On May 26, 2017, Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed into law Texas House Bill 1774/Senate Bill 10. The new law makes changes to the Texas Insurance Code that will impact the way in which weather claims are brought and how those claims may be defended. The new law becomes effective on September 1, 2017. The amendments to the Texas Insurance Code add a new Chapter 542A, which governs certain consumer actions related to claims for property damage. Specifically, Chapter 542A applies to any first-party claim which arises from “damage to or loss of covered property caused, wholly or partly, by forces of nature, including an earthquake or earth tremor, a wildfire, a flood, a tornado, lightning, a hurricane, hail, wind,…
