McAllen Property Damage Attorney

The Impact of Property Damage on Homeowners and Businesses

Property insurance often covers temporary housing if the damage to your property renders your home inhabitable. It can also include business interruption coverage if your business needs to shut down due to property damage, repairs, or government-ordered evacuations. You can pursue compensation for your losses and expenses caused by the covered peril up to the policy limits.

What Is Typically Covered by Homeowners Insurance?

Homeowner's insurance protects owners from sudden and accidental property damage. Sudden means you did not have time to prevent the damage to your property. Natural disasters are usually sudden. A burst pipe might not be sudden if it resulted from gradual and ordinary wear and tear.

Accidental means the damage was not intentional or the result of neglect. If you lit a fire in your basement to thaw a frozen pipe, you might not be able to claim accidental fire damage. Similarly, a failure to perform ordinary home maintenance like cleaning your clothes dryer lint trap might lead to a claim denial for neglect.

If the insurance company pays the claim, it will cover:

• Structural damage;
• Personal property losses;
• Reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket expenses like mitigation efforts or temporary housing.

Your policy also protects property owners from third-party liability for accidents like a slip and fall in the home.

Common Reasons Insurance Claims Are Denied

Insurance companies deny claims for many reasons.

Some common reasons an insurance company denies claims include:

• The cause was not a covered peril;
• The policy excluded the cause;
• The policyholder did not provide accurate or complete information when buying the policy;
• The policyholder breached the policy, such as failing to pay premiums or waiting too long to report the claim;
• The damage existed before the policy's effective date;
• The policyholder caused the damage through deliberate or neglectful acts, such as inadequate maintenance;
• The damage resulted from ordinary wear and tear;
• The loss was not documented to the satisfaction of the insurer;
• The insurer suspects the property owners have committed fraud or misrepresented the damage.

On the other hand, some insurance companies have a policy of simply refusing to pay any claims until forced to do so. They hope that by denying all claims, at least some property owners will become frustrated with the claims process and drop their otherwise valid claims.

How Our McAllen Property Damage Lawyer Can Help You

The Texas property damage lawyers from Omar Ochoa Law Firm focus on insurance litigation and property damage claims. Our attorneys have experience dealing with insurance companies and the tactics they use to underpay or deny claims. We take the burden of battling insurance companies off your shoulders so you can focus your efforts on rebuilding after your loss.

After disaster strikes your home or office, we can help by:

• Discussing your property damage claim during a free consultation and determining a strategy for getting you fairly compensated for your losses;
• Assessing and documenting the damage to the structure and your personal belongings;
• Preparing a claim including supporting documentation explaining the damage and the value of your losses;
• Responding to claim denials by submitting additional evidence and legal arguments;
• Negotiating for a fair insurance settlement in view of your losses;
• Litigating your claim if the insurance company refuses to settle.

Our goal throughout the case will be to get a full and fair outcome based on the facts of your case and Texas law.