General Insurance Dispute Information

Making yourself familiar with your insurance policy and coverage

Published on: June 26, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

With hurricane season in full swing, it is important for home and property owners to be fully aware and clear about their insurance and coverage, or lack thereof, that it provides. Whether living in a flood plain or tucked safely in a non-flooding area, residents of the Gulf Coast can be affected all the same by a hurricane by the list of dangers such as wind or rain damage. Going through your policy and making sure the proper cover necessary to properly rebuild in the event of storm damage is there will help prevent nasty surprises should the unthinkable happen and serious destruction befalls you.

Tim Engstrom from Southwest Florida’s News-Press has more

Most homeowners – especially those outside high-hazard coastal zones – can find coverage, but it is likely to be with a newer, less-familiar company, said Randy Duncan, an agent with the Insurance Depot of Lee County in Cape Coral.

Louisiana receives an F for insurance coverage

Published on: June 19, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

According to a report released this week, insurance policy holders in Florida and Louisiana, among other states, are paying some of the highest rates for homeowners policies that are vastly overrated. While states like Utah and Idaho have residents who are receiving a great value for their policies, this illustrates yet again a theme of insurance prices in the Gulf Coast being out of control.

The Times-Picayune reports

Louisiana is one of six states receiving an “F” on a newly released report card ranking states’ insurance climates.

Hurricane Season Has Begun

Published on: June 1, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

Today, according to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, marks the beginning of hurricane season.

The Atlantic hurricane season is officially from 1 June to 30 November. There is nothing magical in these dates, and hurricanes have occurred outside of these six months, but these dates were selected to encompass over 97% of tropical activity. June 1st has been the traditional start of the Atlantic hurricane season for decades. However, the end date has been slowly shifted outward, from October 31st to November 15th until its current date of November 30th.

Now, before it’s too late, make sure your insurance premiums are up to date, your coverage is what you wanted and your home plan on emergency preparation is ready. For more information on how to be prepared for storms and hurricanes, check out our blog posts that go over a variety of ways to be prepared in the event of a disaster or tropical storm.

Louisiana moving forward in insurance legislation

Published on: May 21, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

The Louisiana senate move forward with changes for Citizens insurance that will hopefully help home and property owners with their coverage and recovery in the event of a hurricane or natural disaster. NOLA.com reports:

The state-run insurer of last resort should have new guidelines to set rates and possibly slow the increase in premiums to homeowners, the Senate decided today.

Approved 30-2, Senate Bill 130 by Sen. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, goes to the House Insurance Committee for more debate.

Gulf Coast Hurricanes serving as a lesson for states nationwide

Published on: May 15, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

While stories have been popping up progressively in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Gustav and Ike, one interesting development has been the efforts by lawmakers and citizens for preparedness should an unpredictable catastrophe befall their hometown. States along the Eastern Seaboard have been taking action instituting insurance measures and local disaster drills should an unexpected and devastating hurricane knock on their doorstep.

New Jersey is one of those states, taking it as far as to create a fund that would help make sure homeowners would be protected in the event of a cataclysmic storm:

Today, the Legislature will begin hearings on how to best protect New Jersey homeowners from the devastation of major hurricanes or other natural disasters. This is an important and timely step; the Atlantic hurricane season begins in less than a month and New Jersey is both exposed and vulnerable to those storms.

One Month Until Hurricane Season Begins

Published on: May 1, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

While a tropical storm can pop at any point that the water and air temperatures are “right,” June 1st is commonly considered to be the beginning of “Hurricane Season.”

Things to consider now, or at least before June 1st, are your preparedness for a large tropical storm or hurricane, the storage of important documentation relating to insurance and your home and/or property, evacuation plans and various other steps. Feel free to browse our section on storm and hurricane preparedness tips, located here, and make sure you complete your checklist before storm season gets here.

In the event a storm does cause damage to your home and you feel the insurance companies are not giving you the covered financial restitution you feel you deserve, contact a legal professional immediately. The Berniard Law Firm prides itself on taking on insurance companies and defending Gulf Coast residents against bullying or undercutting insurers.

