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Construction Insurance Claims Attorneys in Houston, Texas

As a contractor in Texas, you purchase commercial general liability (CGL) insurance with the anticipation that it will cover claims for issues concerning your completed work, along with injury and property damage claims.

Suddenly, a person for whom you did some work files suit because the work was not completed to the standards envisioned by the claimant. Will your insurance policy cover this? What if the work is a brick wall that collapsed and damaged the owner’s vehicle? Are both rebuilding the wall and repairing the vehicle covered?

If you are facing difficulties in getting an insurer to cover your claims, contact McLaurin Law today. The firm’s insurance coverage attorneys will take up your cause with the insurer and work tirelessly to get the compensation you deserve. McLaurin Law serves clients throughout Texas, including Houston, Sugar Land, Baytown, Katy, and Pearland.

Common Construction Insurance Claims

Commercial (or contractors’) liability insurance generally will cover damages, personal injury, and advertising injury, including slander or false advertising. The insurance will usually not cover faulty work claims. In the scenario above with the brick wall, for instance, the contractor’s liability insurance would generally cover damage to the vehicle but not the reconstruction of the wall. The policy may cover the wall if the work was done by a subcontractor you hired, however.

Types of Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance

Generally, CGL policies come in two types: Occurrence and Claims-Made.

• Occurrence policies will cover any damage or injury that occurs during the period the policy is in effect, even if the claim is made after the policy has expired or not renewed. Say your CGL runs from January 1 to December 31 of 2020. You do not renew it, and then a claim is made in April 2021 about an accident or incident that occurred in February 2020. An Occurrence policy will cover that claim because it happened during the policy period.
• Claims-Made policies will honor only those claims that are made during the period of coverage. In the above example, a claim filed in the year after the policy was non-renewed would not be honored. Such policies usually offer a 30- to 60-day window for reporting after the policy lapses, but an April claim would exceed that window.

If you purchase the Claims-Made policy with a run-off (or “tail”) provision, the claim may still be honored because it incorporates “extended reporting period” coverage. For an additional premium, you can purchase extended “run-off” coverage for any period you choose, from one year to unlimited.

You can also purchase a Claims-Made policy with prior acts (or “nose”) coverage for injuries or damages occurring before the policy takes effect. This is done by establishing a retroactive date in the declarations page accompanying your policy. Prior acts coverage will not honor claims that were known to you at the time you purchased the policy, however.

Policy Exclusions

CGL policies generally include several exclusions, listing conditions that will void coverage. These include:

• Damage to Your Work: If the construction you do is faulty — for instance, the brick wall collapse scenario above — your CGL will not cover that. There is often an exception, however, for work that you hire a subcontractor to perform.
• Contractual Liability: If you agree contractually to complete a job by a certain date or pay a penalty, the policy will not honor your contractual obligation for the penalty if you fail to complete the work on time. Other contractual agreements may be excluded as well if they are not met or honored.
• Faulty Products: A CGI policy will not pay the cost of replacing faulty third-party products.
• Workers’ Compensation: CGI policies exclude workers’ compensation, for which separate insurance must be purchased.
• Pollution: The CGI will not cover damages or injuries caused by pollutants, which include any solid, liquid, gaseous, or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, acids, alkalis, chemicals, and waste.

Why You Need an Attorney

Insurance companies are notorious for low-balling compensation for claims, and even for denying claims altogether. They hire highly trained professionals known as insurance adjusters, who will deal with you and the claimant and use every trick they can to get you to say something they can use to diminish or exclude the claim.

Let us deal with the insurance adjusters and their parent companies. We know how they operate and can aggressively pursue your claim to seek the compensation you deserve.

Construction Insurance Claims Attorneys in Houston, Texas

When you have issues arising from construction insurance claims against your business, the future of your company could be in jeopardy. Get the help you need from a team of skilled attorneys. If you are located in Houston, Texas, anywhere throughout the state, contact the experienced team at McLaurin Law to get started with a consultation to discuss your situation.