Tropical Storm Elsa has lashed the Sunshine State with heavy winds and unrelenting rain bands.  Elsa battered western Florida as it approached landfall along the northern Gulf Coast, threatening coastal flooding, wind damage, and power outages across the state.  Elsa’s center, with sustained winds of 65 mph, made landfall Wednesday morning in Taylor County, Florida.

From Tampa to Tallahassee, Key West to Cedar Key, Sarasota to Ocala, and Jacksonville to Gainesville, Elsa’s strong winds and heavy rains could topple trees and power lines in a region that’s already saturated.  The torrential rains associated with Elsa can cause flooding and substantial water damage to the foundations, exterior structures, and the interior areas of homes.

Once you have secured you and your family’s safety after a storm, one of the next steps is filing a claim for damages with your insurance company.  Homeowners insurance may cover some types of storm damage, including flood damage and wind damage, but it is important for a lawyer to look over the specific details of your policy to help guide you and advise you.   

Although policyholders loyally pay for insurance, the insurance company looks for reasons to pay out as little money as possible, delay or deny valid claims following a storm.  Insurers habitually display bad faith behavior and try to take advantage of policyholders.  

Insurance bad faith is something that every policyholder should be aware of.  It exists when an insurance company fails to honor the fair claim of the insured party or unlawfully mishandles a claim.  If you believe that you are a victim of insurance bad faith on your homeowner policy, our storm damage insurance lawyers can help.  We right the wrongs of the insurance company on your behalf to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve.  Our lawyers successfully litigate bad faith insurance claims.

Leverage the experience and power of our storm damage lawyers.  If your Florida home or business has been damaged because of physical damage, power outages, or loss of business, we can help you navigate your insurance coverage. 

Corless Barfield Trial Group takes on the big insurance companies to get our clients every cent owed to them under their policies.  We have successfully helped insureds seek compensation for repair, replacement, and relocation costs after storm damage.  If you are having difficulty with your insurance company after a natural disaster, call us at 813-258-4998 or email service@corlessbarfield.com.  

With over $500 million recovered for policyholders, allow us to walk you through our case studies involving tropical storm damage and hurricane damage.  Our Tampa-based lawyers serve all of Florida, and aggressively fight to protect the rights of policyholders.  We know how to deal with homeowners’ storm damage claims and Large Loss insurance claims involving multi-unit dwellings, buildings, and businesses.  Securing coverage and maximizing compensation is our firm’s goal for each and every client.  Contact us for a free consultation at 813-258-4998.  

There is no bigger sporting event in the U.S. than the Super Bowl.  On Sunday, Feb. 7, Super Bowl LV will take place in our own backyard.  Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Buccaneers, in Tampa, Florida.  

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the first NFL team to play the big game in their home stadium.  The Bucs will face-off against the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs.  Full disclosure:  CBTG Founder and Partner Ted Corless is a longtime, proud member of #ChiefsKingdom.  

Bucs quarterback Tom Brady looks to capture a seventh ring in his NFL-record 10th Super Bowl appearance while Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes looks to go back to back as the youngest QB to appear in consecutive Super Bowls.

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the first team in league history to host the Super Bowl, they won’t have a home-field advantage.  Raymond James Stadium, where the Bucs play, features a large pirate ship which fires off multiple rounds from cannons when the team scores a touchdown. However, in an effort to make the site as neutral as possible, the NFL has informed Tampa Bay that the team will not be allowed to fire cannons during the game. 

The Face Mask Rule

The big game is set against the backdrop of a raging pandemic with new strains emerging every day.  Tampa, a city of 388,000, has had more than 55,000 coronavirus cases. To stop the spread of COVID-19, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor (D) issued an executive order making masks required outside Super Bowl event areas such as downtown, the Riverwalk, Ybor City, Channel District, and neighborhoods around Raymond James Stadium.  Face masks will also be required to attend the game, as well as for all those who pass through Tampa International Airport. 

