Are You Covered for That Commercial Building You Just Purchased?
Commercial property is, by and large, pretty expensive. For many small business owners, buying a piece of property that hasn’t budged on the market for a while can look like a good bargain, since you are more likely to negotiate a better selling price. All of that is well and good, until a pipe springs…
Read MoreMandatory Arbitration? Time to Check Your Policy
There is a dangerous new issue in the insurance world regarding arbitration clauses. Though most insurance policies usually do not have forced arbitration clauses, recent news from Texas makes it apparent that at least some carriers are trying to go that route. As Tennessee is one of the many states with no statutes in place…
Read MoreWhat Good is Health Insurance if the Hospitals Don’t Bill It for Your Procedures?
We all grumble a little bit about paying our insurance premiums, until we get hurt or sick – and then those premiums don’t seem so bad. HealthCare.gov tells us that the average cost of a 3 day stay in a hospital is about $30,000, or $10,000 a day. So when you are seriously injured or…
Read MoreHas Insurance Agent Negligence Led to the Denial of Your Claim?
When we talk about agent negligence, we’re not talking about your agent stealing your premiums or selling you a fake insurance policy. As popular as that trope might be on television or in film, outright theft is pretty rare (which is why stories about it go viral so quickly online; it happens so infrequently that…
Read MoreShouldn’t You Already Have That on File? Why Cooperation May be the Key to Your Policy
The worst has happened; there’s been a fire in your home, or a windstorm damaged the roof and walls, or some other horrific thing has occurred and rendered your house unlivable. So you put your claim in to the insurance company, who turns around and asks for a tremendous amount of paperwork – paperwork that…
Read MoreWhat Happens When the Bed Bugs Bite?
Recently, we wrote a quick synopsis on all-risk policies vs. named perils policies. In that post, we covered some of the more common types of exclusions most Tennessee homeowners have in their named-perils policies. One we have not yet talked about is infestation. Just as brakes and tires are rarely covered under a warrantee, the…
Read MoreKnow Your Policy – Defense Within Limits and Bad Faith Actions
In many professional and commercial liability policies is a provision called “defense within limits.” In a nutshell, a DWL provision means that the amount of your policy that can be paid out in a claim must include legal defense costs. As a policyholder, this puts you in a unique predicament: if you are being sued,…
Read MoreUgly is Beautiful: Your Insurance Company Probably Has to Pay for Cosmetic Damage Claims
This is one of those examples that make insurance dispute lawyers angry. Let us say that a rogue thunderstorm sweeps through town, causing the trees to shake loose of branches, limbs and acorns. After the storm, you realize that your roof is stippled like a golf ball. It is still functional, and there is no…
Read MoreThe Tennessee Homeowner’s Guide to Insurance Policy Exclusions
When we buy homeowners insurance, we mostly think about what we want it to cover: a fire, wind or hail damage, earthquake – those types of things. What most people don’t think about (and what they really should) is what their policies don’t cover. These are called exclusions, and they can vary from policy to…
Read MoreSubmitting to an Examination Under Oath in an Insurance Dispute
When you make a claim to your insurance company, you may be asked to submit to an Examination Under Oath (EUO). Insurers often use the EUO process as a way to vet claims before they make a payment. EUOs are becoming more and more common, and often indicate there is a red flag of some…
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