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    As a business insurance policy holder, you know you’re entitled to compensation. What you don’t know is that you’re likely entitled to more coverage than you realize. To understand your policy’s full potential can require an expertise and experience you don’t have. Worse, the cost of getting any detail wrong could have great effect on your eventual compensation. The right path needs to be set from the very beginning. An attorney is the best way to do that.

    Civil Commotion: Why you should contact us first

    • An attorney will be your passionate advocate. They will give your case the necessary time and attention. A good attorney will legally compel your carrier to prove their case—in court, if need be. An attorney will hold your carrier accountable to you.

    • In this crisis, insurance agents are overwhelmed. Our team will give your case the time, resources, and intention to help you reach your best possible outcome.

    • You need good legal advice from a qualified professional. Even better when the law firm has over 30 years of experience in successfully advocating for clients, knowing the procedures and ins and out of cases like yours, and having seasoned experience communicating and negotiating with carriers.

    • Most important—having a legal team fighting on your side not only speeds the process, but insures you have an advocate fighting passionately for your interests.

    • Good legal advice can lead you to make more informed and better decisions and have them faster. This will help avoid the kinds of delays that are costly to you. An attorney can also promise you a less stressful and more comprehensible experience.

    Learn how to protect your business
    & get your full compensation

    why your first call should be to an attorney

    To better evaluate your options, let Furtado Law help you with a complimentary assessment of your policy. But don’t wait: Start protecting your business now by contacting the experts at Furtado Law.

    Contact us at info@.furtadolaw.com with the following information:

    • A copy of your certified insurance policy
    • The name of your actual insurance carrier
    • The name of your insurance representative or agent

    Because what you don’t know will hurt you.

    Fire

    Potential problems with coverage:

    • • Brush exposure, failure to remove an adequate distance from structures
    • • Neighbors or cities or counties who don’t comply with necessary standards
    • • Not meeting demands of mortgage clauses
    • • Insufficient supply of fire extinguishers
    • • Breaches of compliance by tenants or third parties

    Hail

    Potential problems with coverage:

    • • Hail damage is covered by standard home insurance in most states, but how that coverage is applied can vary or be excluded altogether; they can also have percent-based deductibles (based on the home’s insured value)
    • • Damage can come in the immediate and long-term; for this and other reasons, what is and isn’t covered can be a source of dispute
    • • No matter the weather or climate conditions in your area, carriers can hike your rates if more than one claim is made within a time period
    • • Your carrier may have an option to exclude payments for cosmetic damages such as exterior surfaces, walls, roofs, doors, and windows if the storm impacts the appearance but not the function of these elements; what is and isn’t coverable can be very gray—often, if something is damaged but functional, it’s not covered

    Wind

    Potential problems with coverage:

    • • Depending on where you live, wind damage can be subject to percentage-based deductibles—which is based on your home’s insured value—or deductibles for wind damage, rain, tornados, hurricanes, or more; these costs are another reason it’s imperative you get your best compensation
    • • For disasters qualifying for FEMA relief—presidentially-declared disasters—help tends to be short on compensation and long in time coming 
    • • High winds can also bring other related damages—storm damage, inland flooding, falling trees, etc.; the more complicated the damages, the more cover you carrier has for denying your claim

    Flood

    Potential problems with coverage:

    • • Your insurance policy may require you to mitigate damage once it’s discovered; such costs may be reimbursable—fixing leaks, tarping the roof, installing dehumidifiers, etc.; initial water damage can worsen with mold, fungus, wet rot, and more—these are all consequences most insurance won’t cover
    • • It may be necessary to bring in an emergency services mitigation company to limit damages 
    • • As flood damage can be complicated, so is its coverage—e.g. sinkholes and earth movement, even as a result of flooding, may not be covered or there may be limitations given to living in a “high-risk” area
    • • The particular source of water damage can be critical too as carriers may have exclusions for discharge, sewage or other water backups or overflow

    Appraisers not only help determine the amount of loss, but may also help determine the cause of loss. In Auto-Owners Insurance Company v. Summit Park Townhome Association, 100 F. Supp 3d 1099 (D. Colo. 2015) the court held that the cause of loss is an essential part of determining the amount of loss. Furtdao Law PC is litigating Certain Underwriters of Lloyd’s of London v. Southwind and Eastpointe Homeowners Association, Inc. (Case No. 1:16cv01288-MJW) where this ruling has been applied.

    It is important that qualified professionals assist policyholders with the appraisal process. Insurance companies often attempt to influence the process by choosing biased appraisers to assist them. Some companies undermine the process by claiming an appraiser cannot determine the scope or cause of loss, and otherwise attempt to delay the process by interfering with the appraisal.

    Furtado Law PC has sucessfully navigated the appraisal process for its clients.

    Indemnity and defense provisions are so common, yet can be easily misinterpreted and misapplied. The terms defense and indemnify can often appear in the same clause, but each is understood to impose different obligations. These can be further compounded due to variations in statutes as well as case law that exists state to state.

    The experienced attorneys at Furtado Law PC know the difference between the duty to indemnify and the duty to defend. We also know that there are some jurisdictions in which an indemnity obligation automatically carries with it the duty to defend regardless of whether the duty to defend is expressly stated.  We understand what is at stake, which is why we are committed to doing a thorough evaluation of your case to identify any ambiguities in the contract and determine how the governing law can be applied to your individual case.

    To hold your insurance carrier accountable is a complex process.

    Your insurer will have attorneys, and so should you.

    Hiring a right lawyer to advise and represent you is essential; as a law firm, our focus is on quality, not quantity.

    Making sure your insurance company pays you a prompt and fair settlement is a complex process.  Hiring the right attorney to advise and represent you is essential.

