Discovery of termite damage is frightening.  Based on over 30 years of combined experience handling these claims for homeowners, our lawyers know that it is critical to consult an experienced attorney as soon as possible.

Termite control companies and their huge insurance companies handle these claims routinely. They are trained to reduce the amount of your claims or to convince you that either the company has no liability or that the problem can be addressed with cheap cosmetic repairs. To be on an equal footing and to make sure your family is not victimized again, you should talk to lawyers who have successfully represented homeowners and who know the industry, the claim handlers, and the law.

If a termite company has responded to you in any of the following ways, even though some sound very reasonable, you need to call an experienced lawyer:

-       “It’s your fault because there is moisture around the damaged area.”
-       “We don’t have to pay because you have a ‘retreat only’ contract.”
-       “We will pay to fix what is discovered but we will not open up walls around the damage.”
-       “It is ‘old damage’ so we won’t pay; we have to see live termites.”
-       “You let your contract lapse, so we have no liability.”
-       “The damage was ‘hidden’ so we had no duty to find it.”
-       “The chemicals wore off and that is not our fault; you should pay us for a baiting system or to re-treat the house.”

-       “We are not responsible to pay for moisture and rot damage.”
-       “You dug up the chemical barrier and caused the infestation.”
-       “Termites quit swarming so the problem can’t be too bad.”
-       “These are Formosan termites and we only have to pay for subterranean termite damage.”
-       “The damage is caused by Carpenter Ants.”
-       “You have a “repair contract” but we will only pay if you agree to ‘release’ us from additional liability.”
-       “See that little ‘x’ on this old graph?  That should have alerted you that there was a massive amount of old damage.”

-       “Our insurance company will not pay your claim. If you have a problem with that, talk to them.  We have no additional duty to you.”

-        "Your contract does not require us to inspect inside or on an annual basis."

The pest control industry has spent millions of dollars convincing the public of myths about termite control and damage. However, since the 1920’s chemicals have been available which, if properly applied and maintained by a professional, should eliminate any reasonable chance of infestation by subterranean termites.  In addition, inspections of houses should take 45 minutes to one hour and include interior inspections from the basement or crawl-space all the way to the attic and roof.  If a reasonable inspection is performed, termite damage should be found before a problems is out of control.

Twenty-one years ago, Tom Campbell represented his first clients with claims against their termite company. Since then, he has represented hundreds of property owners acrss the country - including many lawyers and other professionals - with claims against dozens of termite companies. In fact, he has represented two partners in Alabama’s two largest corporate law firms.

For the past decade, Campbell Law has invested substantial monetary, human, and technological resources into pest control cases for property damage and personal injury from chemical misapplication. We devote substantial resources to these claims in individual cases, “mass actions” and class actions. We have studied many of the larger companies’ policies and practices dating back to the 1960’s. We have also found creative ways to avoid unfair and unconscionable arbitration clauses in some cases. Many of our cases have been tried successfully to conclusion in court or arbitration and we have recovered punitive damages in both forums.

Our cases and practice have been featured in speeches by industry lawyers at national pest control association meetings and in the press: National Public Radio, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, CBS Morning News, Money Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Birmingham Post-Herald, Lawyer’s Weekly, Trial Journal of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Law.com, The National Law Journal, ABA Journal, and numerous local network-affiliate television stations in Alabama.

We develop each case thoroughly and use experienced attorneys and legal assistants to identify patterns of wrongdoing based upon a dozen common “scams” practiced in the industry. We have also developed a variety of persuasive summaries and demonstrative visual aides to enhance our presentations to juries and arbitrators.

We have extensive resources in our “AV-rated” firm to efficiently handle these cases.  “Re-inventing the wheel” is unnecessary when we handle these cases with local counsel or through a straight referral. The firm has been privileged to represent individuals and class action plaintiffs from South Carolina to California in termite claims and we have deposed most of the “defense experts”.  We have hundreds of thousands of pages of documents in our OCR database that relate to wood destroying organism control in addition to a huge deposition repository. We use the latest computers and other technology for trials and mediations.