Woman Sues Travelers Lloyds for Undervaluing Tornado Damage
Our client, a woman whose home was damaged when a tornado passed through Rowlett, Texas, was forced to file a lawsuit against Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company and its adjuster after they conducted a substandard and improper inspection of our client’s property, grossly undervaluing the cost of repairs and deliberately yielding an unrealistic amount to underpay coverage.
December 26, 2015 Tornado
On December 26, 2015, a severe tornado ripped through Rockwall County, Texas, leaving in its wake a path of desolation and destruction. Instead of celebrating the holidays, our client was scrambling to pick up the pieces of her broken home. Her home suffered severe damage to the roof, exterior and garage, among other damages. After the storm, the woman quickly submitted a claim to Travelers, hoping her insurance company would help her get her life back in order.
Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company Home Insurance Claim
Travelers assigned one of its adjusters to inspect the property and adjust the claim. The adjuster knowingly conducted a subpar investigation, refusing full coverage and estimating damages to total about $24,000, leaving our client with only $11,500 to repair her entire home after subtracting the deductible.
The third-party expert hired after the insurance company’s deceptive inspection mostly found the same damages as Travelers’s adjuster, but the costs of repair were significantly higher than the adjuster’s low-balled estimates. When Travelers’s adjuster estimated the roof repairs would cost $4,400, the expert estimated nearly $7,000. Where the adjuster found damage to the front exterior of her home, the expert estimated damage five times greater, as well as more than $5,000 in damages to the other three sides of the property.
The damage to our client’s property is currently estimated at $59,650.
Travelers’s adjuster intentionally undervalued our client’s claims in order to maintain his job, misrepresenting the amount of damage in the hopes that our client would simply rely on his expertise and fraudulent estimate as a true representation of the property’s damages.
Because of Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company’s fraud, our client was unable to complete any meaningful repairs to her home, which resulted in even more damage. She was forced to retain an attorney to pursue her claim for insurance benefits. On September 13, 2016, the Chad T. Wilson Law Firm filed suit, on behalf of our client, against Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company for fraud, breach of contract, and violations of the Texas Insurance Code and the Texas DTPA.
Texas Property Insurance Lawyers
If your homeowner insurance carrier has denied your insurance claim, we can help. The experienced property insurance attorneys at Chad T. Wilson Law Firm have represented more than 1,000 clients in cases against insurance companies and aggressively protect the rights of insurance policyholders. Our consultations are free, and you owe us nothing until your case is won. Contact us today to see how we can help.
