Serving on a condominium (condo) association board can easily become complicated if your community suffers a property loss and you have to navigate the processes required for condominium insurance claims. Losses like fire damage, water damage, or storm damage can cause hazards in your community and even make units or shared areas unhabitable. It’s easy to understand why you want the damage your community has sustained to be repaired quickly and restored to its former state.
Common Questions about Condominium Insurance Claims
Property damage raises important condo association insurance questions. What is a condo association board supposed to do if its insurance company isn’t cooperating? How do you compel an insurance company to pay a fair claim when it is dragging its feet to investigate, claiming your loss isn’t covered under your policy terms, or offering you a lowball settlement?
As condominium association insurance attorneys who represent clients in Indiana, Illinois, Florida, and other states, we help associations receive fair compensation from their insurers. Continue reading to learn three warning signs your condo association’s insurance company is trying to dodge your property loss claim. Then, learn how condo association lawyers like those at Ashford DiMartino can help you receive the fair payment you deserve for your claimed loss.
1. Your Agent or Adjuster Isn’t Returning Your Calls
Insurance companies have a duty to resolve property loss claims in a timely manner. If your condo association is reaching through the proper channels to speak with insurance agents or adjusters but they aren’t replying, it may be a sign the insurer is trying to dodge your property loss claim.
For example, let’s say there was a fire that damaged several units in your community, including its outside structure. You have called and emailed the insurer every week for an entire month regarding damage to common or community property, but the agents haven’t responded to a single one of those communications, much less sent out an adjuster.
Or maybe the insurer is responding but is taking several days to return calls, or the insurer’s adjuster repeatedly doesn’t show up when promised. What should have been a simple common area property loss claim has now taken several months to resolve, and your community still has fire damage that needs to be repaired.
In cases like these, the insurance agency may be acting in what is called bad faith. Acting in bad faith means your insurer isn’t performing its duty to resolve your claim within a reasonable time and to pay for a covered loss to the full extent defined by your policy terms. You may need legal representation to compel your unresponsive insurer to process your claim and pay a fair amount for your community’s property loss.
2. Your Insurer Says You’ve Experienced a Non-Covered Loss
Sometimes, insurance companies will try to dodge condominium insurance claims by insisting a condo community has suffered a non-covered loss. When this happens, insurers are arguing that whatever property loss your community has experienced isn’t covered by the terms of the association’s policy as detailed on the policy’s declarations page. Basically, they’re claiming they’ve found a loophole and they aren’t paying anything.
If your insurer is alleging the property loss isn’t covered, you need a professional opinion from a policyholder attorney like the ones here at Ashford DiMartino. We understand insurance policy language and terminology and can decipher the legal jargon and supposed loopholes for you. We can take a look at your claim to determine if your property loss is covered by the terms of your condo association’s insurance policy or not. And when we find your loss actually is covered, we fight to win you the fair payment you are owed.
3. Your Insurer Is Offering an Amount that Won’t Fully Cover the Cost of Repairs
A final tactic that insurance companies use to dodge paying condominium insurance claims is only offering to pay a portion of what it actually costs to repair the damage to your community. You may experience this situation even if the estimated cost of repairs is well within your policy’s coverage limit.
Being offered a lowball amount can be a confusing and frustrating event for condo association board members. As a volunteer, you just want to help serve the community you live in and secure the funds to pay for fixing the damage. You know the damage is real, you’ve received multiple quotes for repairs, and all the quotes seem reasonable. Why won’t the insurance company pay more to restore your community to its former state?
In this case, you need the assistance of experienced condo association lawyers to hold your insurance company accountable and help your community receive a fair payment as provided in your policy. When you choose to have Ashford DiMartino represent you, we work with you to prove what your property looked like before it suffered a loss and obtain a fair amount to restore your community to its former state.
Contact Ashford DiMartino for Help with Condominium Insurance Claims
After paying your insurance premium for years, it’s time that your association’s insurer holds up its end of the bargain. Don’t let your insurance company dodge your community’s property loss claim just because you don’t understand the legal jargon they’re telling you or you can’t chase down the claim in your spare time. If you have condo association insurance questions or your association has been trying to resolve a property loss claim with an uncooperative insurance company, contact Ashford DiMartino at (219) 728-5210 or fill out this contact form. Our condo association lawyers understand the intricacies of condominium insurance claims, and we will fight to hold your insurer accountable.