Chip Merlin
Since 1983, Chip Merlin has served as a plaintiff’s attorney with a focus on commercial & residential property insurance claim disputes and bad faith insurance litigation. Chip is a noted national authority on insurance bad faith, lecturing to national trade groups and publishing a number of papers and articles on the subject for organizations such as The American Association for Justice, The Florida Justice Association, The Windstorm Insurance Network, and Trial Magazine.
As founder and president of Merlin Law Group, Chip has dedicated his practice to the representation and advocacy of insurance policyholders in disputes with insurance companies nationwide.
Chip served as Chair for the Bad Faith Insurance Litigation Group and Secretary for the Fire and Property Insurance Litigation Group for the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America). He was also Vice-Chair for the Subcommittee on Property Insurance Law for the American Bar Association.
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Firm/Organization:
Merlin Law Group, P.A.
Latest Articles
Insurance Adjuster Makes You Scream in Frustration? Complain About Poor or Unethical Treatment From Insurance Companies
By Chip Merlin on
Insurance companies are supposed to have insurance adjusters that are empathetic, professional and ethical when dealing with policyholders and claimants. The first chapter in the insurance treatise, Claims Handling Principles and Practices, has multiple lessons about these obligations. Claims adjusters should not make policyholders scream out of frustration about the service you receive.…
Wind Versus Water Causing Insurance Payment Delays? The Sad Song Remains The Same For Michael Victims as In Other Storms
By Chip Merlin on
The Tampa Bay Times ran an excellent story, Hurricane Michael Destroyed Their Homes Then The Insurance Heartache Began, which tells a sad but familiar theme about insurance company denials and delayed payments following hurricane losses. I was quoted in the piece:
Chip Merlin, a Tampa insurance lawyer, said the same conflict happened in the last 15 years after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike. He said companies try to avoid making payment even when a…
Delayed Insurance Payment? Texas Does Not Allow Insurers To Profit From Nonpayment During Appraisal
By Chip Merlin on
Rene Sigman of Merlin Law Group’s Houston office was getting some pretty good results for clients this week when she sent me a Texas Supreme Court appraisal case which makes delaying insurers more accountable for inaccurate or plain wrongful estimates of the benefits owed to policyholders. All this Texas good news had me thinking “Yippee-Yi-Yo-Ki-Yay!”…
Contractors Beware Taking AOB Contracts For Restoration Work: New Policy Forms Restricting AOB Contacts Discussed By Recent Insurance Bulletin
By Chip Merlin on
Assignment of benefits contracts for property damage claims may be going the way of the dinosaur in Florida. A recent Florida Insurance Bulletin notes that the new statute allows insurance companies to issue policies preventing an assignment of benefits if insurers offer a premium discount.…
The Best Insurance Lawyers Study Insurance Practices and Not Just Insurance Law
By Chip Merlin on
The best insurance lawyers are students of the insurance industry rather than just students of insurance law. I learned this truth from insurance claims expert Gary Fye and the late Eugene Anderson. Let me paraphrase what Anderson used to tell me, ‘for the same reason doctors don’t learn medicine by reading medical malpractice case law, judges and lawyers wanting to understand insurance should not expect to learn insurance by reading insurance case law.’ Amen.…
Best Insurance Lawyers in Chicago?
By Chip Merlin on
Mike Duffy, Ed Eshoo, and Christina Phillips head up Merlin Law Group’s Chicago office. As far as I am concerned, they are the best insurance lawyers in Chicago, and we are very lucky to have them hitching their stars to the Merlin Law Group wagon.…
Watch Carefully For Differing Terms and Statute of Limitation Clauses in Excess Insurance Contracts
By Chip Merlin on
Excess insurance policies are often written to follow form, but then an excess carrier may issue a policy that does not follow the bid upon form. Insurance agents and excess lines brokers can certainly do a much better job at the point of sale by reading the policies they sell and broker so the insurance coverage for which they are arranging is actually sold.…
Dan Veroff Named Outstanding New Lawyer By The San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
By Chip Merlin on
The San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association is the largest and oldest Association of consumer attorneys in the San Francisco Bay area. Every year they honor a member as the Trial Lawyer of The Year, the Judge of The Year, and a New Lawyer of the Year. The Association’s past presidents include some of the best American trial lawyers to have ever practiced in the courtroom.…
Property Insurer Wrongly Denies You Coverage? Victor Jacobellis and Chip Merlin Discuss How Exceptions to Exclusions Win Coverage
By Chip Merlin on
Victor Jacobellis left his job in San Francisco representing insurance companies to join Merlin Law Group and help policyholders obtain insurance coverage benefits. He asked me to speak with him about exceptions to exclusions of coverage which are often overlooked and lead to wrongful denials of coverage. The photo above shows yours truly speaking with Victor Jacobellis in Napa, California at the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters Annual Conference on this important insurance topic.…