Hurricane Harvey roared to shore on August 25 as a Category 4 hurricane. Hurricane Harvey reached more than 130 mph winds by the time it hit Rockport, Texas. Harvey’s heavy rainfall caused catastrophic flooding in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast. Hurricane Harvey displaced thousands of homeowners and caused dozens of deaths. Harvey is the strongest storm to hit a U.S. coast since Hurricane Wilma in 2005, and has destroyed many homes and buildings along the Texas coast. Hurricane Harvey has caused many homes to suffer Roof Damage as well.  If you suffered Hurricane Harvey Roof Damage and your insurance claim has been denied or you have received a low ball offer, please contact us today at 1-888-724-HAIL (4245) for Hurricane Harvey Roof Damage Legal Help.

Roof Damage caused by Hurricane Harvey can run the gamut from mild to severe, depending upon how hard the storm hit your residential area and depending upon the current condition of your home’s roof. Strong winds associated with the hurricane ripped shingles and tiles from roofs, damaged underlying roofing layers and jeopardized the structural integrity of entire roofing systems throughout Texas.

When you see or even suspect your roof is damaged by Hurricane Harvey, call a roofing professional right away. The worst thing you can do is delay and wait days to contact help for your home’s roof. Hurricane Harvey Roof damage is not always obvious or visible from the ground. Certainly if your roof is leaking or you see missing tiles, shingles, slate or panels, an inspection is needed now. The best way to know for sure if your roof is damaged is to have a professional roofing technician carefully and thoroughly inspect your roof to detect storm damage and schedule a roofing repair so that additional damage does not occur to your home. Many insurance companies would love nothing more than to deny your home insurance claim due to your failure to mitigate damages. By you delaying to get the home’s roof inspected and repaired can be cause for an insurance denial.

If your home insurance company has denied your roof claim or has low balled you with an offer that your are not happy with, please contact us today at 1-888-724-HAIL (4245) for San Antonio Hail Damage Legal Help.

Million Dollar Hail Lawsuit Verdict

In a Law360, Houston article dated February 13, 2017, a Million Dollar Hail Lawsuit Verdict was reported to have come out of Hidalgo County against insurance mogul USAA. Specifically the article stated the following:

“A Texas jury has sided with a homeowner in his dispute with insurer USAA Texas Lloyd’s Co. over a 2012 hail damage claim, finding that the company acted with malice in handling the $76,500 claim and slapping it with a nearly $1.8 million verdict. John R. Griffith, who owns a home in Hidalgo County, filed his fraud and breach of contract lawsuit in April 2014 against USAA and claim adjuster AllCat Claims Service LP, alleging that the companies underpaid him for the damage to his home and other property following a hailstorm on April 20, 2012. The jury found in favor of Griffith, returning its verdict Feb. 7 that included $800,000 in exemplary damages against USAA, which it found had acted with malice in the case. Thomas Sanders of Dykema Cox Smith, who represents USAA and AllCat, told Law360 on Monday that an appeal will be forthcoming in the case. According to the petition, the hail storm damaged Griffith’s roof, pool, pool deck, fence and satellite dish. The roof damage caused subsequent damage to the home’s ceilings, walls, insulation and flooring. He filed a claim with USAA, and about a month later, in May 2012, AllCat conducted a “substandard inspection” of Griffith’s property, he said. During the inspection, Griffith told the court, AllCat spent one hour on site and didn’t get on the roof to investigate the extent of damage there, and the report submitted by the AllCat inspectors didn’t include all the damage incurred to the property. The damages that were listed in the report were “grossly undervalued,” the petition alleged. “Plaintiff’s experience is not an isolated case. The acts and omissions USAA committed in this case, or similar acts and omissions, occur with such frequency that they constitute a general business practice of USAA with regard to handling these types of claims,” Griffith told the court in his petition. “USAA’s entire process is unfairly designed to reach favorable outcomes for the company at the expense of the policyholders.” Neither USAA nor AllCat explained to Griffith why their settlement offer failed to cover the amount of damages, he alleged, telling the court that the companies “knowingly or recklessly made false representations.” The jury found that USAA failed to comply with the insurance policy and that Griffith was owed $76,500 for property damage. The panel awarded Griffith another $76,500 for damages caused by USAA and AllCat’s “unfair or deceptive” acts in handling the claim. Because USAA’s conduct was “committed knowingly,” the jury also awarded Griffith $335,000, and it required AllCat to award Griffith $200,000 for its knowingly committed conduct. The jury also awarded Griffith $114,000 in attorneys’ fees for the trial work, with an additional $85,000 should the case proceed on appeals through the Texas Supreme Court. The jury also found that USAA had committed fraud, awarding Griffith $109,500 for that, and held that there was “clear and convincing evidence” that its malicious acts harmed Griffith. Counsel for Griffith did not immediately return calls seeking comment Monday.

