Overview
After Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Coastal Bend in the summer of 2017, we were retained by several commercial clients facing a common insurance tactic: adjusters with minimal monetary authority pre-calibrated to find that this was a low wind event with little damage. Our clients included a hospital district facing multiple coverage disputes, a beachfront tower hotel denied coverage on policy exclusion grounds, two midsize motels unable to even begin necessary operational repairs, and a newly constructed hotel whose owner was put in severe financial distress after receiving an initial insurance denial.
Results
In order to counter and reverse these denials, we worked with our expert teams to document and prove the cause and extent of the storm damage. Our discovery motions, deposition expertise, and business practices investigations forced the insurance companies to settle the cases at far higher levels than they had initially conceded. We categorically dismantled each insurer’s position with key testimony, underwriting documents, and by exposing flawed managerial decisions.
We took a hospital district from $760,000 in initial payments to over $5.4 million in recoveries for an over 600% improvement; a box hotel from $50,000 to nearly $1 million for an over 1,900% improvement; and we even secured a 100% improvement and an over $4 million dollar recovery for a large hotel tower facing significant coverage defenses. After another hotel owner was forced to the brink of bankruptcy, we increased his recovery by over 780% after the insurer agreed to settle shortly before trial.
On this representative sample of commercial cases, the insurers determined they only owed $3 million after their claim adjustments, but we recovered an additional $13 million for an 850% improvement on challenging cases with significant coverage arguments and wind strength measurably less than in the recent Hurricane Beryl.