Tennessee Tornado Lawyers Helping Policyholders
Fighting for property owners throughout the Southeast and Midwest
You’ve seen those funnel-shaped vortexes on the movie screen, but you never think they will strike your property. It’s rare that policyholders have much advance notice that a tornado is on its way. When tornados strike, they destroy most everything in their path. The good news is that generally homeowners and commercial property insurance should cover the damage due to a tornado.
Dozens of tornados ravage Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky almost every year. At McWherter Scott & Bobbitt, our insurance dispute attorneys are ready to help you when tornados ravage your building and the insurance company fails to appropriately respond to your claim. Many clients even hire us before a claim is even submitted, and others hire us much later when it’s time to file a lawsuit. Regardless of when we are hired, our legal team works to fully assess the damage, develop a plan for reconstruction and a proper estimate for repairs, and a strategy to deliver full compensation for all insured losses.
What types of damages do tornados cause?
Even mid-level tornados can completely destroy a home, office, church, hospital, apartment, or any type of property. If the initial strike doesn’t destroy the home, falling trees and other objects can crash through roofs and homes. In many cases, contractors will be needed to either rebuild the home for scratch or rebuild/repair the following:
- The home or building’s foundation
- Roofs, chimneys, siding, and shingles
- The floors, walls, and carpets
- The utilities including electricity, plumbing, HVAC, and telecommunications
- The doors, windows, screens, and shutters
- The driveways, landscaping, pools, and all parts of the exterior
In short, every part of the structure and property may need repairs – inside and out.
How can an insurance dispute lawyer help me?
Our experienced Tennessee-based tornado insurance lawyers help policyholders with a range of practical and legal issues, including:
- Explaining what steps to take immediately, such as reporting the claim to the insurance company, making temporary repairs and other mitigation efforts, taking photos and videos of the structure and contents, and other safety and verification procedures.
- Contesting any attempts by the insurance carrier to void or limit coverage.
- Arranging for advances to pay for temporary living expenses, moving expenses, and necessities such as food, or in the case of businesses, assist in obtaining compensation for extra expenses to relocate, replacement of inventory, etc.
- Using the right valuation methods to estimate losses for all damaged property, inside and out.
- If you have business interruption insurance, we can assist with identifying the proper amount of loss of business income and other expenses.
- The proper timeline for repairs the right methodology for estimating the loss, and securing contractors and other professionals.
- Holding insurance carriers liable for any bad faith claim handling.
- Fighting for proper depreciation instead of allowing excessive withholdings from the replacement cost by the insurance company.
- When necessary, assist our clients through the judicial process or other alternative methods of resolving insurance claim disputes.
Significant case results
$800,000+. John Doe v. ABC Insurance Company (Madison County Chancery Court). The attorneys represented a couple in a case against an insurance company after the insurance company denied their claim for insurance proceeds after commercial property was damaged by a tornado. The case settled for more than $800,000.
Fast and experienced help for tornado victims
At McWherter Scott & Bobbitt, we understand the strategies and techniques insurance companies sometimes use to deny or reduce the value of your claim. When tornados occur, they often completely destroy homes, businesses, or other properties and everything in them. We fight to make the insurance company pay the appropriate amount for the damage and hold them responsible for all benefits they are required to provide under the policy. To speak with a skilled Tennessee tornado insurance attorney, call 731-664-1340 or fill out our contact form. to schedule an appointment. Our attorneys are licensed in Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri.