Q: Insurance and suing!
Hello! My name is Benjamin, and I am wondering if you can provide me some legal advice on insurance matters. I have just recently sold a house but yet still have insurance on the house. A fire happened right after I had sold the house. I made a claim to the insurance company and they are refusing to return my calls and I even went to the supervisor which they have not returned my calls. I have a lawyer (who's a friend) involved however she does not dabble in the insurance department therefore knows very little. I had her call the insurance company on my claim and had her call the supervisors MORE THEN ONCE! I am getting very upset, is there any legal loophole I can do to sue the insurance company?
A:
Sue them for what? If the house was sold, you have no insurable interest in the property, even if you are still paying premiums on it. You would essentially double-dip if you already received the sale proceeds, and now you were to receive the insurance payout. That's like insuring your neighbor's house.
House fires are a very common method for insurance fraud, and you should expect any insurance company to conduct a thorough investigation and due diligence before even talking about a payout - that can take weeks, months, or years.
Insurance is complex. Every insurance company has teams of lawyers whose job is to look for ways to sniff out fraud or otherwise find ways to deny a claim. After all, insurance companies make money by taking in premiums, not paying out claims. This is not the type of legal work you want your lawyer buddy doing as a favor; you need a lawyer who does insurance work.
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