Common Church Insurance Coverage
There are a wide variety of insurance plans that are made available for churches. By knowing the details of your church’s coverage, you will be prepared to face your insurer if a claim needs to be filed. The following are some common features that may be included in your church’s insurance policy:
- Building protection – Covers all damages to the cathedral and surrounding buildings.
- Personal estate – Covers any damaged contents inside the building.
- Employee negligence – Covers any damages cause by a director or officer’s misdeeds.
- Identity rehabilitation – Covers fees needed to restore the church’s identity.
- Data breach – Covers damages suffered from identity theft or data breach.
- Comprehensive liability – Protects the church’s legal liability in court.
- Counseling reparations – Compensates injuries suffered due to the inability to offer counseling.
Your insurance contract specifically outlines the boundaries of your coverage. Unfortunately, your insurer will probably be more familiar with the specifics than you are. They may use this knowledge to avoid settling your church’s claim. Don’t assume that your religious authority will grant you any special treatment from your insurer. Our experienced team of Beaumont bad faith attorneys is familiar with the details of insurance policies and will work closely with you to decipher how you have been wronged.
Brasher Law Firm, PLLC previously recovered a $1.7 million settlement for a Texas church.
Signs of Bad Faith
There are numerous ways your insurance company can act in bad faith. If something happens to your church and your insurer unreasonably denies or delays your claim, they may be held liable for the maximum amount of coverage that is indicated in your contract. If your insurer alters your policy without notifying you, and your church is ineligible for coverage as a result of this alteration, they may be acting in bad faith. If an insurance agent inspects the damage done to your church, and provides false information regarding the extent of the damages in order the settle for less than you deserve, you insurer is acting in bad faith.
Some insurance companies will coach their agents to use threatening, abusive tactics to force you to settle for less than what is owed to you. If this is the case, your insurer may face additional punitive sanctions on top of the bad faith settlement. It’s hard to believe that an insurance company would resort to such methods, especially when dealing with a religious entity, but it happens often. These are only a few examples of how an insurance company may be acting in bad faith.
Has Your Damage Claim Been Denied?
Churches’ congregations all contribute to their buildings’ maintenance and insurance through tithes. When church buildings are damaged, however, insurance companies don’t always act in good faith. Insurance companies are in the insurance business for one reason—profits. They gain revenue primarily through insurance premiums and lose money primarily through insurance pay outs. That’s why they are so customer-oriented when selling insurance and so reluctant to pay for claims when property damage occurs.
Specifically they “play the odds” that churches (and individuals and businesses) won’t contact an attorney after their claim is denied or after an insurer makes a paltry settlement offer. At Brasher Law Firm, PLLC, we can step in and take insurers to task. We have handled hundreds of property insurance disputes for churches, homeowners and business owners.
Why Contact a Texas Bad Faith Insurance Claim Attorney?
We take the responsibility of the legal dispute off of the church, so that church staff members are free to manage the church and to provide the spiritual guidance and support that the congregation deserves. We work with meteorologists and other experts to prove that damages did occur, and that they occurred because of the reasons stated. A church bares a significant responsibility to its congregation, as well as its surrounding community. Apart from teaching religious ideals, churches build community and feed the poor.
If a church is damaged and requires rebuilding, this can have a serious impact on its members. If a church’s insurer is acting in bad faith, this only lengthens the recovery process. At the Beaumont bad faith insurance law firm of Brasher Law Firm, PLLC, we have handled numerous property damage claims for churches, including claims involving water intrusion, roofs and trees, and hurricanes and tornadoes. We are experienced in working with church committees handling storm damage and lost income, and in assessing church-related insurance policies.
We serve residents living all throughout Texas; call our office today at (888) 989-2889
Testimonials
When we went to make a claim for the damage to our church, we were told that we had no insurance. Nobody would take my case because it involved the ‘errors and omissions’ of our agent. Well, I found a lawyer in The Brasher Law Firm that not only accepted my case, but was always available to talk with me on the phone. Clint Brasher took a case that no other lawyer would take and turned it into a substantial settlement for our church. Thank you.
Reverend Timothy AndersonMount Moriah Baptist Church, Beaumont, Texas
The insurance company refused to pay for most of our damage because they said our foundation had ‘settled.’ I tried to explain that the damages we had did not exist prior to the storm. They replied with a report of an engineer that explained all of our damage from ‘settlement’ or ‘soil movement.’ We did not know what to do. When we hired Clint Brasher, he had a team of experts at our home within days that countered the insurance company’s experts. With the assistance of The Brasher Law Firm’s expertise, we were paid for all of our damage.
Ray and Gracie QuaveVidor, Texas
