Florida Hurricane Damage Lawyer
The wind stopped before sunrise. By noon you had a tarp on the roof, a tree across the driveway, and water still coming through the kitchen ceiling. That was the easy part. The claim is the second storm, and it moves slower.
I am Louis P. Meyer, Esq., a Senior Attorney at Kanner & Pintaluga, P.A. in Tampa. My practice focuses on Florida property damage claims, and hurricane claims are the hardest version of them: bigger losses, more exclusions, and carriers working thousands of files at once. This page walks through how a hurricane claim moves.
What this practice covers
A hurricane claim is a first party claim against your own homeowners or commercial policy, and it starts long before anyone argues about money. There is the emergency work: tarping, water extraction, keeping the next rain from making it worse. There is the documentation: photographs, videos, inventories. Then come the coverage fight and the number fight, and if the carrier will not be reasonable, the presuit process Florida law requires and litigation after that.
I handle hurricane and windstorm claims across Florida for property owners whose carriers denied, delayed, or underpaid storm losses. The legal work includes coverage analysis, wind versus flood allocation fights, low catastrophe estimates, appraisal, examinations under oath, sworn proofs of loss, and the remedies Florida law provides, including the civil remedy notice process under Fla. Stat. § 624.155.
Where hurricane claims get stuck
The first fight is usually about water. Homeowners policies cover wind damage and the rain that wind lets in. They exclude flood, meaning rising water, which belongs to a separate flood policy. One storm delivers both kinds of water to the same house, and the carrier gets to sort your loss into a covered pile and an uncovered pile. That allocation fight is where large parts of a storm loss quietly disappear.
The second misunderstanding is FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. After a major storm you will hear about federal declarations. An emergency declaration is not a major disaster declaration. Emergency declarations mostly fund government response and public assistance for public infrastructure. Individual assistance, the program that puts federal help in homeowners hands, only turns on with a major disaster declaration that includes it, and even then it is limited help, not a replacement for your insurance claim. Your claim still runs through your carrier, on your policy’s deadlines.
The third problem is the cleanup itself. Your policy requires prompt notice, mitigation, and proof of loss. But throwing away soaked flooring, furniture, and personal property before it is documented hands the carrier an argument that the loss was never proven. Photograph everything and keep receipts for every emergency dollar.
How I approach this work
I start with the policy and the timeline. Florida law gives carriers a clock too. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.70131, a carrier generally must pay or deny a residential property claim within sixty days after it receives notice, and it owes you written status updates while the claim is open. Before suit over a property claim, Fla. Stat. § 627.70152 requires a presuit notice that gives the carrier a last window to inspect and respond. I use both clocks. Sworn proofs of loss and examinations under oath show up constantly in hurricane claims because the numbers are large. Both are sworn, and both follow the file forever. My job is a complete, documented claim the carrier has to answer on the merits, and an honest read for you about what your policy does and does not cover, including the parts you will not enjoy hearing.
Questions Florida homeowners ask after a hurricane
FEMA declared an emergency for my county. Does that mean FEMA pays for my damage?
No. An emergency declaration is not a major disaster declaration, and emergency declarations generally do not turn on individual assistance for homeowners. Even when individual assistance is authorized after a major disaster declaration, the help is limited and slow. Your insurance claim is the main road to recovery, and your policy deadlines keep running.
My carrier says half of my storm damage is flood and not covered. Can they split it like that?
They will try. Homeowners policies exclude flood; separate flood policies cover rising water. Which water did what is an evidence question: water lines, engineering analysis, and the timing of the damage. The wind versus flood allocation is one of the most fought over questions after every Florida hurricane.
How long does my insurance company have to decide my hurricane claim?
Florida law sets deadlines. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.70131, an insurer generally must pay or deny a residential property claim within sixty days after receiving notice of it, and it owes you status updates while the claim is pending. Storm volume explains a slow claim; it does not erase the statute.
Should I throw away damaged furniture and flooring before the adjuster comes?
Mitigate first, document everything, and throw away as little as you can. Your policy requires you to protect the property and make damaged items available for inspection. Photographs help, but a carrier arguing that discarded property was never damaged is arguing from a position you created. Keep samples and receipts, and hold the damaged property until the record is built.
What is a sworn proof of loss, and why does the carrier want one after a hurricane?
It is a signed statement, notarized, where you state under oath what you lost, when it happened, what caused it, and what the loss is worth. Carriers demand them on large storm claims because the numbers get locked in early. A guessed number on a sworn form becomes the carrier’s favorite exhibit.
The carrier underpaid my claim and closed the file. Can it be reopened?
Supplemental claims are a normal part of Florida storm practice. Damage surfaces during repairs, and a closed file can often be supplemented with new documentation. Deadlines still apply. If you think the number was wrong, do not sit on it.
The bottom line
A hurricane claim is two recoveries running at once: the house and the paperwork. The house gets tarps and contractors. The paperwork gets deadlines, sworn statements, and a carrier looking for the exit. Handle both like they matter, because the second one decides what the first one costs you.
Louis P. Meyer, Esq.
Senior Attorney, Kanner & Pintaluga, P.A.
100 S. Ashley Drive, Suite 610, Tampa, FL 33602
Phone: 561-206-2949
Email: lmeyer@kpattorney.com
About the Author
Louis P. Meyer, Esq. is a Senior Attorney at Kanner & Pintaluga, P.A., where his practice focuses on first party property damage claims and personal injury cases across Florida, including hurricane and windstorm claims for homeowners and property owners. He was selected to Florida Rising Stars in 2024, 2025, and 2026. He is bilingual in English and Spanish, writes the LouisTheLawyer publication on Substack, and hosts the podcast Off The Record by Louis Meyer. He holds an LL.M. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, a J.D. from Whittier Law School, and a B.A. from UCLA, graduating with Honors. He was admitted to The Florida Bar on November 23, 2020, Bar No. 1024811. This page is general information about how hurricane claims work in Florida. It is not legal advice about any specific claim or policy.
Louis P. Meyer, Esq., Senior Attorney, Kanner & Pintaluga, P.A., 100 S. Ashley Drive, Suite 610, Tampa, FL 33602. Phone: 561-206-2949. Email: lmeyer@kpattorney.com.
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