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Business Interruption Lawyer

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A disaster shuts your doors for a few weeks, or a few months, and the insurance payment that's supposed to cover payroll and rent still hasn't shown up. Business interruption insurance may provide coverage when a covered event causes qualifying physical damage and results in a covered interruption of business operations.

A business interruption lawyer helps companies challenge denied, delayed, or underpaid insurance claims for lost income after a disaster, fire, or forced closure. Godbey Giardina Law Group represents businesses across Louisiana, Florida, Colorado, and Mississippi on a contingency fee basis, meaning there's no fee unless we win.

Godbey Giardina Law Group has recovered more than $100 million for property owners and businesses across the Gulf Coast, Rocky Mountains, and Sunshine South, including commercial property and business interruption disputes. Here's what a business interruption insurance claim actually covers, how our attorneys build one, and why so many of these claims get shortchanged in the first place.

Godbey Giardina Law Group

What a Business Interruption Insurance Claim Covers

Business interruption, or business income, coverage may help replace qualifying income losses when covered physical damage causes a covered interruption of business operations. In Louisiana and Florida, claims may arise after hurricanes, wind damage, flooding, or other covered property damage, but whether a particular event triggers business interruption coverage depends on the policy's terms, exclusions, and endorsements.. In Colorado, businesses may face interruption claims after hail, wildfire-related property damage, or other covered events, depending on the policy and circumstances.

A handful of terms decide how much a policy actually pays:

Period of restoration: the time it should reasonably take to repair or rebuild the damaged property. This typically sets the outer limit on how much lost income a policy will cover.
Civil authority coverage: may apply when a government order restricts access to a property because of covered damage to nearby property. Applicable waiting periods, limits, and coverage periods depend on the policy.
Extra expense coverage: rmay reimburse certain additional costs incurred to continue or resume operations after a covered loss, subject to the policy's terms, limits, and exclusions.

Every one of these terms is where insurers look for room to shrink a payout. A commercial property claim and a business interruption claim frequently travel together after the same event, and reviewing both at once often uncovers value an initial adjuster missed.

Godbey Giardina Law Group

How Our Attorneys Build a Business Interruption Insurance Case

Building a claim that holds up against an insurer's own adjusters and lawyers takes a consistent process, not guesswork:

Policy review. We start with the policy itself: what's covered, what's excluded, what the period of restoration actually says, and where the language is open to more than one reading. A free insurance policy review is available before you commit to anything.
Documentation. Lost income has to be proven with real numbers: profit and loss statements, tax returns, payroll records, and a comparison against how the business performed before the loss. We also use a commercial pre-loss assessment where possible, since businesses that document their financial baseline before a disaster hits are in a stronger position to prove what they lost afterward.
Negotiation. Once the claim is documented, our attorneys negotiate directly with the insurance company, pushing back on disputed valuations and coverage positions.
Litigation, if needed. When negotiation stalls, we're prepared to pursue insurance dispute litigation to hold the insurer to its obligations under the policy.

No two claims resolve the same way, and no attorney can promise a specific result before reviewing your policy and your numbers. We provide a full, individualized review of the policy, documentation, and circumstances before recommending next steps.

Godbey Giardina Law Group

Why Business Interruption Claims Get Denied, Delayed, or Underpaid

Most denials and lowball offers trace back to a handful of recurring disputes:

The "direct physical loss" trigger. Coverage disputes may arise over whether the loss satisfies the policy's requirement for direct physical loss or damage, particularly when a business interruption results from contamination, supply-chain disruption, or a civil authority order.
Broad policy exclusions. Policy exclusions may also affect whether a particular business interruption loss is covered. The applicable exclusions depend on the policy and circumstances of the loss.
Disputes over the period of restoration. An insurer may argue a business should have reopened faster than it did, cutting the payout short.
Thin documentation. A business income loss claim built on rough estimates instead of real financial records gives an adjuster an easy reason to underpay a claim

This is also where a bad faith insurance dispute can surface, when an insurer denies, delays, or underpays a claim without a reasonable basis for doing so. Depending on the state and circumstances, an insurer's unreasonable denial, delay, or handling of a covered claim may raise issues involving statutory or common-law insurance duties.

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Godbey Giardina Law Group

Licensed Across Louisiana, Florida, Colorado, and Mississippi

Godbey Giardina Law Group's attorneys are individually licensed across Louisiana, Florida, Colorado, and Mississippi, and each state applies its own rules for how quickly an insurer has to pay and what happens when it doesn't:

Louisiana law establishes specific requirements for insurance claim adjustment and payment, including different rules for ordinary and catastrophic property losses. Certain violations may also result in statutory penalties and other remedies.
Colorado allows policyholders to pursue additional damages when an insurer unreasonably delays or denies a claim.
Florida has detailed statutory requirements governing property-insurance claims, including claim acknowledgment, investigation, payment or denial, and certain presuit procedures for residential and commercial property-insurance lawsuits.
Mississippi recognizes bad faith claims with the potential for punitive damages.

Our attorneys apply the specific rules of the state where your business operates rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

The firm has recovered more than $100 million for over 2,000 clients, with 50+ years of combined legal experience across four offices in three states. We work on a contingency fee basis: no upfront costs, and no fee unless we recover money for you. Our case results page has more detail on outcomes we've secured for other clients, though every case is decided on its own facts and past results don't guarantee what happens in yours.

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A business interruption lawyer reviews your commercial insurance policy, documents your lost income, and negotiates or litigates against the insurer on your behalf. The goal is to make sure the insurance company pays what the policy actually owes, not just what the initial adjuster offered.

It typically covers lost net income, ongoing fixed expenses like rent and payroll, and extra costs incurred to reduce the shutdown period. Coverage is limited to the "period of restoration", the time it should reasonably take to repair the damage that caused the closure.

Our attorneys are individually licensed in Louisiana, Florida, Colorado, and Mississippi. We maintain physical offices in Louisiana, Florida, and Colorado, and our attorneys can also handle qualifying Mississippi business interruption matters.

Yes. A denial does not necessarily end the claim. An attorney can review the denial, policy language, financial documentation, and applicable state law to determine what options may be available. We review the denial letter, the policy language it relies on, and your documentation to determine whether the insurer's reasoning holds up.

Contact our team directly for a free case evaluation. Our Louisiana offices are at 3445 N Causeway Blvd, Metairie, and 1380 Fremaux Ave, Slidell. Our Florida office is at 8751 W Broward Blvd Suite 408, Plantation. Our Colorado office is at 3760 E 15th St Ste 201, Loveland. All initial reviews are free and confidential.

We work on a contingency fee basis for business interruption and business loss claims. You pay no attorney's fees upfront, and we only get paid if we recover money for you.

It depends on the insurer's cooperation, the complexity of your loss, and whether the case settles through negotiation or requires litigation. The timeline can depend on the complexity of the loss, the completeness of the financial documentation, coverage disputes, the insurer's position, and whether litigation becomes necessary.

This webpage provides general information about business interruption insurance claims and does not constitute legal advice. Viewing this page or contacting Godbey Giardina Law Group does not create an attorney-client relationship. Trial results, verdicts, and settlements referenced on this site reflect our legal team's past experience; outcomes vary by case, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your matter. For guidance on your specific situation, contact our office directly.

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