Business Interruption

Thornhill Law Firm, A PLC, has represented many Louisiana and Mississippi businesses and corporations whose business interruption claims have been delayed, denied, or only partially paid for by insurance companies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and other disasters.

Thornhill Law Firm is a New Orleans-based law firm that is For the People, Not the Powerful. We have successfully pursued claims and lawsuits against some of the largest insurance companies in the country, including Allstate, State Farm, Nationwide, USAA, and Zurich.

Seeking Justice For Our Clients

Our Louisiana and Mississippi business interruption claims lawyers are considered among the most experienced and effective insurance litigation attorneys serving clients in the Metropolitan New Orleans Area, Southern Louisiana, and the Southern District of Mississippi. We are here to protect our clients’ legal rights.

Filing A Business Interruption Claim

Business interruption claims are generally filed when a disaster has made it impossible for a business to stay in operation. This was the case for many business and commercial owners in Gretna, Jefferson, Pearl River, Metairie, Franklinton, Madisonville, Covington, St. Bernard, Mandeville, Kenner, Chalmette, and Slidell, and other cities in the Metropolitan New Orleans Area after Hurricane Katrina.

Ideally, business interruption coverage should cover reconstruction costs and income lost while a business gets back on its feet. A business owner may also purchase extended business interruption coverage, which covers, for a set period of time, any income loss between the time a business resumes operation and when it becomes restored to its pre-loss state. Contingent business interruption coverage is an additional type of coverage that can be purchased and is meant to cover lost income from physical damage that is not considered property damage.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina left behind some $20.8 billion in commercial losses alone. Many businesses suffered serious property and physical damages, lost many of their business records, and saw the number of their employees and customers dwindle significantly because of injuries, deaths, and the evacuation of many flood-ravaged areas.

Many of the business owners that stayed behind to rebuild their businesses experienced further setbacks when their insurance companies rejected their business interruption claims on the grounds that their insurance polices only covered certain kinds of perils, such as “wind-related damages,” but excluded damages caused by floods. However, a lot of the damages were in fact caused by heavy winds and wind-driven rains and therefore covered by their business interruption claims. Some insurance companies even rejected claims made by businesses that had purchased flood coverage prior to Katrina on the grounds that many areas were evacuated. Orders of civil authority are cited as an exception to business interruption coverage.

For business owners that have received payments from their insurance companies, the issues of whether a temporary business site is now a permanent one and how much damage a business has suffered because of business interruption are common matters of contention between business policy holders and insurance companies.

Thornhill Law Firm, For the People

Our insurance litigation attorneys at Thornhill Law Firm, A PLC, have successfully dealt with all of these issues, including bad faith offers and other business interruption-related disputes, for many of our business and commercial clients.

To schedule your free consultation with one of our business interruption claims attorneys, call Thornhill Law Firm, A PLC, at (800) 989-2707 or contact us online.