Inside First-Party Property Insurance: Winning Against Denials And Delays

Think your insurer is your ally after a fire, flood, or storm? Attorney Jim Kenny explains why first-party property claims are won with precision; policy language, documentation, and the right expert...not optimism. We take you inside the real process: how carriers anchor low using massive line-item estimates, why vacancy and occupancy rules are silent deal breakers, and how ACV, RCV, and depreciation holdbacks actually play out when timelines slip.

For owners and investors, this is a blueprint: choose adequate limits with a strong carrier, communicate openly with your broker about occupancy and renovations, verify endorsements for ordinance or law coverage, and maintain a clean paper trail from day one. We also explore climate and inflation pressures driving more hail and severe weather claims in the Midwest, and what that means for timelines, budgets, and negotiations. If your claim has been delayed, underpaid, or denied, Jim’s playbook shows how to regain leverage with facts, deadlines, and policy terms, so you get paid what it really costs to rebuild.

This episode is brought to you by Top Attorneys Of North America. https://topattorneys.us/ 

To learn more about James Kenny:

1.  https://www.kennylawfirm.com/

2. 312-647-2483

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Transcript

Show Open & Guest Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I see uh people make this mistake. They've got their friend who's a legitimate contractor. They build houses all the time. They're just going to go right to that person and they're submitting estimates, but their estimates are maybe one page or two pages. The insurance company's estimates are 50 to 100 pages deep with tons of photographs, and they negotiate with public adjusters back and forth. In my experience and what I've seen, are not all contractors are capable of doing that.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Welcome to Council and Commentary, the ultimate podcast for entrepreneurial lawyers ready to take their practice to new heights. Each week we dive deep into business strategies, growth frameworks, real-world lessons you didn't learn in long school, but absolutely need to build a thriving, sustainable firm. Whether you're a solo practitioner or running a small team, you'll discover actual insights on leadership, marketing, client acquisition, system building, and financial management, all tailored specifically for the legal world. Hosted by seasoned entrepreneur Jonathan Tuttle, founder of RevenueSen, a leading lawyer, Google Ads, and SEO agency, also Midwest Park Capital, a boutique alternative commercial real estate asset fund, business cash out, a service-based business rollup PE firm, and get podcast bookings, a podcast guesting tour agency for those wanting to get booked on top of podcast shows. If you're ready to work smarter, lead better, and scale faster without burning oil, keep listening and let's build a firm and life you deserve. Welcome back to the newest episode of Council on Commentary. Today I have fantastic guest, Jim Kenny, from who does actually a unique niche that we haven't had yet, uh insurance recovery. So welcome to the show. Good morning. Thanks for having Annie's also from Chicago, my hometown. So this is cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

We didn't talk this before now. So we should we can talk restaurants if you want.

What First-Party Property Loss Means

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yeah, exactly. That's always the big thing when you travel, and people are like, I love Chicago restaurants, so it's so funny. Uh well, let's start with the basics. What exactly does first uh party property loss mean for policyholder? And why is it one of the most understood areas of law?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Uh so first party property loss uh is where usually involves a uh a building uh where there's been some catastrophic event, hurricane, water damage, fire, flood, something like that. Uh I specialize and focus on uh the fire loss situation. It's a unique area of practice. But a lot of the reason that um I think attorneys uh aren't particularly focused on is because there's a lot of you got to deal with the insurance policy. The insurance policy is a large contract. The language that they have in there is different than third-party losses, where you know, someone sues someone else and then uh you're the insured's getting a defense. So I focus and represent strictly the policy holders. And when they have a loss, the attorney has to be able to navigate not only with the insurance company, but there's also the commercial the uh construction aspect of it. So you have to have an appreciation of how to construct things and know what the damage is and uh figure out you know, uh should a public gesture be involved or not? Things like that.

