National Insurance Awareness Day

You won’t find June 28 celebrated with parades, festivals or fireworks. In fact, the only people who give a rat’s tail about National Insurance Awareness Day are those who work in the insurance industry — and most of them don’t even care.

When a hailstorm strikes, it can batter roofs, shred screens and siding, and smash windows. Getting fully compensated for even glaring hail damage from your commercial, BOP or homeowners insurance policy is a challenge. Achieving a fair settlement for anything less than glaring damages can be a nightmare.

Major rain events — like the ones that have been plaguing Wisconsin this summer — get insurance companies busy denying homeowners insurance claims based on water-related policy exclusions.

Continuing the discussion about water damage insurance claims, Attorney Edward Beckmann, of Helmuth and Johnson, contributed the following guest posting about his favorite insurance law tongue twister: the anti-concurrent cause clause.

As public insurance adjusters, we have the benefit of knowing we will help every policyholder who brings us in to their fire damage insurance claim. It may be the only reason our team can take the heartache of seeing family after family who lost everything they have to fire.

Hurricane Irma will go down as one of the most damaging storms in U.S. history. After leveling several islands in the Northern Caribbean, the powerful storm struck the Florida Keys and Gulf Coast. While significant damage also occurred in other states such as Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, the lion's hare took place in the Sunshine State.

What started out as a tropical storm in the Atlantic quickly grew into a monstrous category 5 hurricane. With wind speed over 180 mph and powerful storm surges, Hurricane Irma hit Florida Friday, August 25, 2017. Only a few days before Hurricane Irma hit, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Texas. More than a trillion gallons of rain fell in Harris County, Texas in just four days. Some places have reached more than 50 inches of rain, setting a record for the continental United States. The storm has left tens of thousands of people in shelters, wrecked homes and businesses, and has caused unbelievable flooding. The damage these storms have done is devastating, but there are ways that you can help the victims in these areas.

The devastating destruction that Hurricane Irma has left on Florida is unimaginable. Cleaning up after the storm will be a long recovery. Thousands of people will be filing insurance claims, but may be unsure on how to move forward with the process of filing an insurance claim after a hurricane.

Stucco refers to the type of siding many homes and businesses use to decorate the exterior walls of their buildings. The craft of applying stucco to buildings has been around since the early 1900s. Within the past twenty years, stucco has been replacing other types of siding such as vinyl or brick because of its economical cost and aesthetic appeal. Currently, thousands of homes, neighborhoods, and businesses across America use stucco as their choice of siding, which has been on the rise since its recent modern inception.

Colder temperatures lead to frozen pipes, and a frozen pipe often bursts. It’s a good idea to know the steps to take if a pipe bursts in your building, and how to address the issue for insurance purposes. Here are some tips to help you along the way.