Houston Property Insurance Attorney Bryant Fitts has advice on what to do if your property damage claim was denied or underpaid. If your property damage claim has been denied or you believe that your claim has been underpaid, you may need help from an experienced legal team like the Fitts Law Firm located in Houston. Contact Bryant Fitts for a free consultation.

Bryant Fitts
Fitts Law Firm, PLLC
4801 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77027
(713) 871-1670
(800) 99 FITTS
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My name's Bryant Fitts. I'm a lawyer in Houston, Texas that handles Denied and Underpaid Insurance Claims for Policyholders in Texas and across the nation.

I'm here today to talk to you about your options in the event you have a, in your opinion, valid property damage claim that was either denied or underpaid. You have three things you can do, typically. Number one, if you believe they've denied or underpaid your claim or missed some damage, you can, what's called, request a re-inspection. Once they've come out and looked at your property, you can contact the insurance company and say, "Hey guys, I think you got it wrong. Come on out, take a look again. Let me show you the actual damage that you missed."

Nine times out of ten, this doesn't work, but sometimes it does. When you do do this, make sure you have good evidence to show why the damage you're telling them was caused by a covered loss, which mean some sort of … Covered loss means something that the insurance policy will pay for. You've got to be able to show them why you think it should be paid. Now, like I said, it doesn't always work, but it's certainly worth a try. If you disagree as to the value of what's going to be done, you can invoke what's called, Appraisal. This is your second option.

Appraisal is a term in your insurance contract that says if you and the insurance company disagree as to the value of the loss, you can have it appraised. Now, most people who aren't in the insurance business think that an appraisal is how your property's appraised before you buy it, or how the taxing authority appraises your property for tax purposes. This is completely different. Appraisers … In this process, the appraisal process requires two appraisers, one for the insurance company and one that you appoint on your side will go and write up the value of your loss and they will try to determine, or each side will come up with a number. And your guy may say your loss is $17,000, and the insurance company's appraiser may say it's $12,000. They will try to reach an agreement together, and if they don't reach an agreement, you go to what's called an umpire. And when you have an umpire, each party pays the cost of this umpire and the umpire's typically somebody who has experience in the insurance business.

In Texas, the overwhelming trend is most of the insurance … or, in Texas, the overwhelming trend is that most of the umpires are former insurance employees, so it's really tough when you're a policyholder to get a fair shake from an umpire. Now, the appraisal process can be effective, but sometimes it's a win or lose situation. Either one side gets a really good result and the other side doesn't, or vice versa. It's very rarely a fair compromise. It's also expensive. The policyholder has to pay the appraiser, and they have to pay the umpire.

Your third option, if you believe your claim has been denied or underpaid, is to hire a lawyer. Now, a lawyer will explore filing a Breach of Contract claim against your insurance company for failure to pay a claim that they should have paid under your insurance contract. They will also research to consider whether or not they can file a claim for Bad Faith. Bad Faith means that the insurance company didn't treat you fairly as they're required to by law. An attorney may also consider the appraisal route if they think that's the best option under your policy.

So those are the three main options if your claim has been denied or underpaid. If you have any questions or think you require the assistance of a lawyer, please contact us at 1-800-99-FITTS or through our website.

Thank you.

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