First Mistakes After Catastrophic Damage

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, it's a unique niche. And I'm also most people know I'm in real estate, so uh this guy could be a fascinating interview for me too. So I learned some things. Luckily, fortunately, I've never had any insurance like you know, hurricane or fires or anything, anything of that nature, but this would be very informative. So when someone experienced serious property damage like fire, flood, storm, what's the first mistake you typically see they make before contacting an attorney like you?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Uh wow, I uh I think the biggest problem they make is they they don't get uh representation either by a public adjuster or by an attorney and deal direct with the insurance representative, because the insurance representative is a representative of the insurance company. And so there's a what I've seen is there's uh misperception that the representative is their representative because it's their insurance company. When really, when it turns out and you look at their uh allegiance, it's with the insurance company.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, 100%. I could attest to that. I had a car accident uh back in the day. And then the the day the car accident happened, they were at the like they're at the hospital because I went to the hospital and they're like, then they went to after I got out because they want to make sure I was okay because I semi-hit me. Then they're like looking at the car, I'm like, get away from my car. They're taking photos of it, and they're like, Okay, well, how much do you want? Like they're trying to give me like a really low amount to your point, because you know, I'm like, and I had friends that are gave me good advice that do not talk to them. They're only like you just said, it's to get the lowest payout possible, not your fair compensation. So you're you're basing way more than free. You're giving them a lot more money. And the goal, even though it's your insurance company, is not to represent you, it's to keep the cost low.

First Party vs Third Party Explained

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Oh, yeah, for sure. And and many times they, you know, especially when it's involving a piece of real estate, if it's a large loss, fire damage, something like that, they come out, and I've seen situations where the uh adjuster for the insurance company was only offering$50,000 and it was a$300,000 plus property damage situation.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah, that's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

I mean, like you gotta be very careful.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah, they're that they're they're not there on your behalf. So what are the key differences between first party and third-party insurance claims? And why does that distinction matter so so much for property owners?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Sure. So um, if you if someone gets a commercial liability policy, so a commercial general liability policy known as a CGL policy, that will be a policy that'll have third-party and will have uh first party property losses. So the third party claim is a situation where um someone is injured maybe on your property and they they sue you, and that's a third party who's suing you, and you go to your insurance company and you're looking for protection and defense, and defense against that third party's claim. The first party property loss situation is where the uh there's damage to your property that you own, or even health insurance would be considered a first party type of policy, but involves uh health. Uh so with a first party property loss, that's where property you have is might have been vandalized, stolen, or damaged if it's a piece of you know, real estate or uh an automobile.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yep, yeah, that's uh this is a fascinating conversation for me because this is the first one in real estate and insurance angle. So it's cool. How often do you see valid claims delayed, underpaid, or denied outright? And what's usually the story behind it?

Why Valid Claims Get Undervalued

Hidden Policy Traps Owners Miss

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Wow, that's a big question. Um uh so as a person who doesn't usually see the claim when it first originates, I see it usually when there's a problem. So someone has run into a situation with their insurance company where, like I gave that example earlier, the the insurance representative undervalued the actual repair cost to repair the property. Or what'll happen sometimes is if it's a residential real estate situation and the homeowner wasn't living there or they're having construction work done on the property and maybe they're out for a short period of time, the policy typically will have a 30-day window in which they uh they they can't leave it uh vacant. So if the property is vacant where they're not living in it for more than 30 days, they could run into a situation if there was uh property damage where the insurance company would take a position where they're not going to cover uh the claim. And so uh that that's a pretty frequent one. And when it comes to fire losses, there's this thing in Illinois called the Illinois Standard Fire Loss policy, which amends the um uh insurance policy for fire claims and provides broader coverage than sometimes what you would see in a residential or even in a commercial property loss policy. So that's why um many insurance adjusters, you know, uh public adjusters, so the public adjusters represent the homeowners or the property owner. Um they'll refer those type of fire loss cases to me because I've uh had a unique uh a lot of experience uh prosecuting on behalf of policyholders against insurance companies, and they've been successful in the the uh uh appellate courts in asserting the broad coverage that you can find under the Illinois Standard Fire policy.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Oh, this is a perfect segue then. Insurance policies are full of dense language. What uh clause or exclusions do you see most policy overlook until it's too late?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Wow. Um I think that one of the biggest ones is uh residing at the property. Uh I you know, I've uh uh had a situation where um some real estate investors, so Jonathan, this might uh be something you'd be interested in. Um they had a piece of property that they bought in the city of Chicago. They were rehabbing it and they were planning on flipping it. Their insurance broker knew what they were doing, they knew they weren't living in the property, but yet the insurance broker purchased a policy or uh bound a policy for them that wasn't a rehab policy. And how did that happen? The first policy they had was a rehab property policy, but then after a year, when they were renewing, he understood that they were listing the property and that it was complete. So he switched it from a rehab policy that had less coverage and was more expensive to a policy that was less that was less expensive and had more coverage, not realizing that the uh owners weren't living there. Um, and so then what happened was the insurance company denied the claim.