NYT article highlights insurance companies reluctance to advance coverage

Published on: April 16, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

A recent New York Times article helps highlight just how far behind insurance companies are to innovations of modernity and innovation. Highlighting the cases of several cancer patients who were forced to go out-of-pocket to receive convenient oral treatments rather than in-house intravenous, etc., care, the NYT highlights how insurance companies rely on redtape and a lack of federal demand to innovate to demonstrate how the average citizen who, until they fall into crisis, believe they are fully covered suddenly are required to provide their own money for reasonable remedy:

Pills and capsules are the new wave in cancer treatment, expected to account for 25 percent of all cancer medicines in a few years, up from less than 10 percent now.

The oral drugs can free patients from frequent trips to a clinic to be hooked to an intravenous line for hours. Fewer visits might save the health system money as well as time. And the pills are a step toward making cancer a manageable chronic condition, like diabetes.

NYT 9/11 Report Shows Lawsuits Can Help Get More Compensation.

Published on: April 15, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

Per The New York Times, “After the 9/11 terror attacks, thousands of people faced a weighty and uncomfortable decision. Congress had created a special fund to compensate survivors and victims’ families, but said that those who received compensation from it could not sue airlines or airport security firms, among other entities.”

While many families who lost a loved on in the attacks “sought compensation from the fund” a “new court report suggests that the small minority who went their own way and sued made out better financially: 93 of the 96 claims have been settled, for an average of $5 million, or more than twice the average payment from the special fund.”

This correlation can be found now in settlement struggles between people still fighting with their insurance companies with Ike and Gustav hurricane claims who did it without legal assistance. Insurance companies very often “lowball” or under-appreciate the value of homes and property damaged in incidences. With legal assistance, experts and courtroom litigants, individuals run a much better chance of receiving higher compensation. While, in this case, it was the government pressuring settlement, insurance companies have a proven trackrecord of manipulating and exerting pressure on their clients to accept their offers rather than pursue legal assistance. However, in the event your property or home is damaged under insured events, seek a legal expert who can get you the financial settlement you deserve.

Senate told insurance company defrauded 1 in 3

Published on: April 3, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

In a committee meeting relating to the insurance industry, witnesses recently laid before the Senate statistics and numbers that would imply an insurance agency, UnitedHealth Group, went to so far as to defraud through underpayment one in three of their clients:

CQ Healthbeat (3/27) reports, “UnitedHealth Group officials are in for an unpleasant experience at a Senate hearing next week – if a set-up session on Thursday was any indication.” At a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing today, witnesses “described how health insurers routinely defrauded millions of patients who sought out-of-network care by paying less than the insurers owed for medical bills.” A witness told the panel, which will hear from United representatives next Tuesday, that “the practice could have potentially affected as many as one in three insured Americans and lasted for at least a decade.” Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), “declined to say what types of changes should be included in health overhaul legislation,” saying, “I want to make sure exactly what it is we need to do…just in the saying of it, I could do damage to health reform.”

This system of underpayment should come as no surprise to residents of the Gulf Coast, who found that their property insurers consistently undercut them by offering the bare minimum to their claims. The insurance agency at large is notorious for trying to bolster their bottom line by offering far less than the fair market or genuine value is to the damaged, insured homes or property of their clientele. It is becoming ever more important to attain legal support in the event you believe your insurance agency is acting in bad faith with their offer to your claim, whether it be health insurance or property damage or any type of issue with an insurer.

Property versus Disaster Insurance – A Brief Explanation

Published on: March 17, 2009 | By Berniard Law Firm

The San Francisco Gate features an article that helpfully and articulately describes the difference between property and disaster insurance. Embedded within the article are links to other articles that help outline the grey area that can often exist on the issue. While this blog has tried to explain this in the past, every article an insurance policyholder in the Gulf Coast can read on the topic is worthwhile as recent years have shown insurance nightmares can easily spring up.

An EXCERPT:

The key today, with so many options, is to first assess exactly what you need and then work with an insurance agent to figure out the best package: one that covers your most significant risks. It’s not an either/or scenario that you want, but a combination of policies that provides protection without duplicating coverage. It is common for business owners to fail to look closely at what is covered by their property insurance and buy another policy that covers many of the same risks. Conversely, many policyholders mistakenly assume disasters such as flooding are covered under one of their policies and don’t discover until they’re underwater that neither their property insurance nor their disaster insurance covers flooding.