Griffith is represented by Greg Cox of The Mostyn Law Firm. USAA is represented by Thomas Sanders of Dykema Cox Smith. The case is John R. Griffith v. USAA Texas Lloyd’s Company et al., case number c-4459-14-d, in Hidalgo County District Court.”

If your insurance company has denied your claim or paid less than your claim is worth, please contact us today.

Hail damage causes major damage to homes, businesses, cars, crops and other property every year. Hail storms and their related damage are more common today in the United States than it used to be and scientist and meteorologist do not know why. Storms that cause hail damage are becoming more and more frequent. The hail storms are striking with more intensity. And, the hail storms are causing greater amounts of damage to homes. As a result, hail damage repairs are costing Texas homeowners and companies more money each year. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the number of hail damage insurance claims filed between 2010 and 2012 in the U.S. has increased eighty-four percent to approximately two million hail claims. Three particular states, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas saw the largest amount of hail damage claims filed over the last three years, with Texas residents filing over 300,000 hail claims. If you believe that your home insurance company is denying your hail claim or underpaying your hail claim, and you need San Antonio Hail Damage Legal Help, contact us today at 1-888-724-HAIL (4245) so we can discuss your legal rights.

Due to the huge increase in hail damage claims, some home insurance companies have responded in an effort to save money. For example, some home insurance companies have taken hail damage out of the list of “covered events” under the standard Texas property insurance policy. Some insurance companies have responded this way because when many homeowners and businesses who are affected by hail go and file hail damage claims all at once, then the home insurance companies must come up with the cash money all at once as well. This large cash demand on insurance companies puts a very large strain on them and can even put them out of business. This potential scenario is not only detrimental to home insurance companies, but it is also detrimental to homeowners too because they will not get their hail claims covered due to the insurance company’s failure.

Another response insurance companies have come up with to combat the issue of increased hail damage claims without substantially raising the price of the standard homeowners’ insurance policy, is to offer separate extended coverage policies that will cover hail damage. By offering a separate extended policy to cover hail damage, the insurance company gives homeowners and businesses the option to pay extra to ensure that hail damage will be covered. As a result, not every homeowner or business will choose to purchase the additional hail coverage, so then the insurance companies will not be hit as hard when a hail storm causes extensive damage to many businesses and homes. Also, the extra hail coverage policy generates extra capital for the insurance company, which can then be used to cover hail claims filed by those homeowners and businesses that paid for the additional hail coverage.

However, there are some drawbacks in offering separate hail coverage policies to businesses and homeowners, the obvious drawback being that it is more expensive for a homeowner or a business owner to protect themselves and cover all of the possible weather events, including hail damage. So, if the home or business owner chooses to roll the dice and not purchase the extended hail damage coverage, the owners run the risk of having to pay all the hail damage expenses out of pocket and this can ruin bankrupt a business or a homeowner.

Hail damage to your home can be costly, especially if your home insurance company claims your policy does not cover the hail damage. If you believe your insurance company has wrongfully denied your claim or offered an unacceptable payout, please contact us today at 1-888-724-HAIL (4245) for San Antonio Hail Damage Legal Help.

How to File a Roof Hail Damage Insurance Claim

Many people ask how to file a roof hail damage insurance claim. A general overview is set out below.