Red Flags From Insurance Adjusters

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Okay, this would be a good segue then. From the client side, what exactly warning signs insurance company might set up denying or minimizing a claim?

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Wow. Um I think right away you've got to be suspect. Um, they typically do what they're supposed to do. So they they dot their i's and cross their T's when it comes to going to the property, taking pictures, meeting with the insured, and uh trying to coordinate. But one of the things I've seen is when the uh representative from the insurance company starts recommending their own contractors and suggesting they use one contractor, even though it might not be the choice of the homeowner or the insured. And that's usually red flag. That I see that a lot in these cases um that I've handled or I've reviewed, where the policy holder uh ended up in a situation where the contractor either didn't know what they were doing, undervalued what it would cost to get it completed, um, things like that.

Building A Strong Claim From Day One

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Yeah, that makes sense. The uh yeah, it totally makes sense because they're trying to keep the cost as low as possible, basically. So how can a homeowner or business owner strengthen their claim from day one even before a lawyer gets involved?

Documents That Maximize Recovery

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Well, the the the first thing is really the first thing they should do is look at their policy and make sure they've got the limits of liability that they expect to have. Uh, I've had situations where insureds had you know minimal$100,000 policy on a property that was to repair or even replace would have been$500 plus. Um, so that was those are not good situations. Um I think um communicating with your broker and letting them know what coverages you want. So the limits are very very important. Um is the insurance company that's being used uh well rated, triple A rated, or are they not? Um uh and and then when you have so knowing your policy is probably the first step. Then the the next step is uh if you have a loss, report it right away and document things as best you can. Keep notes. Um I I think one of the things, especially if you have a large property loss, is trying to weed through and find a public adjuster that is reputable and is going to have your best interest at heart because uh there's very good ones out there, and then there can be bad ones. Uh so like anything, you have to use your best judgment and you know, do a little research and try to figure it out. Um, because my understanding is when there is a fire loss, there's a lot of public adjusters that come out and they're swarming the scene, and the insureds are trying to figure out what they need to do. Uh, and then they've got the insurance company also out there, and they're um, you know, trying to document the loss, and they want to know, are you gonna hire a public adjuster? Because then they would deal directly with the public adjuster. But so I think hiring a public adjuster, it might not seem like it's necessary because you're thinking, well, it is what it is. How complicated can this be? Especially on the large losses, it can be very complicated. And having a good advocate who's gonna go in and they're gonna assess the damage. They they do this, you know, several times a day. They take photographs, they have this software called Xactimate, and it's a system that the um insurance companies use. And what it does is it prices labor and materials and it allows the public adjuster and the insurance company to compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges. So I see uh people make this mistake. They've got their friend who's a legitimate contractor, they build houses all the time. They're just gonna go right to that person and they're submitting estimates, but their estimates are maybe one page or two pages. The insurance company's estimates are 50 to 100 pages deep with tons of photographs, and they negotiate with public adjusters back and forth. In my experience and what I've seen, are not all contractors are capable of doing that. So you might have a great contractor, but they're not going to be able to negotiate the best repair costs for you to get the job done complete. So that's important. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

