What Hurricane Harvey Victims Need To Know When Filing Insurance Claims!

Thousands of residents have been displaced and 53 Texas counties have issued emergency declarations. FEMA director Brock Long stated earlier today that he does not know how many of the 11.4 million people in these counties successfully fled their homes, are still waiting to be rescued, or are otherwise harmed by the storm. A few minutes ago it was reported that 100,000 homes have been affected by hurricane Harvey.

Property damage to homes and businesses expected by Hurricane Harvey is going to be substantial. People who have lost their home or experienced any other type of damage or loss because of Hurricane Harvey should pay attention to how insurance companies took advantage and mistreated many of the victims of earlier hurricanes including Matthew, Sandy, and Katrina. Knowing what tactics big insurance used in the past to delay and deny claims will allow you to protect your rights and force insurance companies to honor their policy contracts and obligations to you.

Take hurricane Katrina for example. It swept across the Gulf Coast leaving historic levels of death and destruction in its wake. The storm caused an incredible $135 billion in damages, leaving thousands homeless, jobless and without much hope.

After this tragedy and while facing their darkest hours, many survivors found themselves experiencing harm a second time. This time from their insurance companies.

What happened is that insurance companies started offering pennies on the dollar for real and personal property damage losses. Insurance companies denied coverage for business income loss and often times simply refused to honor insurance policy agreements. Some insurance companies claimed that the destruction had nothing to do with wind damage, which was covered under most policies back then but was caused by floodwater, which as not covered.

Shockingly, because of how insurance companies mishandled these claims, during the two year period of time after the Hurricane Katrina disaster, insurance companies reaped more than $100 billion in profits. A substantial amount of this money should have been paid out to Hurricane Katrina victims.

While the facts of Hurricanes Harvey, Matthew, Katrina and Sandy are all unique, we believe many of the same issues that existed during these hurricanes will come back full circle with claims made by victims of Hurricane Harvey. While we don’t practice law in Texas, we do want to share important information to help Hurricane Harvey victims process their insurance claims.

With this in mind, we strongly urge you to immediately download and read these two ebooks provided by the American Association for Justice. If you don’t live in Texas or on the east coast, please share these ebooks and links with your family and friends who do live there. If you need an experienced Texas lawyer to help you with your hurricane Harvey related loss, contact the Texas Bar Association for a referral.

We hope you find this information useful.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. We support the American Red Cross and encourage everyone to help with a donation to 1-800-RedCross or at http://RedCross.org