Hail and Roof Damage Claims

Talk to an experienced insurance attorney about your hail and roof claim

A strange sound wakes you in the middle of the night. You look out the window and see pellets of frozen rain pouring down. It’s a hail storm! Normally, you would not know to inspect your roof unless you noticed shingles on the ground or the appearance of a leaking roof inside the house that alerts you something is wrong. There could be a leak or brown water stain on your ceiling, but you don’t know where that necessarily came from. After a hail or wind storm, it is imperative that you have a professional inspect your roof for damage. And when an insurance claim is advised, it may benefit you to consult with an experienced property insurance attorney who can guide you through the legal issues related to the claims process.

Damage to your ceiling can be caused by several things. It could be a drainage or water supply pipe leak, the air conditioner handler could overflow, or it could be a damaged roof issue. Detecting the origin of the problem is very difficult in a hail and wind claim and can sometimes go undetected for years. There’s usually no continuous water coming in. You have to wait for it to rain bad enough for the water to seep in. Therefore, dating the loss is very difficult and insurance companies will use this to their advantage to deny your claim. They will allege you were late reporting the damage and/or you did not protect the property against further damage at the time of the event. Another issue is defining damage. There are many tactics used by insurance companies to deny claims largely involving or characterizing the hail damage as not really “damage” because it impacts only the appearance of the roof and not necessarily the function of it.

Therefore, it is imperative that you have someone who understands the legal implications of a roof damage insurance claim working on your side. Often the insurance company will accept coverage for the claim but only offer to replace a hand full of shingles when based on the policy, the entire roof should be replaced to comply with county codes. An insurance attorney can make sure the insurance company is treating you fairly.