Insurance Dispute Lawyer Pompano Beach, FL
Pompano Beach is our firm’s home. Our office sits at 2436 N Federal Highway, and this community’s property owners are the clients we fight for every day. The city spans more than 20 square miles of coastal Broward County, with more than 110,000 residents and a housing stock built predominantly in the 1960s and 1970s. Every storm season, carriers use every tool available to reduce their exposure on the coastal property damage claims this city generates. We use every tool available to fight back.
Our Pompano Beach, FL insurance dispute lawyer has over 25 years of South Florida property insurance litigation behind every case we take. We work on a pure contingency basis. No fees unless we win. No out-of-pocket costs. Ever. We invite you to call The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers today for a consultation about your needs.
Why Choose The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers for Insurance Disputes in Pompano Beach?
She Built Her Career Inside the Carriers She Now Fights
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 switching to plaintiff work, she represented Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, State Farm, Allstate/Castle Key, Universal Property, Mercury, Travelers, and Esurance in property damage disputes throughout Broward County and South Florida. She also managed Special Investigation Unit cases for those same carriers.
She knows how adjusters are trained to document a denial. She knows which exclusions carriers lean on in Pompano Beach coastal claims. She knows how to dismantle those exclusions when the facts do not support them. Since 2014, every bit of that institutional knowledge has been deployed on behalf of policyholders. As an insurance dispute attorney in Pompano Beach, FL, she brings the full weight of that career to every case 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 across two decades of South Florida insurance litigation.
Attorney David Edwards was recognized in the Top 40 Under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers Association in the civil plaintiff attorney division. The firm is listed with Martindale-Hubbell, one of the most respected peer-review directories in American law.
A 99% Success Rate Across Broward County 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. Our results come faster than what most policyholders achieve navigating the dispute process alone because we know the pressure points from day one.
No Fee Unless We Win
Every insurance dispute and Florida denied and delayed claim we handle is taken on full contingency. You pay nothing until we win. No retainers, no hourly billing, no out-of-pocket expenses at any point.
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“This firm helped me with a complex process when dealing with a national insurer. They leveled the playing field and helped me recover the funds needed for my hurricane damage. I highly recommend them.” — Andrew Spraggins
Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Types of Insurance Dispute Cases We Handle in Pompano Beach
Insurance disputes in Pompano Beach arise across every type of property and every type of loss. The common thread is a carrier that has failed to honor the policy it was paid to maintain. Our attorneys handle all of the following in Pompano Beach and throughout Broward County.
- Hurricane damage. Carriers routinely misclassify wind-driven water intrusion as excluded flood damage, apply depreciation calculations that undercut replacement cost payments, and offer estimates that ignore actual Broward County labor and material pricing. These are some of the most common insurance disputes Pompano Beach policyholders face, and they are ones we are built to fight.
- Property damage. When a carrier denies a property damage claim outright, the denial letter is a legal position, not a final answer. We analyze the policy language, the facts of the loss, and the applicable Florida statutes, then build the most effective challenge to every denial argument the carrier has raised.
- Coverage disputes and exclusion challenges. Carriers frequently rely on wear-and-tear exclusions, anti-concurrent causation clauses, and ordinance or law limitations to reduce or eliminate coverage on Pompano Beach property claims. When those exclusions are applied to losses they were not designed to cover, or used to mischaracterize a covered event, we challenge them with evidence and legal argument.
- Underpayment disputes. A partial payment that does not cover the actual cost of repair is a dispute, not a resolution. Many Pompano Beach homeowners accept an adjuster’s estimate without knowing the policy entitled them to far more. We review every settlement offer against the policy and damage evidence and pursue the full difference when carriers have paid less than required.
- Bad faith insurance claims. When a carrier misses Florida’s statutory payment deadlines, demands documents repeatedly without advancing the investigation, or uses procedural delays to force a lower settlement, that conduct may support a bad faith claim in addition to the underlying breach of contract action. We evaluate both from the first case review.
