Articles Posted in General Insurance Dispute Information

Annually, it is recommended for anyone living in the Gulf Coast area to do a full inspection of their insurance coverage. While people are often meticulous with their car insurance and its coverage, home owners insurance can be a confusing and daunting set of documents to review and even understand. However, a solid review of your plan’s limits and extents will help you be prepared should damage come to your home.

Periodically reviewing your coverage helps guarantee you have the protection you need in the right areas. These reviews can coincide with the renewal of your insurance or at the time in which you purchase significant enhancements or items for your home that change its value. Reviewing can be as simple as re-reading the literature provided that summarizes your coverage but can, and should, also include a call to your insurance agent. Simply asking your agent to go over your homeowners, damage protection and other insurance provisions can help you get a concise and clear idea of what your insurance will protect you from.

Feel free to have a frank and honest conversation with your agent about if the coverage on your home is adequate or if it needs to be adjusted based upon the value of those things being protected. Such a conversation keeps you from finding out that your recent boat purchase or the deck improvement that increased your home’s value are not covered.

By reviewing your insurance coverage and talking with an agent, disputes that may arise should damage occur that you must make a claim on may be avoided.

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The loss of one’s vehicle to any sort of calamity is a stressful and difficult event for anyone. When this loss occurs amidst a natural disaster, such a loss can feel completely overwhelming. What can make it even worse is when the insurance company drags their feet in paying you the very money you deserve. The law, however, protects the people from insurance companies dragging their feet and does so with strict penalties for such delays.

In the event of the inaction of an insurer that leads to deprivation of the use of a personal vehicle for more than five working days (excluding weekends and holidays), the insured party is entitled to any legally reasonable expenses that resulted during the entire period of time the claimant is without the vehicle. If the insurance company fails to pay this within 30 days of a claim that the insured is without the use of the vehicle, and the failure is deemed arbitrary, capricious or without probably cause, an additional penalty not to exceed 10 percent of reasonable expenses, or $1000, whichever is greater, will be tacked onto the claim with attorneys fees.

What this means is that, with a speedy claim and consistent effort to stay in line with deadlines and paperwork, the law protects Louisiana citizens from becoming overwhelmed in the event of a catastrophe.

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When working on an insurance claim for damages incurred for any set of reasons, it is important for Louisiana citizens to remember that while the insurance companies might not respect them, the law does. Louisiana law includes various different provisions to prevent insurers from taking advantage of policy holders and it is important for people to know their rights.

Louisiana law mandates a good faith effort on the part of insurance companies to their policy holders. This includes adjusting claims fairly, promptly and to make a reasonable effort to make settlements with the claimant or insured. Insurance companies violate this law when they

1. Misrepresent policy provisions or facts relating to a holder’s coverage.
2. Take longer than 30 days to pay a settlement after a written agreement is met.
3. Attempt to settle or deny coverage to a claim that was modified without knowledge or consent by the insured.
4. Lie or mislead a claimant as to the prescriptive period of a claim.
5. Fail to pay any claim due to an insurance holder within 60 days after they receive a satisfactory proof of loss from the holder when failing to do so is arbitrary or without probable cause.

If an insurance company is held liable for any of these violations, a policy holder may be rewarded financial damages of significant value. This money is in addition to the settlement already made.

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Jim Brown of WNRO in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, recently brought to light in an October 23, 2008, posting that the recent economic downturn felt by citizens nationwide and subsequent national buyout has very specific ramifications on the people of this state. This insurance squeeze will be sure to be felt by citizens of Louisiana as the cost of the buyout falls upon the American people to pay. The recent buyout of AIG cost the average American family of four $1200 and yet there seems to be no end in sight to the pinch insurance holders feel each time they make a claim on their policies.

What’s more, as Louisiana has no consumer protection agency to operate as a state oversight of insurance companies and their activities, the average policy holder has no governmental body to rely upon to watch over these companies. During Congressional hearings regarding the economic bailout, it was discovered that AIG executives had withheld and hid the financial risks being taken from federal auditors when the company began headed into a downtrurn. With executives going on $400,000+ retreats in the face of economic crisis, there appears to be no responsibility or restraint demonstrated by insurance companies like AIG.

Because of this sad state of affairs, it is even more important and relevant for insurance claimants to remain vigilant on their claims and policies. Whether dealing with a Home Owner’s, Mold Damage, Personal Injury or various other insurance claim you may be forced to deal with, it is crucial to have the representation necessary to protect your rights against insurance companies.

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