What Do I Do If My Insurance Company Is Ignoring Me?
You filed your property damage claim. You called the adjuster. You sent the emails. You followed every instruction in your policy and every procedural step your insurer outlined. And now you’re waiting, days turning into weeks, weeks turning into months, without a meaningful response. No payment. No denial. No explanation. Just silence.
For Florida homeowners, this experience is far more common than it should be. Insurance companies understand that delay is a strategy. A policyholder who grows frustrated and gives up, accepts a lowball offer to end the ordeal, or misses a critical deadline while waiting for a response the insurer never intended to send promptly is a policyholder who costs the company less money. The silence you’re experiencing is frequently not administrative backlog; it is a calculated approach to claims management that Florida law is specifically designed to address. Williams Law Association, P.A. has represented Florida policyholders against unresponsive and bad-faith insurance companies for nearly three decades.
My Insurance Company Hasn’t Responded to My Claim. How Long Are They Legally Allowed to Take?
Florida law does not give insurance companies unlimited time to respond to property damage claims, and the deadlines are specific. Under Florida Statute § 627.70131, an insurer must acknowledge receipt of your claim within 14 days of receiving it. This acknowledgment must include confirmation that the claim has been received and the contact information for the individual responsible for handling it.
After acknowledgment, the insurer must promptly and in good faith begin its investigation, including scheduling and completing a physical inspection of your property within a reasonable period. The insurer must then pay or deny the claim within 90 days of receiving notice of the loss, with the time extended to 120 days only in specific circumstances, such as when the Florida Department of Financial Services has declared a catastrophic loss event or when the insurer has a documented, reasonable basis to suspect fraud.
If your insurer has not acknowledged your claim within 14 days, has not communicated meaningfully since the initial filing, or has allowed 90 days to pass without issuing a payment or denial, it is already in violation of Florida’s statutory claims-handling requirements. That violation is not merely a procedural inconvenience; it can serve as the legal basis for a bad faith claim under Florida law.
What Does It Mean When an Insurance Company Acts in “Bad Faith” Toward a Policyholder?
“Bad faith” is a legal standard under Florida Statute § 624.155 that describes conduct by an insurance company that violates its duty to act fairly and honestly toward its policyholders. Insurers in Florida are required to handle claims in good faith, which means they must properly investigate claims, communicate promptly, comply with statutory deadlines, and attempt to settle claims when the obligation to pay becomes reasonably clear. Bad faith is more than a simple mistake or delay. It involves conduct that reflects an unreasonable failure to honor the insurer’s obligations under the policy and Florida law.
Examples of potential bad faith conduct include:
- Ignoring calls or written communications from the policyholder
- Failing to conduct a reasonable investigation before denying a claim
- Delaying a coverage determination without a valid justification
- Misrepresenting policy provisions
- Using procedural tactics to pressure a policyholder into accepting less than the claim is worth
Under Florida Statute § 626.9541, insurers are also prohibited from engaging in unfair claim settlement practices, including denying claims without conducting reasonable investigations based on available information. When these practices occur in a manner that demonstrates a failure to act fairly and honestly, they may support a bad faith claim under § 624.155.
The consequences of a bad faith finding can extend beyond the original value of the insurance claim. If a policyholder successfully establishes bad faith, Florida law may allow recovery of damages caused by the insurer’s misconduct, not just the unpaid policy benefits, but potentially additional damages resulting from the delay or wrongful denial.
Because bad faith claims involve strict procedural requirements, including the filing of a Civil Remedy Notice and providing the insurer an opportunity to cure documented evidence of non-response, delay, or unreasonable conduct, it is critical. When an insurer’s behavior crosses from mere inefficiency into unfair or dishonest claim handling, Florida law provides a structured remedy to hold the company accountable.
What Should I Do First If My Insurance Company Is Ignoring Me?
If your insurance company is not responding to your calls, emails, or written communications, the first and most important step is to begin creating a clear, organized paper trail immediately. Informal phone conversations and undocumented discussions leave you at a disadvantage if the dispute later escalates. From this point forward, every interaction should be documented carefully and professionally.
Communicate in writing whenever possible. If you speak with an adjuster by phone, follow up the same day with an email summarizing the conversation. Include the date, time, name of the representative, what was discussed, and any commitments that were made. This creates a contemporaneous record that cannot easily be disputed later.
