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The early September Bastrop wildfire which was the worst in Texas’ history now has a known cause. The Texas Forest Service says the fire most likely had an electrical origin.

That caused a wildfire lasting several days which swept a wide area just east of Austin, starting on Labor Day weekend. The Bastrop County wildfire destroyed more than 1,500 homes, killed two people and blackened over 50 square miles. (more…)

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Why is it so hard to collect  a car accident insurance claim, even when you weren’t at fault? Because insurance companies are stingy–and are getting even stingier due to uninsured motorists on the road. When an uninsured driver is at fault in a car accident, then the claim goes to the innocent driver’s insurer, who doesn’t want to pay. And that’s a huge problem.

Some Texas cities are doing something about it — but Houston isn’t one of them. According to a report on KHOU Channel 11 News, more than 15,000 drivers annually for the past two years were ticketed in Houston for driving without car insurance — a legal offense. And some uninsured drivers were ticketed repeatedly. In fact, more than 100 people got ticketed five times for the same offense.

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Your car was just rear-ended by a distracted motorist blabbing on his cell phone and now — through no fault of your own — you’ve got bills to pay for damages. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

You’ve waited months for your insurance company to make good on its policy and pay for your property damage after Hurricane Ike or some other calamity — and now you’re still waiting. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

Your child was injured in a Yamaha Rhino accident when the ATV rolled over on a flat surface due to manufacturer design negligence, and now she faces surgery. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

Your loved one suffered a near-fatal overdose of powerful narcotic fentanyl from a defective Duragesic pain patch, and now requires special care. What time is it? It’s HAMMER TIME.

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Ever notice how often lawyers are the heroes of novels, films or TV shows? From To Kill a Mockingbird to Erin Brockovich, from Perry Mason and L.A. Law to Boston Legal, lawyers are crusaders who fight for what’s right, often by protecting everyday folks against corporations, bureaucracies and other monolithic, faceless entities that harm or threaten them.

Ever notice how often insurance companies or their reps are the heroes of novels, films or TV shows? Never, right? They’re under the radar. They’re neither loved nor loathed. This doesn’t make them good guys. It just makes them non-targets.

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“You’re in good hands” begins a familiar insurance company slogan. To be sure, insurance providers like to be viewed that way — as reliable, helpful protectors of your financial security and peace of mind.

But though some insurance companies certainly provide such service, others may betray a resolve to keep every dime they get from policy holders, even when such money rightfully should be paid out.

Take Great American Insurance Co., which is trying to wriggle out of a potential $25 million liability for a 2007 Houston office fire in which three people died.

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It’s been almost three months since Hurricane Ike devastated the Texas Gulf Coast, and hard-hit residents still stagger under the weight of enormous costs to restore their homes. The culprits? In too many cases, it’s balky insurance companies, which delay or deny payments in order to keep the money for themselves, drawing interest on it in the process while homeowners suffer. But even when an insurance company does issue a check, it seems some Texans are finding it tough to collect.

That’s because too many insurance companies are issuing recovery checks to the mortgage company holding the lien, not to the homeowner. Or sometimes the checks are written out to both the mortgage company and the homeowner. But often that check goes only to the mortgage company, which cashes it and keeps the money, or at least slows down its dispersal to desperate homeowners.

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Almost three months since Hurricane Ike roared and roiled over the Houston area, many residents are still stuck with repair needs — and that’s too often because their insurance provider whom they paid in full for coverage has resisted, delayed or denied a fair settlement.

According to a report in today’s Houston Chronicle, more than 1,700 Texans so far have complained to the Texas Department of Insurance about balky insurance companies which refuse to pay, delay paying or offer a only small fraction of what they rightly owe their customers.

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And so, it continues. More than 10 days after Hurricane Ike’s onslaught, hundreds of thousands in southeast Texas still lack electrical power. Debris is piled high, trees are downed and buildings are damaged. With traffic lights out, congestion rules, and hotter weather is sparking hot tempers. Hurricane fatigue has set in.

Yet the Houston area will survive. Why? Because its boomtown spirit knows no other way. Progress may be slow, but it’s happening, and the region eventually will get back to normal — which is to say, bustling, thriving and alive.

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From homeowners to businesses, those who suffered from Hurricane Ike have a lot of cleanup to do — and a lot of insurance claims to file. But sadly, insurance coverage isn’t always promptly or adequately paid. If you have trouble with hurricane insurance fraud, you may need a Houston hurricane insurance fraud lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates.

Many businesses have business interruption insurance, which covers their losses when they are forced to shut down temporarily due to circumstances such as a fire or hurricane. Their business interruption insurance normally should provide coverage for lost net profits, as well as for continuing expenses related to the interruption.

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