Importance of mitigating damages & making timely, well-documented repairs

On this quiet Wednesday afternoon, as the 2020 Hurricane Season comes, it is important to prepare for the likelihood of potentially significant storms coming in soon.  

Generally, in the event a loss occurs to your property, whether by a hurricane or windstorm-related damage or not, it is imperative that you timely mitigate damages from the loss and otherwise make timely repairs, while keeping good records of what is done, by whom and when.

We also generally recommend that mitigation services as well as the ultimate repairs to the damages caused by the loss be conducted by licensed professionals.

What is Mitigation of Damages in the Context of Property Insurance Claims?

After damage occurs to a home, a common question that the insurance company will ask is: What, if anything, was done to prevent further damages from being caused by the initial loss, when and by whom? So, to the best of their ability, the insured must do what they can to limit the scope and extent of the loss.

It is important for homeowners to be prepared to answer these questions specifically and affirmatively with documented proof of the performance of effective mitigation efforts that limit the extent of resulting claim damages. This is because a commonly appearing requirement that they do so is actually written into the language of most (if not all) property insurance policies in Florida as an express “duty after loss,” that must be discharged in order for coverage to ultimately be extended on the claim.

For example, if a bad windstorm or a hurricane comes through the area and blows numerous shingles off the roof, creating an opening that allows water to enter the home, it would be imperative that proper tarping and repairs to the roof occur as soon as possible. If there is standing water in the home; then that also needs to be addressed and properly dried in order to prevent mold and the occurrence of further damage.

If not, unfortunately, the insurance companies will usually attempt to enforce this language against its policyholders to argue that the claim should be entirely denied, or their recovery is diminished if the facts reveal that the insured allowed the initial damage caused by the loss to get worse. Or, if a loss is deemed to have been ongoing in nature or the result of long-term wear and tear; these would be common reasons for the insurance company to exclude the loss and refuse to extend coverage on such a claim.

So, does this mean that only the insured can personally discharge this duty to mitigate damages after the loss? No, not necessarily. Sometimes, the cause, nature, and extent of the loss is so extensive that the average homeowner requires the assistance of professionals in order to properly address it. Or, the homeowner may be elderly or have health conditions that preclude them from personally carrying out these duties. In these cases, the homeowner will likely need to reach out for assistance if a loss should occur. This is totally understandable and common.

Will my claim be negatively affected if I ask for help with this?

The short answer is, no. It is absolutely appropriate to ask for the necessary help and guidance here. This is exactly what policyholder advocates such as the attorneys and claims professionals at Kowzan Law, are here for. We are well equipped to assist at this juncture in the loss and provide helpful guidance to our clients since many of them are experiencing their first loss and are unsure how to proceed.

When policies contain the duty to mitigate damages caused by the loss, and most policies do; that does not necessarily mean that the insured has to personally mop up water from a major loss or personally get on their roof to install a tarp. Conversely, in that kind of claim, we would usually recommend the hiring of a qualified IICRC certified, emergency water mitigation specialist, to do this. If mold has already developed and there is coverage under the policy for the same, mold remediation specialists can also be dispatched to the property to eliminate that harmful situation.

These companies are well-equipped to handle these disaster cleanup situations and will oftentimes do so on an “assignment of benefits” basis.  Meaning the homeowner will not have to come out of pocket to pay for these services. But rather, the mitigation company will do the work and then seek payment for their services, directly from the insurance company once the claim has been opened.

We can and have assisted many clients in ascertaining the proper professionals to assist with necessary mitigation and to aid in the recovery of compensation from the insurance company.

In fact, our attorneys at Kowzan Law, are prepared to be of service to our clients from the inception of the claim, through payment. We do our best to put our clients in a good position with the funds to make necessary repairs to their homes.

How important is it to make well-documented and timely repairs to the damages caused by the loss?

In short, it is generally quite important to do this. While we are not directly involved in the performance of repairs that are ultimately made to our client’s homes, we advise them to apply the claim proceeds that we assist in recovering, to repairing the damages, while keeping good records thereof.

This is a good practice to employ in the context of any claim. Whether this was done or not could likely become relevant if there should ever be a future loss or claim at the property. Ideally, in that situation, a homeowner would be able to prove (through the production of receipts or similar records) that the funds paid from a prior claim (or the undisputed initial payment) were exhausted in repairing the damages associated with the claim. 

If another loss occurs and the insured is unable to meet this burden of proof, the insurance company may exploit that as a reason to deny or diminish the recovery of an insured on that future claim by arguing duplicative recovery would result or that the alleged damages between the claims are “overlapping” in nature. This could be a costly mistake, especially when there are multiple storms in an active hurricane season, like the one we are anticipating in 2020.

Please stay tuned to our blog this week where we will be addressing some unique concerns arising from the anticipated active hurricane season of 2020 on topics like concurrent causation and what happens with coverage when old storms cause new damage.

            Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful rest of your day!