If you are currently in Houston, TX or an area affected by Hurrican Harvey, our thoughts and prayers are with you! Please be careful as you can be! Also, if you are in the areas affected, please read on and share with your neighbors.
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“Attorneys and a Texas lawmaker are urging homeowners to try and file claims for property damage inflicted by Hurricane Harvey before Friday when a new insurance law goes into effect.
The law will impact policyholders who file a lawsuit against their insurance company for failing to pay enough in claims or repaying claims too slowly. It requires plaintiffs’ attorneys to offer more detail when the give notice of intent to file a lawsuit. If insurance companies must pay damages, the law will reduce the amount of penalty interest they’ll owe from 18% to about 10%.” 1
Texans: be sure to file for #Harvey relief before Sept 1. #TXlege passed a bill making it harder to dispute weather-related property claims.
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 28, 2017
Those who support House Bill 1774 believe the legislation will reduce the number of “frivolous lawsuits filed on behalf of policyholders against their insurance companies.”2 They think that many lawyers just want to take advantage of policy holders by encouraging them to file again, what they are calling “frivolous” suits. But in this current situation, this bills passing will not only weaken consumer rights but it could also have a catastrophic impact on those in the Houston area.
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Attorney Craig Eiland, a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, says:
“If you file a notice of claim before the new law takes effect, then you’ll have the advantages of the Texas insurance code in place right now which would give you 18% interest if the insurance company slow pays, no pays or low pays.”3
XO- Erin
