Fire Damage
Fire damage can lead to the total destruction of a commercial entity or business. Often, the aftermath of recovery from a fire is as emotionally draining and devastating as the event itself.
The loss of a business to a fire may present multiple challenges and financial hardship. Business owners typically have commercial insurance in place as a financial risk management tool in these situations, but commercial insurers frequently made the claims process an unfortunate and frustrating experience.
Commercial Insurance Companies Have a Legal Duty to the Insured
If a commercial insurance company doesn’t treat your business fairly or delays their acknowledgment, assessment, and evaluation of your commercial fire damage claim, it can have a catastrophic impact on your business and livelihood.
Time is money—if your fire damage repairs aren’t quickly performed, your business risks profitmaking potential, lost customer relationships, financial hardship, or even liquidation. If your commercial fire claim is disputed, delayed, undervalued, or denied, Mindiola Law Firm’s property damage claims lawyers are here to help.
Commercial Fire Insurance Claims
Unfortunately, some commercial insurance companies resort to despicable tactics that benefit only themselves—not the commercial policyholders who’ve paid premiums to protect a business from catastrophic events like fire, hurricane, tornado, windstorm, hailstorm, flood, and more:
- The commercial insurer may attempt to shift the cause of the insured’s catastrophic loss to something that isn’t covered under the policy.
- It may dispute the insured’s repair costs or demand that inferior or inexpensive supplies be used.
- A commercial insurer might even refuse to admit that the property is a total loss to avoid dealing with stringent consumer protection laws—and to pay much less than what’s owed under the valued policy laws.
You have legal rights as a commercial policyholder, but your insurer may decide to simply overlook them. The insurer may opt to use intimidation or avoidance to delay, refuse, deny, or undervalue the claim. They’ll lie or use obscure language to avoid making prompt payment to the insured under their contract’s terms and conditions.
The property dispute and commercial claims lawyers at Mindiola Law Firm recognize these often-used tactics. We’ve heard all the poor excuses before.
We’re here to fight for what is owed to you, the commercial policyholder. We will never settle for less than what’s necessary for the business to rebuild.
Commercial Insurance Company Fire Claims
If you’re dealing with insurer problems regarding commercial fire damage claims in any of the following properties, please call us:
- Condominium complex claims
- Multi-family dwelling claims
- Duplex property claims
- Apartment building claims
- Office building claims
- Hotel and motel claims
- Car dealership claims
- Industrial property claims
- Retail property claims
- Special purpose property claims
- Restaurant property claims
Commercial and industrial fire damage losses cost more than $2 billion per year in direct property loss claims, according to the National Fire Protection Association. In fact, that figure doesn’t approach the complex business interruption component of commercial fire claims.
Commercial Fire Damage is Unique
A fire represents a complex commercial property claim because it should include both direct (damage and losses from the fire) and indirect damages and losses (from smoke, residues of various substances in the burning process, and corrosive materials that might be released in a fire.
Stopping a large fire may cause additional water damage to the commercial property. In the aftermath, the contents of the property may be exposed to the natural elements for a period of time after the fire.
For obvious reasons, the sooner the commercial property owner is able to protect the contents of the property after the fire, the better. It’s your responsibility to mitigate fire damage, even before the insurer pays your valid fire damage loss claim.
Commercial Fire Damage Dilemma for the Business Owner
Most business owners are expert in fire damages or have forensic accountants on staff to piece together a complicated business interruption claim.
A business owner who attempts to tackle the confusing process is likely to find himself or herself embroiled in an aggravating and labor-intensive commercial insurance claims process. Since the business owner is simultaneously trying to attend to business as usual, there’s not much time to spare.
The question of how to submit an accurate insurance claim that keeps the business whole sometimes becomes one of simple survival when the insurer delays, undervalues or denies the valid commercial fire damage loss claim.
This is where an experienced insurance litigation law firm comes in. We work only for you, the business owner. We don’t work for your insurance company. We hire all of the experts necessary to properly value your commercial fire claim—and we never accept the word of the insurer’s claims adjusters, engineers, contractors, or hand-picked “experts.” We will use our years of experience on your behalf in the navigation of the often-confusing commercial property insurance claims process.
Protecting Your Business’ Best Interests in a Commercial Fire Claim
Mindiola Law Firm’s insurance litigation lawyers have a long and successful track record of fighting bad faith insurance companies to protect commercial clients’ rights. We recognize the games and strategies used by insurance companies to mitigate their costs and damages.
Realize that the commercial insurance company is bound by law to provide a duty to its insured. In every insurance claims case we manage, our team prepares as though we will go to trial. We never begin the process with the goal of out-of-court settlement. Our goal is to fight for the maximum compensation for the situation. We want to make the commercial insurance company do the right thing—honor its obligations to the insured.
Call the Mindiola Law Firm if you’re dealing with insurance not paid issues after a commercial fire. We’re standing by to take your call at .