Insurance Disputes

Insurance Dispute Lawyer in Florida

Many people assume that insurance companies are on their side. If they are a policyholder and make their monthly payments, they feel that the company should pay out promptly.

The sad reality is that insurance disputes are common with car insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and even life insurance companies. Insurance companies profit by paying out as little as possible, delaying payments, and denying claims. If you’re dealing with an insurance dispute right now, it’s important to know you have options.

Types of Insurance Policies

The type of claim you can make depends on the type of insurance policy you have. There are generally two types of homeowners insurance policy that protect against structural damage: all peril and named peril insurance.

All Peril: This type of insurance policy covers all damage from every kind of natural disaster, except in cases where the insurer has expressly excluded that damage or disaster. This is the more expensive policy, but it also has the greatest coverage.
Named Peril: This type of policy only covers damage from causes named explicitly in the policy. While this has the least amount of coverage, it’s also the least expensive type of policy.

No matter the type of insurance policy you have, most require a deductible. Deductibles are the out-of-pocket costs that you must cover before the insurance company will step in and pay the rest of the claim.

Florida differs from many other states in that insurance policies commonly include hurricane coverage with its own deductible. While this coverage can help, it also means that policyholders need to pay more out of pocket in the case of hurricane damage.

Denied Insurance Claims

It’s the responsibility of insurance companies to reasonably respond to claims and to pay out promptly. Even so, they have a financial incentive to deny legitimate claims and delay payment on claims they’ve approved.

An insurance dispute lawyer working on your behalf will take the first step to engage in dispute resolution and restore the relationship between you and the insurer. If that is not possible, the attorney will then move forward with an insurance lawsuit.

Insurance Company Bad-Faith Claims

Florida has passed the Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act, which protects policyholders from any bad-faith activities an insurer might engage in. When an insurer violates this Act, an insurance dispute firm can initiate a lawsuit. A lawyer will work to hold the insurance company liable for all damages.

Some common examples of bad-faith claims are:

Making misleading or false statements
Insisting that you don’t need a lawyer
Not valuing the damaged properly
Offering an amount that’s too low
Denying your claim without a legal or factual reason
Stalling or delaying the investigation of your claim
Threatening unwarranted prosecution (commonly used as a scare tactic to discourage litigation)

An unfortunately common tactic is for insurance companies to try to get the policyholder to sign a release before talking with an attorney.

Be sure that you don’t sign anything before talking to an insurance dispute lawyer.

Do I Need Help With Insurance Disputes?

Many policyholders are afraid of hiring an attorney. It’s scary to feel like you’re going up against a big company with a team of lawyers. The reality is less dramatic, though. You can think of an insurance dispute attorney as someone who’s on your side and working toward getting you the compensation that the insurance company legally owes you.

No one wants to face an insurance company alone, and everyone can use an advocate on their side who has an in-depth knowledge of Florida insurance law. The right firm will work to resolve your dispute as quickly as possible. At Zweben Law Group, we can help.

Call Us at Zweben Law Group in Stuart, Florida

When you need a Florida insurance dispute firm that can help, call our team at Zweben Law Group. Whether you’re dealing with a claim denial or a delay in payment, we are here for you. Based in Stuart, Florida, we serve you across all of Florida.

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