Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer Lighthouse Point, FL
There is a meaningful legal difference between an insurance company that disputes a claim aggressively and one that acts in bad faith. Florida law draws that line clearly. When a carrier denies a valid property damage claim without any reasonable investigation, deliberately delays payment past statutory deadlines to force a discounted settlement, or misrepresents what a Lighthouse Point homeowner’s policy actually covers, that conduct is not just aggressive. It is a statutory violation that opens the door to compensatory damages beyond the policy limits.
Lighthouse Point policyholders are in the crosshairs of this conduct more often than most. The community’s canal-front properties, coastal exposure, and aging housing stock generate exactly the kinds of large, complex claims that carriers have the most financial incentive to minimize. When a storm surge loss on the Intracoastal, a hurricane roof claim in ZIP Code 33064, or a water intrusion dispute in a canal-adjacent home runs to six figures, carriers bring substantial resources to bear. Most policyholders do not.
Our Lighthouse Point, FL bad faith insurance lawyer has been litigating property insurance disputes in South Florida for over 25 years. We work on a pure contingency basis. No fees unless we win. No out-of-pocket costs. Ever. PLease contact The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers today for a personal consultation about your legal options.
Why Choose The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers for Bad Faith Insurance Claims in Lighthouse Point?
She Spent Years Building the Defense. Now She Dismantles It.
Maria O’Donnell founded The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers in 2014 after running one of the largest female-owned insurance defense firms in Florida. Before turning to plaintiff work, she represented Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, State Farm, Allstate/Castle Key, Universal Property, Mercury, Travelers, and Esurance in property damage and coverage disputes throughout Broward County and South Florida. She also managed Special Investigation Unit matters for those same carriers.
Ms. O’Donnell knows how carriers build a claim file designed to minimize bad faith exposure. She knows how adjusters are trained to document coverage positions, and she knows which of those positions do not hold up when challenged with the right statutory arguments and evidence. Since 2014, every bit of that institutional knowledge has been directed at winning for policyholders. As a bad faith insurance attorney in Lighthouse Point, she brings that full background to every bad faith file we open.
Ms. O’Donnell earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 2001 and has been a Florida Bar member since 2002. Her record includes establishing substantive published case law and a 25-year career built on precise, aggressive advocacy.
Attorney David Edwards was recognized in the Top 40 Under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers Association for the civil plaintiff attorney division. The firm is listed with Martindale-Hubbell, one of the most established peer-review directories in American law.
A 99% Success Rate Across South Florida Insurance Disputes
Our firm has maintained a 99% success rate across residential and commercial property damage and insurance dispute cases throughout Florida, including Broward County. We have helped policyholders recover millions of dollars in proceeds that carriers initially refused to pay, including cases where the carrier’s misconduct supported extracontractual bad faith recovery beyond the policy limits.
No Fee Unless We Win
Every bad faith insurance case and Lighthouse Point, FL property damage dispute we handle is taken on full contingency. You pay nothing until we win. No retainers, no hourly billing, no invoices at any stage.
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“Maria is extremely professional. I am very happy she won my case and settled for what I asked. Highly recommend!” — Michelle Smith
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Bad Faith Insurance Cases We Handle in Lighthouse Point
Bad faith conduct by Florida property insurers takes several distinct forms. Our attorneys handle all of the following in Lighthouse Point and throughout Broward County.
- Denial without reasonable investigation. When a carrier denies a Lighthouse Point property damage claim without conducting a meaningful inspection of the damage, or issues a denial based on a boilerplate adjuster report that contradicts physical evidence at the property, that denial may constitute bad faith. Florida law requires insurers to investigate every claim promptly and thoroughly before denying it.
- Unreasonable delay past the 60-day deadline. Under Florida Statute 627.70131, your insurer has 60 days from receiving notice of your claim to pay it, pay the undisputed portion, or issue a written denial. Carriers that manufacture reinspection requests, serve repetitive documentation demands, or create procedural loops to push past this window without paying may be establishing a bad faith record.
- Misrepresentation of coverage. When a carrier misrepresents what a Lighthouse Point policy covers to induce a policyholder to accept a below-value settlement or abandon a valid claim entirely, that conduct is a specifically enumerated unfair practice under Florida Statute 626.9541 and an independent basis for bad faith liability under Florida Statute 624.155.
- Hurricane damage. Post-storm bad faith is common in coastal Broward County communities. Carriers who reclassify covered wind-driven rain as excluded flood damage, apply anti-concurrent causation clauses to deny valid storm claims, or submit adjuster reports that misstate cause of loss on canal-front Lighthouse Point properties are exposing themselves to extracontractual liability on top of the underlying breach of contract.
- Residential property damage. Lighthouse Point homeowners whose claims for hurricane damage, roof loss, water intrusion, or mold remediation have been systematically mishandled may have both a breach of contract claim and a bad faith claim. We evaluate every residential property file for bad faith potential from the day we open it.
