You have suffered a loss to your home and filed an insurance claim; what do you do after? First you should find an attorney to help navigate the difficult waters of dealing with insurance companies. Next filing a Civil Remedy Notice is a great tool to use when trying to recover owed insurance benefits from your insurance carrier. If you have opened an insurance claim and the carrier has decided to not issue full payment, filing a Civil Remedy Notice, or CRN, with the department of financial services is a great method to resolve your claim. The Department of Financial Services states:
“[T]he Civil Remedy Notice is intended for use by parties who are beginning the process of filing suit against an insurer, when a party feels they have been damaged by specific acts of the insurer. The Notice is intended to meet a portion of legal requirements set forth in Section 624.155, Florida Statutes, which requires a party to file Notice with both the insurer and the Department of Financial Services (DFS) at least 60 days prior to bringing an action against the insurer. The DFS does not involve itself in the pre-suit negotiations or communications related to Notices as such actions are not within the scope of its statutory authority.”
The instructions for completing a CRN are very simple and provided by the DFS. The filer needs to fill out if they are the insured or a third party. Next you must state the type of insurance policy that was in effect. With this information you should include the policy number and claim number and the name of the insurance company. If there is a particular person responsible for the alleged breach that will be included as well. If you have the specific policy language that was breached that should be included as well, however if you are not in possession of the policy, it is not required. The statute sections that are the reason for the filing are added. These will depend on the specific facts of every claim but can include unreasonable claim delay or unfair settlement practices on behalf of the insurance company. Lastly the specific facts and circumstances leading to the violation should be alleged. A specific amount to cure the filing is not need but is good to add.
The filing of a CRN is a prerequisite for filing a bad faith lawsuit against an insurer. By doing so it also gives the insurance company a chance to resolve the issues that gave rise to this specific filing. Using every tool that is available to you is crucial to the speedy resolution of your insurance claim. Should you have any questions about your claim never hesitate to reach out to your attorney, we are here for you!
Andrew Rollins, Esq.
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