Hurricane Ida Lawyers

If your business was wrongfully denied coverage or refused payment, Fishman Haygood’s experienced insurance coverage attorneys can help. Our work on behalf of clients has included both first-party and third-party disputes under a wide variety of coverages. Fishman Haygood’s team has successfully litigated many high-stakes cases involving substantial property damage, business interruption, and other claims in the aftermath of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

When to Contact an Attorney

• Claim Denied? If your insurance company denies part or all of your claims, you should contact an attorney. Insurance companies are notorious for denying claims that should be paid, and Fishman Haygood has the experience necessary to make your insurance company take your claim seriously.  We will not rest until your claim is resolved.
• No Coverage or Insufficient Coverage? If you review your policies and find that you do not have proper coverage or that your coverage is insufficient, it is possible that your broker is liable for failure to recommend and procure appropriate coverage. Fishman Haygood has brought these claims for our clients and may be able to help you.

Hurricane Insurance Claims

If your claim has been denied or you have been refused payment, we can review your policy and help you understand your legal options at no cost to you.

• Property Damage: Insurers often wrongfully deny coverage or refuse to pay the full amount of costs to repair damaged property. Fishman Haygood has extensive experience litigating unpaid and underpaid claims. We will fight hard to help you obtain a result that compensates you for the full value of your losses under your policy. The purpose of insurance is to put you or your business back to the same financial condition you would have been in had no loss occurred. We can help you achieve this result. To help us prove your claim, documentation is important, and we will ask that you share with us the following initial materials: (1) pictures and videos of the damage before cleaning, repairing, or throwing anything away; (2) a comprehensive list of damage; (3) tracked expenses with receipts; (4) any steps you have taken to stop further damage from occurring; (5) all communications you have had with your insurance company/adjuster to date.
• Business Interruption and Loss of Use: Business interruption insurance compensates you for the income losses you sustained as a result of suspension of your operations during the period of restoration.  Under most policies, the suspension of your business must be caused by direct physical loss or damage to the property, and the loss or damage must be caused by or result from a covered cause of loss. Insurance companies often make clever arguments to avoid paying or limit the payment of business interruption damages.  These claims often require a lawyer and a financial expert to prove. It is important to have a lawyer look at your business interruption claim to make sure that you are being fully compensated under the law and your policy.
• Loss of Inventory: Inventory insurance covers your products against damage and reimburses you for losses. To help us prove your claim for lost inventory, we will ask that you provide us with the following: (1) itemized list of the inventory you have lost, (2) pictures and videos of lost inventory before cleaning or throwing anything away, and (3) tracked costs involved with replacing your inventory.
• Utility Service Interruption: Some insurance policies cover losses that are the result of interruption in utility services, including electric, gas, water, or sewer. Covered losses can include things like spoilage of perishable goods, such as food. Was your utility company’s physical property damaged, resulting in an interruption of services to your business? We may be able to help.
• Contingent Business Interruption (CBI): Contingent Business Interruption covers damages that results from physical damage that is suffered by a third-party business that disrupts your business. For example, CBI often applies when there is a disruption in the supply claim.  The interruption must result from physical damage to a third party that is of the type that the policyholder would have been able to claim coverage for.  Fishman Haygood can help you determine if you have a CBI claim by analyzing your policy and the third party’s losses.

Email your insurance policy, contact information, and a brief description of your losses to [email protected].

Hurricane Claims Videos

Hurricane Ida Insurance Claim Information Sheet

• Having an Attorney File Your Claim
• Filing a Claim Yourself
• What to Tell the Adjuster
• Your Insurance Agent
• Things to Avoid
• Property Damage
• Business Interruption and Loss of Use
• Loss of Inventory

• Utility Service Interruption
• Contingent Business Interruption
• Crop Damage
• Getting Your Claim Paid
• Claim Denied?
• FEMA and SBA Loans
• Emergency Rule 47
• Attorney Fees?

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Recent Matters

• Fishman Haygood represented the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) in coverage litigation against multiple insurers for property and other damages resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The OPSB reached a favorable and sizeable global settlement with its insurers.
• On the eve of a federal trial, our attorneys obtained a $17 million settlement for a local medical lab in a lawsuit over its wrongfully denied property damage and business interruption claims.
• After Katrina, Fishman Haygood attorneys obtained an arbitration award in the hundreds of millions for an oil producer in its lost production claims.
• Our attorneys also went to trial and obtained policy limits for a local apartment community whose insurer refused coverage, claiming that an exclusion completely barred coverage of post-Katrina business interruption losses.