Large-Loss Commercial Property Insurance Claims in Michigan, Ohio & Nationwide: A Guide for Owners, Public Adjusters & Brokers

Liss + Earls Law Firm. We are licensed in Michigan and Ohio and are regularly brought in by public adjusters, brokers, and personal attorneys pro hac vice in courts across the United States on select large-value property loss cases.

Our attorneys are licensed in Michigan and Ohio and is regularly brought in by public adjusters, brokers, and personal attorneys pro hac vice in courts across the United States on select large-value property loss cases.

Key Takeaways

A large-loss commercial property claim is any first-party claim (fire, water, storm, explosion, business interruption) a carrier pulls out of routine adjusting and hands to a specialized large-loss unit — typically seven figures or more.
These claims are decided by policy language — coinsurance, replacement-cost holdbacks, business interruption, Ordinance or Law, and vacancy clauses — far more often than by the fire itself.
Michigan’s 12% penalty interest statute (MCL 500.2006) and Ohio’s common-law bad-faith exposure are real leverage when carriers delay.
Public adjusters and brokers regularly refer to us. Liss + Earls does the legal work that is separate and runs in parallel to the preparation done by your public adjuster.
The first 72 hours after a large loss usually decide the next 18 months.

Why Large Commercial Claims need specialized expertise

When a fire, burst pipe, tornado, or explosion takes a commercial building offline, the first 72 hours usually decide the next 18 months. Large-loss commercial claims are not scaled-up homeowner claims. They are structurally different — different adjusters, different experts, different policy language, and a very different playbook from the carrier.

Once a loss crosses a seven-figure exposure, the file is pulled out of routine adjusting and handed to a large-loss unit or an outside independent adjuster. The carrier brings in its own cause-and-origin investigator, its own forensic accountant, its own building consultant, and often its own coverage counsel. Meanwhile, the business owner is trying to keep the company alive while being asked for tax returns, payroll records, inventory logs, and recorded statements. The imbalance is not accidental.

At Liss + Earls, Commercial & Large-Loss Property Claims are the core of what we do. Our attorneys have been handling these cases since 1986, and the firm has recovered an estimated $500 million for policyholders.

How a Large-Loss Commercial Claim Differs From a Routine Claim

The single most useful thing a business owner can understand in the first week after a large loss is that the claim is about to be handled in a way that bears almost no resemblance to anything they have navigated before. A routine commercial claim typically sits with an in-house desk adjuster who works the file from a standard scope-of-damage estimate. A large loss, by contrast, is pulled out of normal adjusting within days and assigned either to a carrier’s dedicated large-loss unit or to an outside independent adjusting firm. That reassignment is not cosmetic. It triggers a cascade of expert involvement that simply does not exist on smaller files: a cause-and-origin investigator, a forensic accountant, a building consultant, frequently an engineering consultant, and — on the largest matters — outside coverage counsel for the carrier, all working in parallel and all reporting back to the same adjuster.

The document requests change accordingly. On a routine claim, the correspondence centers on repair estimates, contractor bids, and photographs of the damaged area. On a large loss, the requests expand into tax returns, profit-and-loss statements, payroll records, inventory logs, vendor contracts, and bank statements — paperwork that has little to do with the fire itself and everything to do with the carrier’s investigation of the business behind it. An Examination Under Oath, uncommon on routine commercial files, becomes an expected milestone.

The timeline lengthens as well. A straightforward commercial claim often resolves in sixty to one hundred twenty days. A large-loss claim involving coinsurance, business interruption, or scope disputes routinely takes twelve to twenty-four months, and litigation can extend that considerably. More importantly, the battleground itself shifts. Routine claims tend to be won or lost on the scope of repair — what was damaged, what it costs to fix, and whether the carrier’s estimate matches the policyholder’s. Large-loss claims are almost always decided somewhere else entirely: in the policy language itself, in the mechanics of coinsurance, in the arithmetic of business interruption, and in whether the policyholder’s own experts can hold their own against the carrier’s. Understanding that shift, and preparing for it before it happens, is where most of the value of early legal involvement actually lives.

Who We Represent on Commercial & Large-Loss Property Claims

Commercial building owners, landlords, and real estate holding companies
Manufacturing facilities and industrial operations
Hotels, restaurants, and hospitality groups
Auto dealerships and service operations
Multi-tenant office, retail, and mixed-use properties
Medical offices, surgery centers, and dental practices
Warehouses, cold storage, and logistics facilities
Churches, Temples, historic landmarks, apartment complexes, grocery chains, and marinas
Partnering with clients public adjusters, restoration contractors, and brokers who need legal firepower on a file

The Policy Issues That Quietly Decide the Outcome

Most large commercial disputes are not about whether the loss happened. They are about how the policy reads.

Replacement Cost vs. Actual Cash Value

Many commercial policies pay actual cash value (ACV) up front and withhold the replacement-cost holdback until repairs are actually completed. If you do not understand how and when that holdback is released, you can leave substantial money on the table.

Coinsurance Penalties

Commercial property policies frequently contain 80%, 90%, or 100% coinsurance clauses. If the building was underinsured at the time of loss, the carrier may apply a coinsurance penalty that reduces every dollar you recover — even on a partial loss. This is one of the most expensive surprises in commercial claims.

Business Interruption & Extra Expense

Business interruption (BI) coverage is supposed to make you whole for lost income during the period of restoration. In practice, carriers dispute the period of restoration, dispute the revenue baseline, dispute fixed vs. variable expenses, and dispute whether extra expense was “reasonable and necessary.” The math is where cases are won or lost, and it requires a forensic accountant who works for you — not the carrier.

