Legal Question in Insurance Law in Virginia

Our family had a house fire in a house that we rented. Fortunately we had renters insurance. Unfortunately the service provided by the insurance company was terrible. Initially we received a check for $1050 for living expenses. We had a $4000 limit. The person I talked to at the insurance company said the insurance company would help us pay for a hotel, food and other necessary expenses. A few days later our adjuster showed up and told us that the check was a mistake and we would not receive any more money until we submitted hotel receipts. He also advised that they would not pay for food or anything else. Just the hotel. The fire left us with just the clothes on our backs. We have a 15 month old son (now 18 months) and we had to but diapers, medicines, clothes and such for him as well as for us. Money was tight for us and we were struggling. The adjuster advised us that he would get us a $5000 advance towards our lost property. We were very happy with that because we weren't sure how we were going to pay for everything and it would have been a tremendous help. We never saw that check. Over the next few weeks we had limited contact with our adjuster. He would call us and tell us papers were on the way and we would never see them. Due to circumstances resulting from the fire it did not look like we would be able to move back into the house for at least 6 months. About 7 weeks after the fire, the insurance company paid off the total coverage amount. During that time we were unable to get an apartment because we did not have the money for rent and a security deposit, in addition to paying rent on the house and paying the hotel bill. The adjuster knew that our son suffered from asthma. We lost all of his breathing equipment and were struggling to come up with a way to replace it. Due to the $5000 advance not coming, we were in a bad situation. By the time the check from the insurance company cleared we had checked into a extended stay hotel while looking for a place to live. We borrowed the money to pay for the hotels and submitted the receipts. That is when we were told that "my understanding is you are no longer paying rent for the dwelling damaged by the fire, and as such are not out this monthly expense. If this is the case, Additional Living Expense payment to you is not warranted." So on living expenses, we are out of pocket $2950. If the insurance company had not been so slow, we could have had another more economical place to live before all of this.

Do we have any recourse?

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