No, there's a lot of golden nuggets there. People might have to listen to that twice because you mentioned, I know, from the real estate side and the insurance side. So uh always pay for the best and the experts because you're dealing with something of such a magnitude of hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars in terms of real estate. Why cut corners when you're talking they could your payouts could be hundreds of thousands of dollars less, especially not hiring someone like you or having the adjuster, and also insurance company always wants to send, they have a referral partners or contractors, they're not gonna be the best quality, they're just doing as much work as possible for the cheapest. And so getting paying for the experts, having the right team, hiring someone like you will go a long way to solve a lot of your headaches and do it from right from the start and document everything. So I think there's a lot of key takeaways there.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

I appreciate that summary. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

I mean, there's a lot of golden nuggets that people have been in real estate or you know, own a home. This is you gotta listen to that again. What document or evidence makes the biggest difference in maximizing a property loss recovery?

Leveraging Policy And Estimates To Win

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Oh if there were a single document, I I think it's um the repair estimate that's prepared by a public adjuster because that in my cases, if I go to trial, I'm gonna use that all the way through the case for depositions and everything. The other thing that's very important, and I find for trials, especially for jury trials, is to have really good photographs. So you have the photographs of at the scene, you know, at the time right after the fire or the property loss. Then as the construction's going on, you have the different stages of construction, and a good uh public adjuster will go out there and take those photographs, or your contractor will. And then when it's complete, that's that's the other part where I see a lot of the uh people going wrong is the policies will have maybe uh some policies have 180 days to complete the repairs, some have one year, some have two years. And you have to be cognizant of that and make sure your contractor is getting in and doing the work as it goes along. Because I've been usually when I get involved, uh, so what happens is the insurance company, right out of the box, will assess the loss, they'll negotiate a settlement with you or your public adjuster, and they'll come up with a replacement cost, an estimated replacement cost value. So that's to complete the work, but they depreciate it. And what they'll pay you at that point is called the actual cash value. And the actual cash value is uh takes into consideration depreciation, you know, wear and tear, things like that, which they just pretty much estimate. They uh uh take out the depreciation and theoretically put it to the side. They pay you the actual cash value so you can uh do the repairs. And then once you complete the repairs, they'll come in and they'll reassess it. Uh sometimes they don't come in, they'll just rely on photographs or things like that, and they'll pay they'll pay you the depreciation holdback. Um, but if you're delayed or late, sometimes they're not going to do that. So that's those are that's a whole nother area of cases that I'm involved with in trying to recover the depreciation holdback because of delays and things like that, or the insurance company has some idea that this large loss, you the insured has to provide every receipt from you know, for every nail and window and everything like that when they've hired a legitimate contractor who's completed the work and done everything that needed to be done and approved by the the village or the city. Uh, and so uh so it's real important.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah, that makes you definitely have to hire a lawyer. This is something like you, for example, because this is too much on the line to like try to do it yourself. Once a claim, so segue into this next question, once a claim is denied or lowballed, what leverage points does a firm like you have to reverse that outcome?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Can you repeat that? I didn't quite understand.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

So once a claim is denied or lowballed, what leverage points does a firm like yours have to reverse that outcome?

Misconceptions That Risk Your Claim

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Oh, uh basically, you know, relying on the policy language and you know utilizing the adjuster's report uh or the contractor's report. So if someone insists on not hiring a public adjuster and they're using their contractor, we'll use that to leverage and and get that uh get a fair price. So at least at the initial stage, you know, we'll get that actual cash value that'll allow the insured to complete the repairs or get them going. And then what happens too is if it's a large loss, uh you continue to supplement and add to, you can uh supplement and add to that expense. And so, for example, you don't know if there's going to be code upgrades many times until the walls are open. So once they open up the walls, the village or city comes in and they look at it, they realize that the electrical or the plumbing is not up to code, then you've got another estimate. So that's another part of the insurance policy that someone would, you know, if you're looking at your policy and you're thinking, hey, I I don't have any code coverage, well, that would be significant. You want to have cold code coverage, especially in Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

I was just gonna say that because I know Chicago real estate. It's like Chicago's are very adamant about codes, and yeah, that's that's the big issue there. What's the biggest misconception about fighting insurance company? Do policy overestimate or under miss underestimate their power?