Touchdown 

Corless Barfield Trial Group is a high-stakes insurance dispute and property damage law firm located in Tampa.  We advocate on behalf of insureds throughout Florida, and aggressively represent policyholders whose insurance claims have been underpaid, delayed or denied.  

We work as one team from the office and remotely in order to offer clients the best of both worlds in the age of coronavirus. With safety measures firmly in place, our office at 6812 W. Linebaugh Ave. remains a vibrant and vital space for collaboration, client meetings, Continuing Education classes, hearings, as well as mediation, arbitration, and trials.  Our goal is always the same:  Help solve your toughest and most complex legal issues …. wherever you are.

You can’t play today’s game with yesterday’s rules.  We are devoting the full breadth of our combined capabilities, skills, and experience to help clients through their insurance claims and lawsuits.  CBTG continues to adapt to a virtual courtroom.  If you believe you could benefit from speaking to a lawyer about your insurance dispute or property damage claim, please call us at 813-258-4998.   We’re open and available 365 days a year. 

Game Plan 

We want you to have a safe game plan for the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl is the No. 1 at-home party event of the year but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has consistently warned against hosting large, indoor gatherings with people you don’t live with.  Remember to wear masks; stay 6 feet apart; use hand sanitizer; avoid crowds and poorly ventilated places; and wash your hands.  Taking precautions today can significantly help you tomorrow.  

As more states report cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19), you should know about your legal rights and the risks associated with coronavirus. 

Microsoft, SAP, JPMorgan Chase, and hundreds of other employers have imposed restrictions on travel, domestic as well as international. Countless supply contracts are being disrupted by factory shutdowns in the areas most affected by COVID-19. Facebook, Stanford University, SXSW, and Google have canceled long-planned business conferences and events.

Two people have already died in Florida out of at least a dozen Florida residents that state health officials say have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus that is now quickly spreading across the United States and other parts of the world.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at a press conference at Port Everglades on Saturday where Vice President Mike Pence as well as Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio addressed the spread of the virus and the danger to the state’s elderly population.  “This is a virus that has a disproportionate impact on that community,” DeSantis said.

Legal Matters Involving Coronavirus 

Whether you are a big or small office, and whether you have offices overseas or not, every employer (and employee) should have a disaster plan in place for the coronavirus and other types of health crises as well as natural disasters. Companies should consider how to protect their employees and their productivity without running afoul of employment laws.

As an employer, the most important message to communicate is that employees should stay home from work when they are sick and telecommute if necessary.  With the global spread of coronavirus, companies should focus first and foremost on employee safety. Business continuity plus the well-being of your employees and clients is of the utmost importance. 

Employers can require that an infected or at-risk employee stay home from work if the employer has a reasonable objective belief that the employee poses a direct threat to the workforce.  An employee’s race, color, sex, national origin, or perceived or actual disability cannot be taken into account when assessing risk.

Employers cannot require employees to undergo medical exams and should avoid making unnecessary inquiries into an employee’s medical status.  The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), along with equivalent state and local laws, restrict an employer’s ability to ask questions about an employee’s medical condition. 

The Family Medical Leave Act provides job-protected unpaid leave for employees and their family members who are suffering from a “serious health condition.” If an employee or his/her immediate family member contracts the coronavirus, the FMLA could be triggered. 

Will insurance cover COVID-19 losses? Losses related to coronavirus could be covered under insurance depending on the type of loss, the type of coverage, and the terms and conditions of specific policies.  Policyholders should review their insurance coverage provisions.

Business interruption insurance could provide coverage for income and other losses.

The scope of coverage for coronavirus and other infectious disease-related losses will ultimately depend upon the specific language of each insurance policy. Remember, too, not every contract and governing law provides for a force majeure defense based on unforeseeable events outside the parties’ control. 

Next Steps

The main challenges in the next few weeks are to become informed on legal options, develop a risk management strategy, keep up with health guidelines, and exercise a certain degree of common sense. It is important that you consult with counsel regarding your legal rights in light of the coronavirus.

