In most cases, a business owner has sustained property damages as a result of a natural event, such as a hurricane, tornado, hail storm or fire. However, other cases can occur, such as damages from sprinkler leakage, vandalism or theft. Usually, the business owner has a commercial property policy that provides coverage, not only for the property damage, but also for contents, business interruption and other items.
The Claims Process and Why You Should Immediately Hire an Attorney
After having handled 50 or more cases for homeowners and business owners, it is Alfred Olinde’s opinion that most, if not all insurance companies, care far more about minimizing the claim and saving money than they do about making their policy holder whole. Despite the fact that the Louisiana Bad Faith Statutes severely penalize insurers for acting in bad faith, most insurance companies apparently decide that very few policy holders are willing to hire an attorney and complete the court process, so it is profitable for them to act in bad faith.
In fact, Bloomberg published an article entitled The Insurance Hoax which revealed that only 1% of all property claimants contest what the insurance company determines is owed. The article further revealed that insurers typically under pay claims by 30 to 60 percent. Furthermore, sadly enough, many attorneys are unwilling to take cases to trial.
Alfred Olinde was one of only a handful of attorneys who actually jury tried a hurricane Katrina case, despite the fact that the storm caused damages to untold thousands of policy holders who were not made whole by their insurance carrier. If you have suffered losses, get your Free Consultation before you accept any low-ball offers from an insurance company. Get the compensation you deserve.