Ordinance or Law Coverage

When a damaged building has to be brought up to current code during repair, the incremental cost can be enormous. Whether that cost is covered depends on whether you have Ordinance or Law coverage, and how much.

Vacancy, Protective Safeguards & Conditions

Vacancy clauses, protective safeguard endorsements (sprinklers, alarms, central station monitoring), and similar conditions create technical defenses carriers use to reduce or deny claims. Whether those conditions were actually violated — and whether any violation caused the loss — is often the central fight.

Michigan & Ohio Law Protections

We are licensed in both Michigan and Ohio and pro hac vice in other states to handle catastrophic commercial and estate losses nationwide.

Michigan — MCL 500.2006 (12% Penalty Interest)

Under Michigan’s Uniform Trade Practices Act, carriers that fail to pay a claim on a timely basis can be liable for 12% penalty interest. On a seven- or eight-figure loss, that interest is not a rounding error. It is a real lever.

Michigan — MCL 500.2845 (Fire Insurance Withholding Program

On many Michigan fire losses, insurers are required to withhold a portion of the structure payment until the municipality confirms repair or demolition. The statute protects neighborhoods from blight, but it also creates procedural requirements carriers sometimes get wrong — and those procedural missteps can matter.

Ohio — Prompt-Pay and Bad-Faith Exposure

Ohio policyholders have their own protections, including common-law bad-faith exposure when an insurer’s refusal to pay lacks reasonable justification. The facts control the analysis in every case.

The Examination Under Oath (EUO) — Take It Seriously

Almost every large commercial claim includes an Examination Under Oath. This is not an informal meeting. It is a sworn, transcribed proceeding conducted by the carrier’s attorney, and your answers become part of the claim file permanently. Walking into an EUO without your own attorney on a multi-million-dollar claim is one of the most costly mistakes a business owner can make.

What To Do in the First 72 Hours After a Large Commercial Loss

Secure the site. Board up, tarp, shut off utilities, and document everything with photos and video before anything is moved or cleaned.
Give notice under every potentially applicable policy. Property, business interruption, equipment breakdown, builder’s risk, umbrella, and any scheduled endorsements.
Do not throw anything away. Damaged inventory, equipment, and structural components are evidence.
Do not give a recorded statement before you understand the policy. You have obligations to cooperate, but you also have the right to understand what you are agreeing to.
Pull the full policy — not just the declarations page. The endorsements are where the real coverage lives.
Call us before the carrier’s experts arrive on site. Early coordination dramatically changes outcomes.

Do you have a Large Commercial Property Loss?

Jason J. Liss is the Managing Shareholder and Senior Litigation Attorney at Liss + Earls Law Firm — the successor firm to Fabian, Sklar, King & Liss, P.C. He has 30+ years of experience representing policyholders in first-party property insurance claims, is licensed in Michigan and Ohio, and is regularly brought in by public adjusters, brokers, personal attorneys, and sophisticated clients pro hac vice in courts across the United States on select large-value cases. Since the firm was founded in 1986, its attorneys have recovered an estimated $500 million for policyholders.

Questions Business Owners Ask Us About Large-Loss Commercial Claims

For more general insurance claim questions, see our full FAQ page.

What counts as a "large-loss" commercial property claim?

There is no universal definition, but most carriers treat anything with a seven-figure exposure — or any loss involving significant business interruption, structural damage, or complex coverage — as a large loss. These claims are pulled out of routine adjusting and handed to a specialized large-loss unit with its own experts and its own playbook.

What is a coinsurance penalty and how does it affect my recovery?

Coinsurance is a clause in most commercial property policies that requires the building to be insured to a minimum percentage of its value — usually 80%, 90%, or 100%. If the building was underinsured at the time of loss, the carrier applies a formula that reduces every dollar paid, even on a partial loss. On a large commercial claim, this can cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and it is one of the most common surprises we see.

How is Business Interruption actually calculated on a commercial claim?

Business interruption is usually calculated as lost net income plus continuing fixed expenses during the period of restoration. The fight is almost always over the revenue baseline, the length of the restoration period, and which expenses continue. On large claims, a forensic accountant working for the policyholder — not the carrier — is critical.

Can a business owner handle a large-loss commercial claim without an attorney?

It is possible, but in our experience it is almost always a mistake. The carrier will be represented by coverage counsel, adjusters trained on large losses, forensic accountants, and cause-and-origin investigators. Walking into that without your own team is not a fair fight, and the cost of getting it wrong on a seven- or eight-figure loss dwarfs what you would pay an attorney on a contingency fee.

Does we handle commercial claims outside Michigan and Ohio?

Yes. Our Managing Shareholder is licensed in Michigan and Ohio and is regularly admitted pro hac vice to handle large commercial and catastrophic property losses in other states when the size of the loss warrants it. Public adjusters, brokers, and policyholders across the country bring him in on cases outside his home states.

When to Call

If you own or operate a business in Michigan, Ohio, or anywhere in the country that has just suffered a large fire, water, storm, or explosion loss — or if your claim has stalled, been underpaid, or been denied — the sooner we are involved, the more he can do. Most large commercial matters are handled on a contingency fee, so there is no upfront cost.

This article is for general information only and does not create an attorney-client relationship or constitute legal advice about any specific claim. Every policy and every loss is different. If you have a large commercial property claim in Michigan, Ohio, or elsewhere, please call so we can review the specific facts and the specific policy language.