Corless Barfield Trial Group advises clients on numerous legal issues relating to the coronavirus and its effects, such as force majeure clauses in contracts, employment law matters, insurance law, negotiating commercial agreements in light of world events, and risk mitigation, among other issues.  For a free, no-obligation consultation, call Corless Barfield at 813-258-4998.

The cause of the Sept. 2 fire, which killed 34 people, is now the subject of an intensive investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other federal and county agencies.  A preliminary investigation has suggested serious safety deficiencies aboard the vessel.

Fire damage to your home, boat or business can be sudden and devastating.  If you have suffered smoke or fire damage and your insurance company seeks to deny, delay or underpay your valid claim, we encourage you to contact the experienced insurance lawyers at Corless Barfield Trial Group at 813-258-4998. 

Fire damage is a hot topic in the news.  A jury in Oakland, Calif., recently found one man not guilty of 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the 2016 fire at Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse but could not reach a verdict for the building’s leaseholder.  It was one of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history, killing 36 people. 

The Ghost Ship fire tore through a late-night party in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood that had been transformed into a ramshackle artist collective known as Ghost Ship.  The jury’s verdict begs the question, what is the duty owed to the public to protect from a fire?

Whether your home or business was completely destroyed by a fire or only partially damaged, your insurance company will attempt to delay, deny or underpay your property damage claim.

Homeowners and business owners should bring in a policyholder attorney to help prove the worth of their fire claims and protect their rights. Insurance companies rarely contemplate the hidden effects of a fire in your home or business when they consider your compensation package and initial settlement offer.

Besides the structural damage, fires can also damage heating and cooling systems, plumbing, and concrete or steel building materials.  Additionally, there is the costly damage caused by smoke, soot, and the water used to fight the fire. 

The Florida-based attorneys at Corless Barfield Trial Group will investigate your case, and consult with our team of insurance and engineering experts, to determine the full value of your claim.

We will fight for you in court to obtain the money that you deserve from the insurance company to which you have dutifully paid your insurance premiums.

The policyholder attorneys at Corless Barfield Trial Group have years of experience working with homeowners and business owners throughout Florida who have been treated unfairly by their insurance companies, and we would be happy to help you.  Contact us at 813-258-4998 for a free consultation.

Insurance companies do not make their enormous profits by paying what they owe but rather denying what they owe. Therefore it is necessary anytime you have property damage you have counsel fighting for your rights. Whether you own a single family home, or you happen to be on the Board of a community managed association, if the insurance company is giving you a hard time about insurance coverage for your property damage claim, call us at 813-258-4998 to help you get the claim resolved.

Here are a few inconvenient truths all property owners – whether you are a commercial/business owner, a member of a Board of Directors for your condo, or a homeowner – should know:

1. Insurance companies are more focused on their bottom line rather than covering the costs of your property damage as they save the less they pay.
2. You paid your insurance premiums, so you deserve fair compensation for property damage incurred through no fault of your own but oftentimes that isn’t the way adjusters and insurance companies see it.
3. Insurance companies deny compensation for property damage that should have been covered by your policy.
4. Insurance adjusters have one primary objective – minimize the monies paid to policyholders on behalf of their employers.
5. The insurance company is going to give you the “lowball” offer to repair or replace your property damage, and usually that compensation won’t be enough to fix the damage.
6. Without help from a qualified property damage lawyer, you are often at the mercy of your agent, who may deny all or part of your claim.

While the above situations are common, there is a way to fight back. Corless Barfield Trial Group is a tested trial team of Florida Property Damage Attorneys well-versed in the tactics used by insurance companies to limit their own liability. We will aggressively fight to maximize your insurance coverage. As a policyholder, you are entitled to a full and fair investigation of your loss, and you deserve to obtain all appropriate coverage for your claim.

Our team of litigators specialize in advocating for property owner rights. If you want to hear what others say about our experience, just ask Google. Our team of seasoned, expert litigators focuses on getting you the means by which to rebuild your home or business.