- Bad faith following claim denial. When the underlying denial of a Lighthouse Point property claim was issued without a reasonable basis and the carrier failed to cure that deficiency within 60 days of receiving a properly filed Civil Remedy Notice, the bad faith lawsuit can proceed alongside the breach of contract action. We build both civil actions simultaneously from the first day we take the case.
Florida Legal Requirements for Bad Faith Insurance Cases in Lighthouse Point
Bad faith litigation in Florida follows a strictly enforced statutory framework. These are the requirements every Lighthouse Point policyholder needs to understand before pursuing a bad faith claim. Our Lighthouse Point bad faith insurance lawyer explains how each of these laws relates to your claim, and how we use that particular law in your favor.
The Civil Remedy Notice requirement. Under Florida Statute 624.155, filing a Civil Remedy Notice is a mandatory condition precedent to bringing a bad faith lawsuit. The notice must be filed using the official form provided by the Florida Department of Financial Services and must state with specificity: the exact statutory provision allegedly violated, the facts and circumstances giving rise to the violation, the names of individuals involved, and the relevant policy language. A notice that lacks the required specificity will not satisfy the condition precedent and a court can dismiss the bad faith suit. After the notice is properly filed and received, the carrier has 60 days to cure the violation. If it pays the claim or corrects the conduct within that window, the bad faith cause of action is extinguished. If it does not, the lawsuit proceeds.
The breach of contract prerequisite. Under Florida Statute 624.1551, a Lighthouse Point policyholder pursuing extracontractual bad faith damages must first obtain a court judgment establishing that the insurer breached the underlying insurance contract. The bad faith claim cannot be tried simultaneously with the breach of contract claim from the outset. This sequential structure makes it critical to build the underlying breach of contract case correctly from day one, because the bad faith recovery depends on winning that case first. Our firm has considerable resources to build both cases, so we’re ready to go with each one as soon as legally possible.
The Unfair Insurance Trade Practices Act. Under Florida Statute 626.9541, specific carrier conduct constitutes an unfair or deceptive trade practice. This includes misrepresenting policy provisions to deny claims, failing to acknowledge claims promptly, and refusing to pay claims without conducting a reasonable investigation. Each of these is an independently actionable basis for a civil bad faith remedy under Florida Statute 624.155. When a Lighthouse Point carrier’s denial letter mischaracterizes your policy language, this statute applies directly.
The 60-day pay-or-deny deadline. Under Florida Statute 627.70131, your insurer must pay, deny, or pay the undisputed portion of your claim within 60 days of receiving notice. Payments made after that deadline bear interest from the date the claim was filed. Systematic violations of this deadline, combined with other carrier conduct, are key evidence in a Lighthouse Point bad faith file. These cases are litigated at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
What Damages Are Recoverable in a Lighthouse Point Bad Faith Insurance Case?
Contractual damages. The full amount the policy was required to pay: repair and replacement costs for the structure, contents, additional living expenses during displacement, dock and seawall repairs on Lighthouse Point waterfront properties, and code upgrade costs under ordinance and law provisions. We pursue every contractual dollar in the underlying breach of contract case before the bad faith action proceeds.
Extracontractual damages. When a Lighthouse Point bad faith insurance case succeeds under Florida Statute 624.155, the available recovery exceeds the policy limits. Florida courts have awarded extracontractual damages where carriers denied valid claims without investigation, deliberately delayed payments to force discounted resolutions, and misrepresented policy coverage to policyholders who accepted less than what they were owed.
Punitive damages. Under Florida Statute 624.155, punitive damages may be awarded when the insurer’s conduct was willful, wanton, or in reckless disregard for the policyholder’s rights with sufficient frequency to indicate a general business practice. We pursue them when the evidence supports that threshold. Punitive damages are intended to punish the corporate wrongdoers where it matters: in their wallet. These damages may not be available in every claim, as they are meant to make an example of egregious bad faith.
Interest on late payments. Under Florida Statute 627.70131, payments made after the 60-day deadline bear interest from the date the claim was filed. We track and pursue that interest in every case.
Contact The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers
If your Lighthouse Point insurance company has denied, delayed, or mishandled your property damage claim in a way that goes beyond ordinary dispute, do not wait. The sooner you speak with an attorney at The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers Property Damage Lawyers, the more options you’re likely to have. The Civil Remedy Notice must be filed before any bad faith lawsuit can proceed, and the one-year notice deadline under Florida Statute 627.70132 runs from the date of loss.
Our Lighthouse Point bad faith insurance lawyer offers free consultations for Lighthouse Point insurance disputes and bad faith insurance cases throughout Broward County and South Florida. No upfront costs, no out-of-pocket fees, no payment of any kind unless we win. Contact us today to put over 25 years of South Florida insurance industry knowledge to work against a carrier that has not treated you fairly.