- Insurance claims for residential property. Disputes arising from homeowner claims for roof damage, water intrusion, fire loss, mold remediation, and structural failure in Pompano Beach neighborhoods from Palm Aire to Garden Isles to Cypress Bend. We represent policyholders across every ZIP code in the city.
Florida Legal Requirements for Pompano Beach Insurance Disputes
Pompano Beach insurance disputes are governed by Florida’s statewide insurance statutes and litigated in Broward County’s 17th Judicial Circuit Court at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. These are the laws that protect you and the deadlines that govern every dispute.
The one-year notice deadline. Under Florida Statute 627.70132, a new or reopened property insurance claim must be reported to your insurer within one year of the date of loss. For hurricane losses, the date of loss is the storm’s landfall date as confirmed by NOAA. Supplemental claims must be filed within 18 months. With much of Pompano Beach’s housing built before modern roofing standards, storm damage can reveal itself gradually, but the one-year clock runs from landfall, not from the day damage becomes visible inside the structure.
The 60-day pay-or-deny requirement. Under Florida Statute 627.70131, your insurer has 60 days from receiving your claim to pay it, pay the undisputed portion, or issue a written denial citing specific policy language and Florida law. Payments made after this deadline bear interest from the date the claim was filed. In Pompano Beach’s high-volume coastal claim environment, violations of this window are common and create direct statutory leverage in the dispute.
The Unfair Insurance Trade Practices Act. Under Florida Statute 626.9541, insurers are prohibited from misrepresenting policy provisions, failing to acknowledge claims promptly, not attempting in good faith to settle when liability is reasonably clear, and refusing to pay claims without conducting a reasonable investigation. A carrier that misrepresents what your Pompano Beach policy covers, or uses tactics designed to compel an unfair settlement, is violating this statute.
The Policyholders Bill of Rights. Under Florida Statute 626.9641, Florida policyholders are entitled to have their claims handled honestly, to have disputed claims reviewed promptly, and to receive a written denial citing the specific policy provision relied upon. When carriers in Pompano Beach issue vague denials or refuse to identify the policy language behind a coverage position, those failures are violations of this statute and can be reported to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
The bad faith civil remedy. Under Florida Statute 624.155, a Civil Remedy Notice must be filed with both the insurer and the Florida DFS before a bad faith lawsuit can proceed. The carrier has 60 days to cure. Under Florida Statute 624.1551, a breach of contract judgment is required before extracontractual bad faith damages can be pursued, but once obtained, the full range of remedies beyond the policy limits becomes available.
What Damages Are Recoverable in a Pompano Beach Insurance Dispute?
Contractual damages. The full amount your policy was required to pay: repair and replacement costs, contents, additional living expenses during displacement, and code upgrade costs under ordinance and law provisions. When a Pompano Beach carrier has paid less than the policy required, the difference is recoverable.
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. That interest is recoverable and one we track in every dispute we handle.
Bad faith and extracontractual damages. When a carrier’s handling of your Pompano Beach insurance dispute rises to the level of bad faith under Florida Statute 624.155, the available recovery exceeds the policy limits. Extracontractual damages are available where the carrier denied a valid claim without investigation, deliberately delayed payment to force a discounted resolution, or misrepresented the policy to induce acceptance of a below-value settlement.
Punitive damages. Available under Florida Statute 624.155 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.
Contact The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers
If your Pompano Beach insurer has disputed, denied, or underpaid your property claim, the time to act is now. The attorneys at The People’s Law Team, PA Property Damage Lawyers Property Damage Lawyers are here to fight for your rights. Florida’s one-year notice deadline runs from the date of loss and the statutory framework for pursuing bad faith has its own procedural requirements that must be followed precisely.
We offer free consultations with our Pompano Beach insurance dispute lawyer to discuss your property damage dispute and any other residential and commercial insurance dispute matters you may be facing in Pompano Beach and Broward County. No upfront costs, no out-of-pocket fees, no payment 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.