In Florida, property insurance disputes include hurricane damage, storm damage, high winds, sinkholes, catastrophic ground cover collapse, fire loss, and water damage. As damages can cost thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars, you need a property damage litigator who can fight back and win.

Corless Barfield Trial Group has handled hundreds of property damage cases and collected hundreds of millions of dollars for insureds, and are familiar with the devious maneuvers used by insurance companies to protect their own bottom line. You don’t have to do battle with your insurance company alone.

Don’t let your insurance company force you into paying for something they are legally required to cover. We take your claim with the objective of getting it paid, or making the insurer test their meddle in front of a jury.

The Florida Property Damage Attorneys from Corless Barfield Trial Group will help you maximize your insurance claim and coverage. Corless Barfield Trial Group is located in Tampa, Florida and serves clients throughout the state of Florida. For a free consultation, call us at 813-258-4998.

The concept of sharing the road with motorcycles has become pretty popular as of late: you can find bumper stickers, commercials, shirts, etc. all sporting this logo. And it’s for good reason – if you consider how common car accidents are in the Tampa Bay area, remember how much more likely a motorcyclist is to be killed if they are involved in an accident, and you’ll understand the movement.

So, if a driver makes an honest attempt to share the road with motorcycles, what does that look like? How can one drive safely to accommodate motorcyclists?

Be predictable 

Nobody can prevent an accident with an unpredictable driver, especially motorcycles. Those sharing the road with you remain aware of your presence, speed, and what you plan to do, just as you do. As motorcyclists don’t have thousands of pounds of armor protecting them from harm, their best defense is to be ultra-aware of their surroundings. Therefore, always make your intentions clear: use your turning signal, slow to a stop instead of stopping abruptly, refrain from swerving in your lane, etc.

If there’s a motorcycle next to, in front of, or behind you, you may automatically try to create more room for them to prevent a collision. However, not only are motorcyclists aware of their surroundings and more able to adjust their position if a car needs to adjust theirs, but there may be another motorcyclist on the other side of you, who has chosen their place in the road based on your location. Therefore, don’t make any abrupt decisions. Maintain your position on the road and your fellow drivers and motorcyclists will follow suit.

Remember: they’re smaller

Many accidents occur because of the size of a motorcycle. Drivers are accustomed to keeping an eye out for others of their size and frequently forget their smaller counterparts. This means double-checking side mirrors, blind spots, and making sure to look both ways a couple times before crossing the street. You never know if there’s a motorcycle next to you that you just didn’t see at first glance.

Motorcycles being smaller also means that they’re capable of much more abrupt movements than cars. Therefore, if you’re following a motorcycle on the road, give them some space. A motorcycle is entitled to the entire lane, so don’t pressure them into sharing it with you. If you tailgate a motorcycle, it may stop abruptly to avoid debris in the road or another vehicle, and you won’t be able to stop nearly as quickly. Always allow motorcycles the space they need to shift their inertia. 

Weather changes everything

While rainy, wet roads mean a driver needs to prevent hydroplaning by slowing down, keep in mind that a motorcycle is much more vulnerable to inclement weather. For example, because a motorcycle is significantly less sturdy than a car, a wet, muddy road is more difficult for a motorcycle’s tires to grab onto. 

Another example is wind: while a significant gust of wind can be felt on a car, it can actually push a motorcycle across a lane, potentially into oncoming traffic. If it’s enough to make you feel insecure in your well-protected car, just imagine how a motorcyclist feels; they don’t have any barrier between them and the outside elements.

Be patient

While it can be stressful to be stuck behind a slower driver or waiting for a driver in another lane to make room for you to switch into their lane, motorcycles are incredibly vulnerable to any bad choices you make as an impatient driver. While you may think you have the upper hand as a larger vehicle, consider the consequences of accidentally killing a motorcyclist. Respect their space as a vehicle on the road, and do not attempt to pressure a motorcyclist to move for you. Sharing the road with motorcycles is as simple as a turn signal or brake lights!

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