➢ Hurricane Claim Denied or Underpaid? Our Lawyers Can Help.
Texas homeowners and business owners whose hurricane damage insurance claim was denied, delayed, or underpaid may be eligible to take legal action against their insurance company and recover the full amount owed under their policy.
Our law firm, Hissey Mulderig & Friend, is accepting first-party hurricane damage insurance claims from policyholders throughout Texas.
If you or a loved one filed a hurricane damage claim in Texas and your insurance company denied it, undervalued it, or has failed to respond, you may qualify to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Contact the attorneys at Hissey Mulderig & Friend toll-free at 1-866-806-8117, or submit a free case evaluation form to speak to an attorney and find out whether you qualify.
➢ Which Deductible Applies
Texas policies carry three different storm deductibles, and the labels are not interchangeable. A wind and hail deductible applies to any wind. A hurricane deductible applies only at hurricane strength. A named storm deductible applies the moment the National Hurricane Center names a system, which happens at 39 mph, well before hurricane strength.
The trigger language decides which one you pay. Some policies tie it to the naming of the storm. Others tie it to a hurricane watch or warning issued anywhere in the state, holding it in effect for a set number of hours after the warning lifts. Damage inside that window falls under the higher deductible even if the wind at your address was ordinary.
Texas also has no statewide rule limiting these deductibles to one per season, so a second storm in the same year can trigger a second full deductible.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners notes that triggers vary by state and by insurer, and that a substantial share of people in hurricane-prone areas do not know which type their own policy carries.
➢ The Clause That Decides Most Hurricane Claims
A hurricane delivers wind and water together. Homeowners policies cover wind and exclude flood, and most contain a clause governing what happens when both contribute to the same damage. That provision is the anti-concurrent causation clause, and it excludes loss caused directly or indirectly by an excluded peril regardless of any other cause contributing concurrently or in any sequence.
The Texas Supreme Court applied this clause in a 2015 case, JAW The Pointe v. Lexington Insurance Co. Hurricane Ike wrecked a Galveston apartment complex, and the city ordered it torn down and rebuilt to current code. The insurer paid for the wind damage but not the rebuilding, because flooding had played a part in the city’s decision.
The owner argued the wind damage alone would have been enough to trigger the city’s order. The court said that made no difference. Wind and water had combined, and the clause ruled out coverage whenever they do.
The rule that comes out of these cases is narrow: the policy covers damage caused exclusively by wind.
➢ Who Has to Prove What
That rule puts a burden on the policyholder most people do not anticipate. Showing that a hurricane damaged the property is not enough. The claim has to separate what the wind caused from what the water caused.
Insurers understand this, which is why post-hurricane adjusting so often assigns the largest possible share of a loss to water. Storm surge, rising water, and groundwater are all excluded, and every dollar moved into that column is a dollar the policy does not pay.
Segregating the two is evidentiary work. It relies on the height of the water line relative to the damage, wind direction and speed at the property during each phase of the storm, the sequence in which building components failed, and engineering analysis of what wind could have caused before any water arrived. The evidence that establishes the wind side of that analysis is covered on our page about Texas wind damage insurance claims.
➢ Code Upgrades After a Hurricane
When a local building official determines a structure is substantially damaged, commonly meaning damage exceeding half its value, repair may no longer be permitted and the structure must be demolished and rebuilt to current code.
That cost is not automatically covered. It falls under ordinance or law coverage, often a separate endorsement with its own limit, and it may be unavailable where an excluded peril contributed to the determination. The gap between repairing a building and rebuilding it to code can exceed the rest of the claim.
➢ Two Claims, Two Adjusters
A property carrying both wind and flood coverage generates two separate claims after a hurricane, handled by two adjusters under two sets of rules. The wind claim goes to the private carrier or to the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. The flood claim goes to an insurer participating in the National Flood Insurance Program, which runs on federal procedures and deadlines and is covered in detail on our page about Texas flood damage insurance claims.
The risk is that the two claims contradict each other. A statement to the flood adjuster about what the water destroyed can be used by the wind carrier to deny the same item, and the reverse is equally true. Neither adjuster is obligated to make the two claims fit together. That coordination is the policyholder’s problem.
➢ Living Expenses and Lost Business Income
Hurricane losses continue after the storm passes. Residential policies include additional living expenses, which pays the added cost of living elsewhere while a home is uninhabitable. Commercial policies include business income coverage for profits lost during the period of restoration.
Commercial policies may also include civil authority coverage, which can apply when a government order such as a mandatory evacuation prevents access to a business even if the business itself was never damaged. These provisions carry their own time limits, distance requirements, and proof obligations, and they are among the most frequently underpaid parts of a hurricane claim.
➢ Vehicles Damaged in a Hurricane
There is a difference between buildings and vehicles worth knowing. A homeowners policy excludes flood. An auto policy with comprehensive coverage generally does not.
A vehicle submerged by storm surge or rising water is usually covered under comprehensive, with no separate flood policy required, as are wind damage, falling trees, and flying debris.
Flooded vehicles are frequently declared total losses once saltwater reaches the wiring and drivetrain, which moves the dispute to the valuation figure. How Texas insurers calculate that figure is covered on our page about Texas vehicle damage insurance claims.
➢ Who Is Eligible to File a Texas Hurricane Damage Insurance Claim?
Texas property owners may be eligible to file a claim if they meet the following case criteria:
- Owned a home, business property, or vehicle in Texas damaged by a hurricane, tropical storm, or named storm;
- Carried an insurance policy covering the property when the storm made landfall;
- Received a denial, a partial payment, a determination that the damage was caused by flood, or no response after reporting the loss.
If you or a member of your family answered yes to all of the above criteria, you may qualify to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
➢ Contact Our Law Firm to Start Your Claim Today
Our law firm, Hissey Mulderig & Friend, is currently accepting hurricane, tropical storm, and named storm insurance claims involving homes, businesses, and vehicles, including claims denied on the ground that flooding caused the loss.
Our lawyers have more than 100 years of combined legal experience representing clients across the state of Texas.
If you or a loved one had a Texas hurricane or other storm damage insurance claim denied, underpaid, or delayed by your insurance company, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Find out whether you qualify or start your claim today by calling the lawyers at Hissey Mulderig & Friend toll-free at 1-866-806-8117, or by filling out the free case evaluation form located at the top of this page.