To file an insurance claim for roof hail damage:

• Locate your homeowner’s insurance policy.
  Make a note of your insurance policy number and deductible. The deductible figure will be important as explained later.
• Organize your facts and records; insurance policy number, date/time of loss, hail size (if known), photos, videos, damage items.
• Call your homeowner’s insurance claim number and provide the necessary information as requested.
• You will be given a claim number by your insurer.

When an insurance claims examiner is assigned to your case, it helps to send your photos  and videos of the hail storm for authenticity to better support your claim. The claim examiner will assign an claims adjuster to make an official roof inspection and prepare a repair estimate.

Claims Adjuster Roof Inspection

• The claims adjuster will contact you to make an appointment to inspect the roof. Offer to share your photos and/or videos of the storm with the adjuster.
• You should arrange for the roofing contractor who previously inspected your roof to meet with the insurance adjuster to go on the roof and discuss his findings.
• The claim adjuster may bring along a “high team” to inspect steep and/or high roofs with proper safety gear.
• The roof inspection includes the taking of numerous photos, looking at dents in the soft metals (gutters, box vents, powered attic ventilators) and the marking off 10 ft by 10 ft “test squares” to count the number of hail stone hits on the shingles. Hail stone hits will be marked with chalk for identification in photos.

The claims adjuster will write a report on his findings, prepare an estimate to make spot repairs or replace the roof (assuming damage was found), then forward the report to your claim examiner. The claim examiner will review the report and make a decision on your claim.

Don’t be surprised if your neighbor’s roof hail damage claim is approved while yours is not. Whether or not an insurance claim is ultimately approved is highly variable depending on the severity of the damage, your roof’s construction, orientation of your house to the storm, quality of roofing materials and your particular insurance company’s evaluation criteria.

If your hail damage roof claim has been underpaid or denied, please contact us today.

Do I Have Hail Damage?

Hail damage accounts for a lot of the damage to roofs for hail storms in the Texas area. And it can lead to an expensive insurance claim. Nationwide, hail causes more than $1.6 billion in damage per year – just in roof damage – according to the Federal Alliance of Safe Homes. When a storm hits the San Antonio area, it may be difficult to see if the shingles on your roof have been damaged. However, there are some ways to determine if any damage has occurred.

Before we begin looking at how to determine and establish hail damage to the point of contacting a hail damage roof repair company like Apex Roofing, consider the following:

Myth: I looked at my roof and didn’t see any problems.

Fact: Roofing systems must be physically inspected by some one who has training and experience to determine if there is actual hail damage. A roofer is usually more knowledgable about this than the average homeowner or insurance adjuster.

Myth: I’m not missing any shingles so I must not have damage.

Fact: Missing shingles are related to wind damage claims and can happen during a hail storm if the winds are high enough. However, hail damage is insidious in nature and may not physically cause leakage for years after a hail storm.

Myth: I only have 1 year to file my insurance claim.

Fact: Many insurance companies do have a one year time limit and some even less, however due to the nature of hail damage they may pay claims past the deadline. This usually happens if a hail storm is widespread geographically.

Myth: My roof is new so it’s covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, home builder, or contractor.

Fact: Manufacturers often specifically name hail as an exclusion to their product warranty. Newer roofs can actually be more susceptible to hail damage versus older roofs due to the time it takes a new roof to cure from exposure to the elements.

Myth: I was told my roof has minimal or very little damage and therefore I don’t need to file a claim.

Fact: If your roof has any damage whatsoever, you have a valid insurance claim and should file with your insurance company. Damage might not cause your roof to leak for years. This is why it’s important to have a qualified person inspect your roof.

Myth: My insurance company will cancel my policy if I file a claim.

Fact: Most states prohibit insurance companies from cancelling policies for filing claims arising from severe weather related events.

Myth: If I don’t file my claim, my insurance company won’t raise my rates.

Fact: After a disaster, insurance companies may raise every one’s rates. By not filing your claim, your personal rate increase is paying for every one else’s damage except yours.

Do I have hail damage?

If your insurance company has denied your claim or paid less than your claim is worth, please contact us today.