Send important correspondence through certified mail with a return receipt requested. This provides proof that the insurer received your communication. Keep copies of every document you send and receive, including emails, letters, claim forms, photographs, repair estimates, and any other supporting materials related to your claim.
Maintain a written log that tracks:
- Dates and times of all communication attempts
- Names and titles of individuals you spoke with
- Whether the insurer responded
- The substance of each response
If your insurer fails to return calls, does not acknowledge written correspondence, or gives vague or inconsistent answers, those failures should be recorded in real time. Do not rely on memory weeks or months later. A documented pattern of non-response may become important if the matter progresses into a formal dispute or legal proceeding.
What if I’ve Been Waiting So Long That I’m Worried About Missing My Filing Deadline?
This concern is urgent and should be treated as such. Florida law generally gives homeowners one year from the date of the covered loss to file an initial property damage claim, and 18 months for supplemental claims covering additional damage discovered after the initial resolution. These deadlines run regardless of your insurer’s conduct; the clock does not pause because the insurer has been ignoring you.
If a statutory deadline is approaching and your claim remains unresolved, do not wait another day to consult our expert Florida property insurance attorneys. Florida law recognizes doctrines, including equitable tolling and estoppel, that, in some circumstances, can preserve a claim that would otherwise be time-barred when the insurer’s own conduct contributed to the missed deadline. These are not simple arguments to make, and they don’t always succeed. But more importantly, they are arguments you should never have to make, because the right response to an approaching deadline is immediate legal action, not continued waiting.
An attorney contacted before a deadline passes has access to the full range of legal tools. An attorney contacted after a deadline has passed is working with a significantly more constrained set of options. Timing matters enormously in property insurance claims, and the insurer’s silence strategy is at its most effective when it causes you to lose your legal rights by inaction.
What Does a Property Insurance Attorney Actually Do in a Situation Like Mine?
The practical impact of legal representation in an insurance dispute operates at multiple levels. An attorney begins by reviewing your policy in full, not the summary of coverage. Still, the complete policy document, including all endorsements, exclusions, and definitions, to identify coverage arguments and obligations the insurer hasn’t acknowledged and may be hoping you’ll never discover. Policy language is frequently more favorable to the insured than an adjuster’s characterization suggests, and ambiguities under Florida law are construed in favor of the policyholder.
The attorney then takes formal control of communications with the insurer, thereby immediately changing their character. Demand letters from legal counsel citing specific statutory violations, identifying the insurer’s failure to meet its obligations, and outlining the legal consequences of continued non-compliance produce responses that months of informal pressure do not. Insurers understand that an attorney’s involvement means the statutory deadlines are being tracked, the bad-faith framework is being evaluated, and that a Civil Remedy Notice is being prepared if violations continue.
Beyond communications, an attorney coordinates the independent experts needed to establish the full value of your loss, including engineers, licensed contractors, and forensic accountants for business interruption claims, and builds the evidentiary record that supports your claim through negotiation, appraisal, or litigation. They manage the appraisal process if that’s the right mechanism. They prepare and file the Civil Remedy Notice at the strategically optimal moment. And if the insurer refuses fair resolution through every other channel, they pursue litigation with the preparation and Florida-specific experience that the case requires.
Most importantly, an attorney’s involvement creates leverage. Insurance companies that understand a claim is being managed by counsel with trial experience and a track record of results in Florida courts are far more likely to move toward a fair resolution than when dealing with an individual policyholder with limited options and limited time.
How do I contact Williams Law Association, P.A.?
Williams Law Association, P.A. has recovered over $300 million for Florida property owners across nearly three decades of practice. Our attorneys represent homeowners, commercial property owners, and condominium associations in insurance disputes throughout Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and across Florida exclusively on behalf of policyholders, never for insurance companies.
If your insurance company is ignoring you, delaying your claim, or has issued a denial or settlement that doesn’t reflect the actual damage to your property, contact us today for a free evaluation.
Call toll-free at 1-800-451-6786 or reach our Tampa office directly at (813) 288-4999. You can also use our contact form on our website to schedule your consultation. We respond within 24 hours. Your insurer has legal obligations to you. When they choose to ignore those obligations, we make sure they don’t get away with it.