Appellate Win On Depreciation Holdback

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Oh, that's a good question. Um, you know, uh the person who who has the money usually has the power, and uh the insurance companies are, you know, there's there's uh an old saying, uh deny, delay, don't pay. And so um, you know, right out of the box, you know, going after your insurance company, um, thinking that you're just gonna get everything under the sun and be an opportunist for a situation isn't a good way to go because you can ultimately end up losing everything. So, what happens many times? So there's if there's a property, if there's property damage, there's not only the building, the structure, but there's also the contents. Some insureds run into problems because they go out and they replace their contents and they get it on sale, but they submit the estimate or they they submit the cost that they paid, not the sale price, but the retail price. And based on that, the insurance company can deny the claim. And that that can be catastrophic.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, you don't want to lose, especially as real estate is usually a person's biggest investment. Can you walk us through a successful story where your team helped a client recover significantly more than what was initially offered?

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Oh, wow. Um we do that a lot. Um perfect. Well, we have we had one one case that what it was a depreciation holdback case um where uh you know the the the damage was significant, but it was depreciation. There's about, I don't know, sixty-five, seventy thousand dollars that was due. It seemed real obvious to me, but the insurance company dug in and they fought us all the way to the appellate court. Um, and we got the decision by the trial judge. That's a whole nother story about how he ruled. And it was on the eve of trial, and we were just simply going through motions and limine. At the time that he uh the other side renewed their motion for summary judgment, it was previously denied. And then for whatever reason, the judge decided to grant it. We went up on appeal, we won on appeal, we got a great opinion. It's one of the one of the premier cases that I use in my cases now in asserting the Illinois Standard Fire Loss policy that broadens coverage for insureds. Uh, and so that was huge. And in the the insured, we got the whole depreciation plus attorney's fees. It was a really good result for him. And it was a great result for the citizens of Chicago or Chicago and Illinois. Um, so it's a case that everyone can use and cite to and relies on in these types of cases.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Love it. Good story there. Do most cases get resolved through negotiation? Do you find yourself talking to insurance to count to count uh to court more these days? Uh I'm sorry, I didn't catch the uh do most cases get resolved through negotiation or you find taking the going to court more often nowadays?

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Um uh I what I found is um uh if we can settle it, we know right away. So they hire me. I think within 30 or 60 days, we have a pretty good idea of whether or not we're gonna be able to settle. And then we end up uh if we have to, we'll file a lawsuit.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Makes sense. Let's go towards uh advice here. So if you give one piece of advice to every property owner before disaster strikes, what would it be?

Pre-Disaster Advice That Actually Helps

SPEAKER_01 24:57

I already think I know this, but well, make sure you got an insurance policy. Uh it's number one. And then number two, is understand um what you what your obligations are under the policy. And um so if you, you know, with it right a, you know, if you're supposed to be residing in the property, reside in the property. If if you can't resign the property, make sure you get a policy that they can afford you that type of coverage because there's not just one policy out there, there's many types of policies. Get a good broker, make sure you're um you're getting the policy that's right for you that fits you. And making sure that happens, you you you need to uh communicate with your broker about your situation. So sometimes brokers will just uh assume different things that you reside there or uh it's not a second home, whatever it is, you need to make sure you convey that at the front end. Don't think that, hey, they they issued the policy and and that's on them. It's not, it's on you. And the law in Illinois uh requires or it's uh assumed that the insured read the policy and understood the policy. So if there's something in the policy that isn't good for you, you can't you know put your head in the sand and pretend you didn't know that that that wasn't there, or you might not have even known it was there. It's presumed that you understood it and uh that's the policy you wanted. So it's real important to be able to communicate with your broker uh or agent and make sure the coverage you get is the coverage you need.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yeah, I think that was the same sentiment I've had other lawyers on talking about making sure that your policy and always get the better one because it's in the long run, it's gonna save you a lot of headaches, even if it's cost a little more, all that's gonna solve a lot of issues in the end of the day.

