Please submit your claims for damages associated with Hurricane Harvey this week, before September 1, 2017. New legislation is going into effect on September 1, 2017 which will greatly reduce penalties insurers pay for delaying or denying claims.
The bill is named the “Hailstorm Bill”. It reduces the penalty insurers face for wrongfully delaying or denying claims for “forces of nature” claims from 18% to around 10%. The new legislation as well has a provision which requires a 60 day notice prior to suing. It is believed that claims filed before Friday will be dealt with much more promptly because the claims filed this week will not be subject to the new law.
From reading the legislation it should be clear to us all that the Texas legislature is strongly pro-business and has gone too far in protecting the insurance industry. With this legislation, real people and mom and pop businesses will be affected in a big way.
Submitting your claim by telephone is not sufficient, please do so in writing with a date prior to September 1, 2017. The Kelly Legal Group, PLLC would love to assist the victims of Hurricane Harvey in making their claims timely. Please contact us for assistance.
