Chip Merlin

Photo of 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.

Connect: Read more about Chip Merlin
Firm/Organization: Merlin Law Group, P.A.
Blogs: Condominium Insurance Law, Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog

Latest Articles

Contractors often tell me and other Merlin Law Group attorneys of the crazy excuses and refusals insurance adjusters give to avoid paying for required construction materials, processes, and practices which constitute quality workmanship. Cheap and non-quality construction is easy to do and often overlooked by policyholders completely unfamiliar with the detailed specifications demanded by manufacturers of materials, building codes and OSHA requirements which must be followed for legal and quality construction to take place. Insurance…
Insurance company lawyers and lobbyists are a crafty crew. Kelly Kubiak got word from me after I learned late Tuesday afternoon that Florida legislators needed to hear from her early Wednesday morning regarding a proposed law that would let delaying, denying and wrongful acting insurance companies obtain a “get out of free jail card” so long as a claim was paid 20-60 days after appraisal. Kelly changed her schedule and travelled up to Tallahassee to…
Merlin Law Group knowledge manager Ruck DeMinico sent me recent North Dakota legislation pertaining to Assignment of Benefit contacts. This topic was also hotly debated two weeks ago at the Windstorm Insurance Conference in Orlando. Insurance restoration contractors, their lobbyists and attorneys are desperately trying to prevent any changes that would make such contracts more difficult to enter into or enforce. The insurance lobbyists and their public relation firms are doing everything they can to…
John Pappas is a tough litigator and very bright. I’ve known him since I helped him get his position at the 100 plus insurance coverage defense firm eventually known as Butler Pappas way back in 1982 when only a handful of attorneys worked there. Bill Berk was a tough prosecutor before he became a principal of his South Florida defense firm and a person I have been battling since Hurricane Andrew.…
Flood insurance claims governed by the National Flood Insurance Program are different. The requirements to get paid are strict and must be complied with. Many inexperienced attorneys and public adjusters prepare these claims improperly and the result is that policyholders do not get paid or paid as much as they otherwise deserve. Federal proofs of loss have to be completed fully, properly, and on time.…
The Colorado Department of Insurance has proposed eliminating one of its long-standing bulletins requiring insurance companies to pay contractor overhead and profit rather than deduct the amount until incurred. Such an elimination is obviously against policyholder interests and is the result of insurance industry lobbyists making inroads with Colorado insurance regulators who are supposed to be guardians of the public interest.…
Panama City attorney Jeff Carter has joined Merlin Law Group in its Panama City office. While I lived in Panama City and attended Mosley High School, I have always found that it helps to have local attorneys with fine reputations in our firm who team up and use Merlin Law Group’s longstanding experience and dedication only to policyholders. Unlike other law firms that advertise and practice many areas of law, representing policyholders is all we…
Ed Eshoo works out of Merlin Law Group’s Chicago office and is one of the best property insurance policyholder coverage attorneys you could find. I do not think there is anybody with a national reputation as being “the expert” on the 165-line Standard Fire Insurance Policy on a national, rather than state, basis. Ed is an extreme competitor, and it shows in his daughter Emily Eshoo who is a varsity basketball player at the University of…