Commercial Property Insurance Claim Disputes
Navigating Commercial Property Insurance Disputes
Large property losses involve substantial payouts, and insurance companies often use complex exclusions to avoid them. The Berniard Law Firm helps you maximize coverage and ensures insurers honor the contracts you’ve diligently paid for.
Why You Need Expert Legal Representation
We employ construction and claims report experts to meticulously document your losses. By using real construction values for replacement costs, we ensure your claim reflects the actual economic reality of a commercial rebuild.
Important: 2025/2026 Louisiana Insurance Law Changes
New legislation has significantly altered how and when you must file a claim in Louisiana:
- Extended Two-Year Deadline: For damage occurring after July 1, 2024, business owners now generally have two years (increased from one) to file a lawsuit for property damage.
- Commercial Tender Deadlines: For commercial property claims, insurers now have 90 days from the receipt of satisfactory proof of loss to issue a payment tender.
- Modified Comparative Fault (2026): Starting January 1, 2026, a new “51% bar” rule applies. If a court finds you were 51% or more at fault for the circumstances leading to the damage, you may be barred from recovering any compensation.
- Repeal of the Housley Presumption: As of May 2025, the legal presumption that an accident caused an injury or damage simply because it wasn’t there before has been removed. You now need affirmative evidence to link the loss directly to the insured event.
Bad Faith and 2025 "Cure Notices"
Under the updated §22:1892 and §22:1892.2, if an insurer arbitrarily denies your claim, they may owe penalties of 50% of the damages plus attorney fees. However, for catastrophic losses like hurricanes, you must now provide a 60-day “cure period notice” to the insurer before filing a bad-faith lawsuit.
Large property losses involve large payouts by insurance companies and that is exactly what they try to avoid. The exclusions and limitations on coverage that the insurance companies argue apply to your commercial property claim are in direct contrast to what the agent told you would be covered. The Berniard Law Firm is here to help maximize your coverage and to make sure the insurance companies live up to the contract of insurance that you diligently paid premiums for.
The Berniard Law Firm will employ experts in construction who also are experts in writing claims reports to help document your insured losses. Our experts will compile meticulous reports of the loss that are in accordance with the policy requirements. The Berniard Law Firm’s experts will use real construction values when assessing the damages taking into account the replacement cost or actual cost value where applicable. The Berniard Law Firm’s experts will also recommend loss mitigation techniques so that the insurance company can not latter argue that damages were worsened by your actions.
The Berniard Law Firm will also help investigate and write a detailed estimate of your Contents and Stock claims. The Berniard Law Firm’s experts will analyze and help write a detailed estimate of all property damage to the contents, including stock, supplies, furniture, fixtures, machinery, equipment, improvements and betterments, computer systems, etc.
The Berniard Law Firm can also help with your extra expense losses. Our lawyers will help analyze and advise management on extra expenses that are necessitated and recoverable under the insurance provisions including; coordinating tracking or extra expense items to ensure collectability, determine excess expenses over normal expenses, and continue to track recoverable extra expense during an extended period of indemnity.
The Berniard Law Firm will also help with your Business Interruption Loss if needed.
Contact the Louisiana Commercial Property Insurance Claim Lawyers
Speak With a Berniard Law Firm Attorney Today
Call us at (504) 521-6000 to speak with a Berniard Law Firm Attorney about your Commercial Property loss dispute. You can also complete the contact form and a Berniard Law Firm Attorney will contact you in the next 4 hours. All initial consultations are free and all cases are handled on a contingency fee basis. This means there are no costs to you unless a settlement or award by the court is adjudged. You have nothing to lose, call today and a Berniard Law Firm Attorney will begin immediately working on your case so you can get the compensation you deserve.