The Appraisal Provision of Your Homeowners’ Policy May Increase Your Odds of Receiving an Appropriate Settlement
You purchase homeowners’ insurance in case the worst comes to pass, and your home sustains serious damage. Buried within the contract is something called the appraisal provision, or appraisal clause. The International Risk Management Institute defines this as a “property insurance provision allowing either the insurer or the insured to demand a binding appraisal of…
Read MoreRenovations, Upgrades and Your Tennessee Homeowners’ Insurance Policy
You’ve been staring at that ugly Formica countertop since you bought this house and it’s finally time to do something about it. Maybe the roof shingles are on their last legs, and it’s time to replace them once and for all. Perhaps a surprise bonus from work means the inground pool your family has dreamed…
Read MoreWhy Did My Insurance Company Deny My Claim?
Imagine for a moment that a storm touches down in Tennessee and ravages your neighborhood. You put in a claim with your insurance company for the damage you sustained, dotting every “i” and crossing every “t.” Then the insurance company sends you some mail, and instead of the check you hoped for, you see a…
Read MoreTypes of Coverage Available in Most Homeowners’ Policies
There are a variety of different coverages available under every policy. First, you should know that every policy is different. A homeowner’s policy is going to have dramatically different coverages than a commercial policy. Usually in a homeowner’s policy, you’ll have Coverage A, which is the dwelling, Coverage B, which is other structures (often times),…
Read MoreWhy Preparing for an Examination Under Oath (EUO) is Critical?
Preparing for an Examination Under Oath is probably the most important process, other than simply showing up. The lawyers that are hired have taken thousands and thousands of Examinations Under Oath over the years. They know what they’re looking for. They know what they’re asking – to create issues, so that your claim can potentially…
Read MoreWant a Purple House? Better Ask the HOA, Lest You Lose Your Insurance
We recently ran across a news story out of Denver about a dispute between a homeowner and her homeowners’ association (HOA), over a particularly bright green paint. At the very end of the piece, the writer mentions that “the clock is ticking for [the homeowner] … who is in danger of losing her homeowner’s insurance.…
Read MoreTennessee Shakes as Oklahoma Quakes – Time to Review Your Policy
Our neighbor two states over had an earthquake on Saturday: several of them, actually. One quake reached a 5.6 magnitude, and the effects could be felt in Memphis and Chicago. Tennessee is not usually a hotbed of serious earthquake activity, but that could be changing: we have had 11 in the first 13 days of…
Read MoreWhen Do You Really Need an Attorney for Your Insurance Claim Dispute?
The whole point of homeowners’ insurance is to protect you in the event of damage to your home. Whether there was a fire, or a flood, or wind damage, etc. – you call your agent, he or she helps you make a claim, and then you get paid out so you can fix your home.…
Read MoreMaking a Claim of Bad Faith against Your Insurer in Tennessee
When you purchase an insurance policy – homeowners, auto, commercial, etc. – you do so assuming that your insurance company will act in good faith and honor the claims you make, provided that claim is covered by the policies you have bought. When an insurer deliberately denies a claim for unjust reasons, you may be…
Read MoreLearning Lessons from Zenefits
In 2013, a small company called Zenefits opened offices in New York and California. Over the past three years, it spread throughout the country. Zenefits, according to its own website, “integrates all of [a company’s] HR functions into an easy-to-use online dashboard;” in layman’s terms, the company sells cloud-based software that helps small to medium…
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