     

    Too often, life insurance companies deny claims without justifiable reasons. Not all life insurance companies are created equal, and not all life insurance claims are treated fairly. There are a number of reasons that an insurance may deny a claim, such as no beneficiary named on the policy, policy lapse due to non-payment, divorce, “incontestability clauses”, or an assortment of tactics the company believes to be misrepresentation by the insured. In some cases, the insurance company pays the claim to the wrong beneficiary, leaving the intended beneficiary from collecting payments rightfully intended for them. Life insurance companies gain a financial benefit by collecting insurance payments and then either denying or paying substantially less when the claim is filed.  This conflict of interest can often result in a broken promise by the insurance company, denying loved ones the benefits to which they are entitled. 

     

    The basic concept of life insurance is simple enough.  Life insurance policies and annuities promise financial security after a loved one dies. You’ve counted on this your entire life, and now when your family needs it, it’s not there. 

    Too often, life insurance companies deny claims without justifiable reasons. Not all life insurance companies are created equal, and not all life insurance claims are treated fairly. There are a number of reasons that an insurance may deny a claim, such as no beneficiary named on the policy, policy lapse due to non-payment, divorce, “incontestability clauses”, or an assortment of tactics the company believes to be misrepresentation by the insured. In some cases, the insurance company pays the claim to the wrong beneficiary, leaving the intended beneficiary from collecting payments rightfully intended for them. 

    Life insurance companies gain a financial benefit by collecting insurance payments and then either denying or paying substantially less when the claim is filed.  This conflict of interest can often result in a broken promise by the insurance company, denying loved ones the benefits to which they are entitled. 

    Our success is our clients’ success

     

    Furtado Law PC received the highest verdict awarded in Colorado 

    Furtado Law PC received the highest verdict awarded in Colorado for a first party property case involving hail damage to a building. The attorneys at Furtado Law PC successfully proved to the jury that the insurer breached its contract with the insured and unreasonably delayed and denied the insurance benefits owed to its policyholder.

    Furtado Law PC has been crowned Best Insurance Litigation Firm 2019 – Colorado by U.S. Business News

    On August 13, 2020 Furtado Law PC prevailed for its client in the United States District Court
    case of Great Lakes Insurance, S.E. v. Highland West LLLP (case number 19-cv-00508-LTB).
    Furtado Law represents the named insured, Highlands West LLLP who made a claim to damage
    to its windows due to a hail storm. Not only did the insurance company, Great Lakes Insurance,
    S.E. deny the damage claim to the windows, it sued its named insured seeking a determination
    that the window system and its components were not covered as any damage to the window
    system or its components would be excluded pursuant to the terms of its cosmetic exclusion for
    siding contained within its policy. Furtado Law successfully argued that windows included
    “window components” or “window systems,” arguing that window components include window
    screens, windowsills, T-Mullions and brake metal. Furtado Law argued that if the definition of
    “siding” is found to be ambiguous, that the Court should determine as a matter of law that the
    definition does not include windows because a window is in place of a wall and logically does
    not fall within the definition of siding which is defined as “materials exposed to the weather
    providing exterior protection to the walls of a building or structure.”

     

    In agreeing with Furtado Law’s argument, the Court stated that Great Lakes’ interpretation of the
    definition of “siding,” as including such dissimilar elements as windowsill flashings, T-Mullions,
    and brake metal, was a strained and hyper-technical construction of the Policy provision stating
    that a fair and natural construction of this policy provision, one that gives the words their plain
    meaning and applies common usage, does not go as far as Great Lakes wished for it to go stating
    that there was nothing in the plain language of the policy provision defining siding to indicate
    that dissimilar building elements such as windowsill flashings, T-Mullions, and brake metal are
    also excluded from coverage.

     

    The court further stated that Great Lakes argument that the policy definition of siding describes
    the function of the material rather than describing portions of building materials was an attempt
    to sidestep the requirement for clear and specific language in a policy exclusion such as the one
    included in the Highlands West policy. The exclusion at issue in this case was far from clear and
    specific (if not illogical) if it can be read, as Great Lakes argued, to include not only what is
    reasonably understood as siding, like the building’s actual panel metal siding that was damaged,
    but also what is reasonably understood as the components of windows. And, while there was no
    dispute that windowsill flashings are interlocked into the siding system, that does not mean that
    windowsill flashings thereby become “siding” under the policy’s definition. As words in a
    policy of insurance must be given their plain meaning according to common usage, that strained
    constructions be avoided and that exclusionary clauses be written in clear and specific language
    and construed in favor of coverage, the court found that under a plain and unstrained reading of
    the policy provision, T-Mullions, brake metal and sill flashings are window components and are
    not included in the Cosmetic Loss Exclusion’s definition of siding and, therefore, Great Lakes
    was not justified in denying coverage for those elements.

     

    This decision came after months of discovery and briefing and demonstrates the fact that Furtado
    Law is an effective policyholders advocate with the skill level required to practice in the first
    party insurance arena.

     

     

     

    Our success is our clients success’

     

    Furtado Law PC received the highest verdict awarded in Colorado 

    Furtado Law PC received the highest verdict awarded in Colorado for a first party property case involving hail damage to a building. The attorneys at Furtado Law PC successfully proved to the jury that the insurer breached its contract with the insured and unreasonably delayed and denied the insurance benefits owed to its policyholder.

    Furtado Law PC has been crowned Best Insurance Litigation Firm 2019 – Colorado by U.S. Business News

    Furtado Law PC has been crowned Best Insurance Litigation Firm 2019 – Colorado by U.S. Business News

      Schedule a Complimentary Consultation at
      (866) 497-6106