Critical Coverages Owners Overlook

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Oh, yeah. And actually, this is a good piece of advice that I learned early on in my career, and that is uh for auto insurance. Um, you know, someone thinks they've got auto insurance, and everybody else driving on the road has auto insurance, but there's statutory minimum limits. And if you're in an accident and the other side has the statutory minimum limits and it's$25,000 and you're seriously injured, you're not gonna get any coverage. So what I, you know, what I do and what I suggest to all my uh clients and pretty much anyone is try to get the largest uninsured, underinsured motorist coverage you can afford on your policy. Because if there is an accident, you want to make sure you're gonna get some coverage.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Yeah, yeah, that's great advice there. For business owners, what type of coverage are most critical but commonly uh missed in commercial property policies?

Climate, Hail, And Rising Claim Volume

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Um I you know, I I think it's uh, you know, um making sure, like if you have automobiles and things, your commercial general liability policy uh will, you know. So I have clients that have many vehicles, and they need to have those things identified in the insurance policy for the auto coverage. They got auto coverage, but they don't identify the automobile and the insurance policy. Um, and that could turn into a problem or at least a legal problem. Um, and that costs money and waste time. Uh, so that's important. And then also making sure that um, you know, there some people will purchase a commercial property and no one's living, you know, no one's living there as commercial property, but it's not inhabitable. Um, and they might have a security company out there making sure everything's fine, but there's a flood going on in the basement and it's there for months, and the damage is catastrophic. It's all over, there's mold and everything. So it's really important uh to make sure that uh you have the policy, number one, and then number two, that if it's a vacant building, that you have someone going out there uh at least on a monthly basis or maybe every other week, just making sure there's no vandalism or nothing else that's going on there that could uh indicate that you the the building's not properly maintained, because that's where a lot of those uh you know uh defenses for the insurance company come up. The other thing is um they'll re these policies will require um you know a certain type of sprinkler systems and things like that. And you need to make sure if the policy recovers or requires special uh fire uh systems, that you have those things in place.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Yeah, speaking of the sprinkler system, one of our developments in Texas, we're doing uh flex space warehouse basically is 90% warehouse. 10% office. The national code is 12,000 square feet. Then you have to have sprinkler systems. So we built 112,000 and do multiple units just for that. It's because of the uh the tap into the drill is like two to three hundred thousand, depending on municipality, just to drill into it, and then you have this big insurance policy on top of it. So it's a way, it's a creative way to save money. Wow. Yeah. But to your point, exactly to your point. And this is actually a fascinating question because it's especially like I know in certain states like Florida where they have a lot of uh natural disasters. So this is a pretty fascinating question. How do you see insurance recovery landscape changing with climate risk, inflation, and larger claim volumes?

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Oh wow. Um well there there's no doubt that the environment impacts the losses um in what's paid out. Um in the Midwest here, we have a lot of these hail damage claims. I I see them, I it's an area that I'm looking at and trying to figure out um uh whether or not it's worth getting into. Uh, I'm getting more and more of those types of uh inquiries in uh handling those types of claims. Um, but yeah, they're they're large. And if you lived on live on the coast, uh, you know, one of the coasts, that's a major, major expense for the property owner.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Yeah, yeah. And to your point with the Illinois, because I, for instance, you know, grew up there, as I mentioned, in the suburbs, um, like Napri and stuff like that. I know there's been some hailstorms in the last few years, and like um there was a lot of like roof damage, window damage, and then you're fighting with the insurance company for the payout.

