages. When you make a claim, the insurance company will assess it and approve or disprove the claim based on their own research, which is done by an appraiser. The appraiser is expected to objectively investigate if your claim is valid and consistent. To avoid the rejection of your claim, you should contact a Houston business lawyer. My firm will provide you with experienced legal counsel that can help you understand the complicated claims process.

Why would an insurance provider reject my claim?

Sometimes, insurance companies will not approve your claims for various reasons. This can happen if you have not been paying your insurance premiums, which may deactivate your policy. The provider may claim that they are not responsible because your damages do not fall under the conditions of your policy, or that the accident was caused by carelessness or natural disasters. Sometimes a simple mistake can cause setbacks and minor errors that eventually prove to be larger problems.

In addition, an insurance company can reject your claim if they feel that the amount of money that you are asking for is inflated. The appraiser is the person responsible for evaluating your claim and deciding if it is reasonable. By contacting my office, I can assure you that we will give quality support while you are making your claim so that any rejection can be avoided. Call now to schedule a confidential consultation.

How to File an Insurance Claim

After incurring damage to your business, it is important to quickly take certain steps to file an insurance claim. Failure to take immediate action could result in failure to get any coverage.

• Contact your insurance provider: Find out where you can send a written notice of your claim which should include a description of the incident and the damages that were incurred. Once you provide them with written notice then by law they are required to investigate your claim within 15 days (Tex. Ins. Code § 542.055; BOR ¶ 30) so you should do this even if the company tells you that you don't have to give written notice.
• Record the scene: Though you may want to jump right in and clean up the mess, take some time to take pictures or video record the damages. Illustrations are priceless in providing proof of losses should there be a dispute later down the road. Conduct your own assessment of the scene even if an insurance agent has come to evaluate the losses. Different adjusters can be put on claims at different points of the process and mistakes can happen or information can be lost. Only rely on yourself to fully document everything!
• Take inventory: Write down all items or property associated with the damage, take pictures, and give the list to the insurance adjuster. Make sure that you don't throw any related items away before the adjuster has come out to see it for himself.
• Take notes: Always make a note of everything that happens throughout the claim, including all of your actions and all the insurance company's actions. This will help ensure that there is less confusion later.
• Communicate in writing: After any actions by the insurance company, make sure to follow up in writing so that there are no misunderstandings and the claim can be investigated with speed. Also, ask for frequent updates on the status of your claim to ensure that your claim gets dealt with.

Get Legal Counsel

An experienced attorney can better prepare the claim because they already know what an insurance company is looking for and how to help the adjusters to ease the process. If a valid claim gets disputed, then the insurance company is required to pay the legal fees.

Contact my firm today for personalized case evaluation to make certain that your claim is dealt with correctly!