Insurance companies collect your premiums for years, then fight you when it's time to pay. As a former insurance defense attorney, David Cruz knows their playbook — and uses it against them.
Insurance disputes arise when an insurance company fails to honor its obligations under your policy — denying legitimate claims, delaying payment, undervaluing losses, or acting in bad faith. You pay premiums month after month with the expectation that when something goes wrong, your insurer will be there. Too often, they are not.
Florida law imposes a duty of good faith and fair dealing on insurance companies. Under Fla. Stat. 624.155, when an insurer fails to attempt in good faith to settle a claim when it could and should have done so, they expose themselves to a bad faith lawsuit — which can result in damages far exceeding the original policy limits.
Insurance companies employ teams of adjusters, investigators, and defense attorneys whose job is to minimize or deny your claim. They use delay tactics, request excessive documentation, misrepresent policy language, and make lowball offers hoping you will give up or accept less than you deserve. You need an attorney who knows exactly how they operate.
Attorney David Cruz spent years defending insurance companies. He knows their internal claims processes, their evaluation methods, their negotiation tactics, and the pressure points that make them settle. Now he uses that insider knowledge exclusively for policyholders. When insurance companies see a former defense attorney on the other side, they know they cannot hide behind the usual playbook.
We represent policyholders against insurance companies across the full range of coverage disputes and bad faith practices.
When an insurance company unreasonably denies, delays, or underpays a legitimate claim, they are acting in bad faith. Under Fla. Stat. 624.155, you can sue your insurer for bad faith and recover damages beyond your policy limits — including consequential damages, emotional distress, and attorney's fees. Bad faith can be first-party (your own insurer) or third-party (the at-fault party's insurer).
Insurance companies deny claims for countless reasons — alleged policy exclusions, missed deadlines, disputed coverage, pre-existing conditions, or simple bureaucratic stonewalling. Many denials are improper. We review your policy language, the denial letter, and the underlying facts to determine whether the denial was legitimate or whether the insurer is wrongfully withholding benefits you are entitled to receive.
When the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient coverage to compensate your injuries, your own UM/UIM policy should cover the gap. But insurers routinely dispute UM/UIM claims, contest the severity of injuries, or argue that the at-fault driver was not actually negligent. We force your own insurer to honor the coverage you paid for.
Policy language is deliberately complex. Insurers exploit ambiguities to deny coverage, argue exclusions apply when they do not, or claim your loss falls outside the scope of your policy. Under Florida's doctrine of contra proferentem, ambiguous policy language is construed against the insurer — the company that drafted it. We hold them to the coverage they sold you.
Insurance dispute cases can yield significant recoveries — especially when bad faith is established, which opens the door to damages far exceeding your original claim.
We analyze your insurance policy, the denial or underpayment letter, your claim file, and all correspondence to identify every basis for recovery and every instance of insurer misconduct.
We send a comprehensive demand to the insurer. For bad faith claims, we file a Civil Remedy Notice under Fla. Stat. 624.155, giving the insurer 60 days to cure — a prerequisite to the bad faith lawsuit.
If the insurer refuses to pay, we file suit. We conduct targeted discovery into the insurer's claims handling practices, internal communications, and adjustment guidelines to prove their bad faith.
We pursue your case through settlement, mediation, or trial. Insurance companies settle cases when they face credible bad faith exposure — and we make sure that exposure is impossible to ignore.