Homeowners' Insurance

Four Reasons for Homeowners’ Claim Denials

If you have purchased and kept current your homeowners’ insurance policy, shouldn’t the insurance provider be there to support you financially when you need it? Not necessarily. Every homeowners’ insurance policy will have ways to avoid paying out coverage amounts to policyowners. The key to your case is seeing if your claim was denied for an invalid reason, which is where our attorneys lend a professional hand. Using our extensive legal experience, we can see if your claim was denied wrongfully and handle what comes next if it was.

Your homeowners’ claim might have been denied due to:

• Deductible amount: Just like with car insurance, your homeowners’ insurance comes with a deductible or an amount you have to pay yourself before your insurer chips in. If the damage is under your deductible amount, then your claim can be denied. Deductibles might even change within your policy depending on the type of “peril” that befell your home.
• Uncovered peril: A peril is an incident that causes damage to your home, like a windstorm, flood, earthquake, etc. Coverage for all possible “perils” is basically nonexistent. A standard homeowners’ insurance policy covers a surprisingly limited amount of perils, too. For example, flooding caused by a burst pipe is often not covered by homeowners’ insurance. Your claim could be denied based on a loophole that makes the peril in question uncovered by the policy.
• Misplaced liability: When a third party causes the damage to your home, any cost of repairs will more than likely fall on them. Your homeowners’ insurance provider will distance themselves from the situation and leave you to fend on your own. For example, if you hire someone to trim a tree in your yard and it falls on your roof, then your homeowners’ insurance will not trigger. Instead, you will have to file a claim with that landscaping company.
• Maintenance: Typically, maintenance needed to keep your home habitable and happy is not covered by any homeowners’ insurance policy. Only necessary repairs after a covered peril or singular occurrence will be covered.

How Insurance Companies Sidestep Responsibilities

While the aforementioned reasons for a homeowners’ insurance claim denial are valid, the reasoning behind them might not be. Some insurance companies are notorious for bending the truth – or plainly ignoring it – in order to save themselves from making a payout to an insurance policyholder.

For example, your insurer might lowball the cost of the damage to your home in order to try to get it below your deductible amount. Or, they may argue on slight technicalities that the peril is not covered by your policy, even though the plain language of the policy implies it is.

When you let our insurance attorneys from Aizenman Law Group act as your legal representatives, you will be ready for any tactics your insurer might use to try to escape paying you in full. With our experiences as former insurance defense lawyers, we are ready to challenge your insurer and fight tenaciously on your behalf. We can help with any part of the process, from filing a claim and appealing it to litigation over an insurance dispute.

Call 631-769-8431 or contact us online at any time to begin your claim.

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