Deadlines, Documentation, And Holdbacks

SPEAKER_01 31:39

It's well, I mean they'll have these micro bursts too. I've had uh situations where uh someone's house uh had a mic, there was a micro burst, uh you know, shifted the whole building. Uh and uh uh the actually that situation, I think the initial estimate from the insurance company was$25,000, but ultimately they ended up paying close to$275,000 because the damage affected the structure of the building and uh the roof was out of line and all kinds of stuff. So it's real important that you don't sign off right away thinking that everything's uh is good just because the facade looks good doesn't mean behind the walls it's uh that it's good as well.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

So yeah, and 25,000 won't get you much in the commercial development. That's not much. Um you've handled cases across the Like. Are there any trends you're seeing in how issuers handle claims differently now compared to like five or 10 years ago?

Why Jim Fights For Policyholders

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Uh not really, uh, other than um right now, uh, you know, they uh they seem to be focused on this depreciation holdback and getting it, getting the work done completed within one year or two years or even 180 days. Uh you got to make sure that that's properly documented if you get an extension, because uh if it's not properly documented, you think there's gonna be coverage, the contractor completes the work and uh and then the carrier doesn't pay the depreciation, and you're in a situation where now you've got the contractor leaning your property, and you're thinking, I had this insurance coverage, we worked out a negotiation and now they're not paying. So that I see that situation really coming up a lot in the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Yeah, that makes sense. What drives you personally to go up against big insurance companies or policy holders who feel powerless?

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Oh well, um no one likes a bully, right? Um, so uh, you know, I just have uh uh you know, I've always been interested in helping the little guy and making sure they're not getting pushed around. And I think that's the big motivator for me.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Love it. If somebody listened today just had a claim denied, what's the smartest next step they could take right now?

If Denied: Smart Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Oh, call me, call an attorney. You need representation right away, especially if they're denying the claim. There's no doubt about that.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Yeah. And then uh I was talking with Sal from top attorneys in North America, we both know who sponsored the show. What is one uh thing that inspired you to get into become a lawyer?

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Wow. Um one thing. Um you know, uh I I I think that uh the law is what we're we're a country of laws. Uh we're uh you know that's makes everything run. It allows people to resolve disputes, uh, expand their businesses, uh have a a nice civilized society. It's uh it's uh you know foundational for uh a good uh system and society. So and in working for and doing what I do, uh representing policyholders and not insurance companies, uh, is making sure that the uh playing field is it's a level playing field and that the policyholders properly being represented in these against these large insurance companies and their legal uh departments.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Love it. Yeah, that's a great answer. As we wrap this up, uh where is the people can find out more about you, your website or contact info?

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Sure. Uh Kennylawfirm.com is the website. Uh our phone number is 312-641-0700. Uh currently our office is in Glen Allen. We recently moved from the Loop on LaSalle Street and we relocated closer to my house. Most of my cases are in uh Cook County, Chicago, in the Northern District of Illinois. But now that I'm out in the suburbs, we're also handling cases in DuPage County, Will County, uh, and uh uh Monk uh McHenry County currently.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Yeah, so Naperville area too.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Oh, yeah, for sure. Big Mark along. Yeah, yeah. Joliet.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Yeah, perfect. Well, thank you so much for your insight. That was uh fascinating, especially as somebody who's into real estate. So I like to get the insight's perspective. And thanks again for being on Council and Commentary, James.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

I appreciate it. Thank you for the opportunity. It's nice meeting you, Jonathan.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

As well, pleasure. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Take care.

Host Resources & Final CTA

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Hey, it's Jonathan. Make sure to download Listen Weekly as I bring the top lawyer guests sharing their best insights, providing exclusive resources, and most actionable advice. Finally, I get a lot of people asking me to help them one-on-one. Yes, I can, but it's very limited. Go to revenueassend.com for lawyer Google Ads, SEO, and CMO Consulting. For commercial real estate investing, go to MidwestParkCapital.com. And those looking to invest in service-based business rollups, go to businesscashout.com. And finally, get podcastbookings a top podcast guesting tour agency. All links are included below. Please like, comment, and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening.