You paid premiums for years, and when the roof failed or the water line burst the carrier sent an adjuster who found a reason not to pay. The Farber Law Firm represents Boca Raton homeowners, condominium unit owners and associations in first-party property disputes — denied claims, underpaid scopes, delayed adjustments and bad-faith handling.
Boca Raton's housing stock is dominated by single-family homes and condominium communities built across several decades, and a large share of the roofs and plumbing systems in those buildings are now at the age where carriers reflexively attribute any failure to wear and tear rather than a covered event. That characterization is a coverage argument, not a fact, and it is frequently defeated by a qualified engineering inspection performed before repairs begin.
Palm Beach County carries some of the highest property insurance premiums in the country, and the market consolidation of recent years pushed many homeowners into carriers with aggressive claim-handling practices and limited reinsurance appetite. In practice that produces more partial payments, more requests for recorded examinations under oath and more reliance on exclusions.
Condominium losses add another layer. The division between association responsibility and unit-owner responsibility is set by the declaration and by Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11), and a single water intrusion event routinely triggers claims under both the association's master policy and the unit owner's HO-6 policy. Getting that allocation right at the outset avoids each carrier pointing at the other for a year.
Send us the policy, the denial or estimate and any photos. We read the actual language and endorsements, not the summary letter.
We coordinate independent engineering or contractor inspections so the scope is supported by evidence rather than argument.
Each stated ground for denial is answered directly, with causation evidence tied to the covered peril and the date of loss.
A compliant pre-suit notice of intent with an itemized demand is filed with the Department of Financial Services before any suit.
Depending on the policy and dispute, we pursue appraisal or file suit in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and litigate the coverage question.
We represent clients in every neighborhood, including:
Request the carrier's complete claim file and the full policy, including all endorsements, and read the stated basis for denial closely. Most denials rely on a specific exclusion — wear and tear, long-term seepage, pre-existing damage or late notice. Once you know the exact ground asserted, the claim can be rebutted with engineering evidence rather than argument. Do not repair beyond emergency mitigation until the loss is documented.
For property insurance claims, Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(e) sets a one-year limitation for a supplemental or reopened claim and a general suit deadline tied to the date of loss under the current statutory framework, and policies issued after the 2022 and 2023 reforms shortened notice deadlines as well. Initial notice of a new or reopened claim generally must be given within one year of the date of loss under Fla. Stat. § 627.70132. These deadlines are short and unforgiving — confirm them against your specific policy and date of loss immediately.
Yes. Fla. Stat. § 627.70152 requires a written notice of intent to initiate litigation, filed with the Department of Financial Services, at least ten business days before suit, with a presuit settlement demand and an itemized damages figure. Filing without a compliant notice results in dismissal, so this step has to be done correctly.
For most residential and commercial property policies, no. The 2022 special session and HB 837 in 2023 repealed the one-way attorney fee provisions in Fla. Stat. §§ 627.428 and 627.70152 for property insurance suits, so a policyholder generally bears their own fees. That is why these matters are handled under a written fee agreement discussed up front, and why building the claim correctly before suit matters more than ever.
Underpayment is more common than outright denial. Carriers frequently pay for a partial roof repair when the roofing system cannot be matched, or write for cosmetic repair when there is structural or hidden water intrusion. Florida's matching statute, Fla. Stat. § 626.9744, requires reasonable uniform appearance within the same line of sight for a covered loss, which often supports a substantially larger scope than the carrier's estimate.
Free, confidential consultation. No fee unless we recover (most personal injury and insurance matters).
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