Insurance Legal Questions

Unfortunately, this question involves issues relating to the specific terms of the contract for representation that you have with your attorney's office.  In very general terms, it is very typical for attorneys representing clients with insurance claims to have provisions that provide that the check for the settlment proceeds to be sent to the attorneys trust account so that appropriate reconciliation of costs, fees, and allocation of distritrubutions can be made.  Typically this process  requires the funds to have cleared trust before any distribution can be made and for bookkeeper or other staff to update the disbursements for costs, billing records (if not pure continegency), and for a reconciliation to be prepared.  These "back of house" administrative tasks may require input from several different firm staff members and no attorney here on AVVO can do anything more than guess at what is going on, but it could certainly be some benign admistrative hiccup or holdup.  At this juncture, it would be appropriate for you to follow up directly with attorneys office as to the status of the matter.  ... Read More

Legal yes, advisable NO!. The problem is nothing requires you to have insurance but, if the renter does not have it, YOUR insurance does not kick in as YOUR coverage only starts if the renter has a policy. So if an uninsured renter gets in an accident, you have no coverage. You must mandate insurance to your renters; if they claim they have a policy, you need to verify it is in force otherwise 1 accident could cost your company millions. You really need to make sure that you are doing business in the proper corporate form and cannot be personally liable.... Read More

If the van was titled in your name and you knew your son had it and did nothing to get it back, YES, you are most likely legally liable for what he does with the van. You should have addressed this 4 years ago, and likely reported it stolen, hired a repo agent to recover it, or at least cancelled the tags on the vehicle so it could not have been driven without law enforcement stopping him and seizing the vehicle. You will need to contact the tow yard to address payment of any balance and recvoery of the van or surrendering it to them to pay for the balance. Otherwise, they might sell it and if there is more you owe the could try to have your DL suspended here in Florida for non-payment by statute. ... Read More

Very little other than the leverage of simply refusing to pay and saying "sue me." While there is no inherent obligation for you to settle any claim there is equally no obligation on the part of the other party not to sue for whatever damages were caused. THIS is why its critical to hire a lawyer to negotiate with the other party, even though it might cost more than the difference between the estimates. ... Read More

This simply does not happen arbitrarily as described. If they added some one to your insurance its because someone is claiming to live at your address with you. You need to address this with your insurer - this is not a legal issue. If the person does not live with you and you have no idea who they are  - this should be easily corrected or explained. ... Read More

This post makes no sense. You claim you bought a vehicle cash- but then you weren't provided title. Then you say you expect the seller to provide title "because of the amount of work needed" which suggests you did NOT buy the motorcycle - but rather entered into some form of payment plan - and expect some discount where he just gives you the bike, because you claim work needs to be done on the bike. That said - the seller is not ignoring you, he plainly said "NO" if that was your suggestion. Unless there is something fundamentally unsafe about the bike such a cracked frame, if the bilke was sold "as is" and agreed to buy it as such, that does NOT entail you having it inspected after the fact and the expecting to renegotiate the price. You would typically be expected to pay for or make any necessary repairs, such as brakes, light replacement etc, at your expense. Other than that you will have to hire a lawyer to sort out what the terms of the sale were. ... Read More

Its rare that a tow yard sells a car at auction and NEVER provides notice. In fact, that you were aware of the car being towed and in the lot shows that you were aware of the issue, so there is little reason for the tow yard to decive you. To the contrary, if you can't mak the payment to recover the vehicle, then their best bet is simply to track the law to the tee. At this point you will need to hire a lawyer to see if they complied with the notice requirements which involnes hiring a company to mail you notices at the registration address with DMV and go from there depending on the findings.... Read More

Yes, if the fire occurred during the period of time when both polices were cancelled, you may have a case against the insurance company for its mistake in cancelling the other policy.  Your damages will be whatever would have been covered under the policy that was mistakenly cancelled after reducing the amount of the covered loss by the amount of your deductible.... Read More

Yes and No.   Can the insurance company do this... well, yes they can and they did.   Is the insurance company allowed to do this - Most definitely not with out some kind of prior notice and on policy renewal.  If your cousin is a young driver and frequently drives your vehicle and somehow your insurance found out about it then the insurance can insist on her being on the policy and charge you more.  However they can not change your policy mid-stream without written notice.   You likely have a contract claim if they changed your insurance contract without notice.    I'd call your insurance agent first and see what he/she can do about it.   An attorney will cost a good bit more than the difference in the premium however you don't want to have to continue to pay that outrageous sum.  You can always call your carrier and expressly exclude your cousin which would mean that they would not cover you if she is driving your car.   In theory that would return your premium to what you were paying and even possibly some less.... but then DO NOT let your cousin drive your car. I'm not your attorney so this is just friendly advise.  If your insurance doesn't return your money and resume the premium you agreed to then you should hire an attorney to recover those funds.  As with most consumer products you can let your $ do the talking and switch insurance carriers. ... Read More

You'll probably need a cause and origin report and a coverage attorney to review your policy. Your homeowners' policy insures your property if the cause of loss is covered. Water-related losses have to be carefully sorted against policy language. Your HO insurer does not insure the property of other tenants, although it may include liability coverage for third-party property damage. If you were responsible for the failed pipes, the damaged parties may sue you, and your liability insurer should defend. If someone else owns or is responsible for maintaining the pipes, you can sue them.  But in all of this, you cannot guess at the cause of loss. If it is in dispute, you'll almost certianly need to pay for an engineer's cause and origin report.  Review your insurance portfolio with your agent or broker and get the relevant policies to a coverage attorney.     ... Read More

While the GRAVES amendment may apply, to provide you immunity, there are ways to work around it as it applies to vicarious liability not issues where there is active negligence on the part of the rental company that applied to the crash. You need to report this to your insurance carrier to have them address any claim or lawsuit made. ... Read More

Dear Nick, Sorry to hear. If you were injured, speak with a Personal Injury attorney asap to see if you have a viable claim to present. We cannot directly solicit you. You will have to reach out. We all give free initial consultations for representation on contingency. Loren L. Gold, Esq. 954-742-6999... Read More

Yes. Your presence in the house is an insurance risk, both as to no fault coverage and the potential that you might be using the car despite claiming otherwise. He was obligated to have advised the ins. co. of your residency. Your brother will need to get with his insurer to formally exclude you all from coverage to get the rates down.... Read More