|
Date: October 13, 2009
Host: Alan Garfinkel View Transcript | Archive Index For All Legal Chats Standing in the street mournfully staring at what used to be your home can leave a person struggling to take the next step. Do you know where, or how, to start rebuilding? Homeowners insurance covers such a wide range of property and liability scenarios, including but not limited to; damage by fire or vandalism to an individual being injured on your property. There are also many types of losses and events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or "Acts of God" which can be excluded unless specific insurance coverage is in place. It is truly important to have a firm understanding of your policy. Learn more about this vast and sometimes confusing topic with Attorney Alan Garfinkel on October 13th at 2 PM ET (1 Central, 11 Pacific) and start rebuilding. ALAN GARFINKEL is an Orlando, Florida lawyer and founder of Garfinkel Trial Group, an 22-lawyer plaintiffs' personal injury and natural disaster law firm. A graduate of Florida State University, Mr. Garfinkel is Board Certified and is also "AV-rated" by Martindale Hubbell (the highest possible rating) and is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, Florida Supreme Court and multiple Federal Courts. His associates are licensed to practice in multiple states including,
Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Alan is on the board of directors of Florida's largest charity for families of injured workers. http://www.hurricanejustice.com Live Chat Transcript Attorney Garfinkel: "Good afternoon everyone."
Attorney Garfinkel: "This is attorney Scott Dornstein sitting in for Alan Garfinkel in today's proeprty insurance webinar"
Attorney Garfinkel: "Please feel free to submit your questions at any time and they will be answered in the order received."
Attorney Garfinkel: "Let's get started."
Attorney Garfinkel: "As those of you on the East coast are aware, hurricane season is almost over, but that does not mean that it is time to rest on your laurels. There is still a chance of a catastrophic storm htting the US mainland before the end of November."
Attorney Garfinkel: "As some of you might recall, Hurricane Wilma devestated South Florida on October 25, 2005, so please make sure you stay prepared throughout the season."
Attorney Garfinkel: "One of the questions that comes up quite often in my practice is what can an insured do when they believe their insurance company has not properly adjusted their claim or otherwise treated them unfairly?"
Attorney Garfinkel: "Unfortuantely, insurance companies do not always behave in the manner we believe they should. after all, they are in the busienss of making money and it si in their best interests to pay as little as possible in claims to maintain profitability"
Attorney Garfinkel: "However, most states have gievn consumers a remedy, the first-party bad faith action."
Attorney Garfinkel: "As you know, I will be discussing Florida law, and while many of the applications will be universal in nature, please be sure to consult an attorney iny our home state for further details and legal advice."
Attorney Garfinkel: "There was a time when first party bad faitha ctions did not exist. First party meaning the insured directly against his insurer"
Attorney Garfinkel: "Florida has codified the right to bring a bad faith claim in Sec. 624.155 of the Florida statutes."
Attorney Garfinkel: "The bad faith action comes from the implicit requirement that an insurance company deal with its customers in good faith, basically meaning that they must treat them fairly and perform their end of the abrgain under the insurance polciy."
Attorney Garfinkel: "Unfortunately, this didn't always happen. Insurers would take excessive amounts of time to adjust claims, would obviously lowball their polciyhodlers, etc."
Attorney Garfinkel: "In the statute, the legislature states that an insurer may be laible for bad faith where it fails to attempt, in good faith, to settle a claim when under all circumstances it could and should have done so, had it acted honestly and fairly towards its insured."
Attorney Garfinkel: "There are some prerequisites to bringing a bad faith action"
Attorney Garfinkel: "First, you must prepare what is known as a "Civil Remedies Notice" at least 60 days prior to your bringing a abd faith action. Forms are available from the Department of Financial Services website."
Attorney Garfinkel: "The Notice must contain the statutory provision which the insurer allegedly violated; the facts giving rise to the alleged violation; the name of any individual involved in the violation; reference to specific policy language that is relevant to the violation; and a statement that the notice is given in order to perfect the right to pursue the civil remedy auhtoirzed by staute."
Attorney Garfinkel: "If the insurer pays the damages or otherwise remedies the situation within 60 days no action for bad faith can lie."
Attorney Garfinkel: "Under the statute, attorneys fees and costs will be awarded to your attorney if you are succesful at a trial."
Attorney Garfinkel: "However, please be advised that it is not always so simple to get to a bad faith claim."
Attorney Garfinkel: "First, the Florida courts have determined that if there is an underlying coverage issue, that must be adjudicated before a bad faith claim may be brought."
Attorney Garfinkel: "Simply, if your insurer denies coverage, you need to resolve that issue before you could file a bad faith lawsuit (although nothing is stopping you from getting the ball rolling with a CRN)"
Attorney Garfinkel: "Secondly, the Courts have left the insurance company enough wiggle room in regards to the documentation they must provide in discovery of a bad faith claim which can make such actions ahrder to prove."
Attorney Garfinkel: "Despite the challenges, homeowners now have the opportunity to hold poorly performing insurance companies accountable for their actions"
Attorney Garfinkel: ""I hope you all enjoyed this session. Please feel free to submit any further questions you may have. See you in two weeks. Thank you very much."
|
