News
The storms that have affected Portugal have caused significant damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure, bringing renewed attention to the limitations of insurance coverage when dealing with extreme weather events.
In an article published in Advocatus, Henrique Mota de Sousa, Coordinating Associate in the Insurance & Reinsurance practice at CCA Law Firm, analyses the challenges faced by the insurance sector as severe climate events become more frequent, highlighting existing gaps in coverage and the risks associated with underinsurance.
As he states: “O subseguro é, por isso, no nosso parecer um dos problemas mais graves e frequentes que surgem após catástrofes como a depressão Kristin, pois levam a que na regularização dos danos se aplique a regra da proporcionalidade e, na qual, a seguradora apenas irá pagar uma percentagem do valor que estava seguro.”
He further notes that many policyholders only discover after a loss that their policies do not include certain coverages or that the insured capital is lower than the actual value of the property, underscoring the importance of carefully reviewing policy terms, limits and exclusions.