Bad faith claims are unique for most personal injury cases because they are typically made against your own insurance company rather than against someone else.
An insurance contract is like any contract, in that it applies to both parties involved, not just one of them. Policyholders must pay the insurance company a monthly premium, but the insurance company must pay policyholders when they submit a valid claim.
According to the auto insurance industry’s own estimates, the average driver will only get into a wreck once every 18 years. For drivers, that means they could be paying their insurance company for nearly two decades without getting anything back. So once they do put in a claim, they expect the insurance company to do what they agreed to, i.e., to act in good faith (doing what’s in the best interest of the person who bought the insurance policy).
Many crash victims and their families learn the hard way that their insurance company focuses on avoiding payouts instead of honoring the policy. When insurers ignore or violate their own contract terms, this behavior counts as bad faith. This is often the point where families who have lost someone choose to find a wrongful death attorney in Columbus to protect their rights.
All insurance companies can be guilty of bad faith claims, whether it’s the provider of your auto insurance, your health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, or your homeowner or renter’s insurance.
What Are the Ways in Which Insurance Companies Show “Bad Faith?”
There are many different ways that insurance companies can act in bad faith, and at the Law Offices of Gary Bruce, we’ve just about seen them all.
Some examples include:
- Unreasonable delays in responding to a claim, investigating a claim, or paying a claim
- Unreasonable demands on the policyholder
- Failing to disclose coverage limits and exclusions, or misrepresenting coverage
- Ignoring evidence
- Denying a claim without giving any reason why
- Denying covered services to avoid spending money
- Threatening the policyholder
However, it can’t simply be assumed that an insurance company is acting or will act in bad faith. They have to be given a provable opportunity to act—for example, an opportunity to settle or resolve a claim, and then fail to do so.
If they truly didn’t have enough time or information to process a claim, it probably isn’t bad faith.
What’s the Difference Between Bad Faith and Negligent Handling of a Claim?
When an insurer is deliberately acting to reduce, deny, or obstruct a claim—in other words, if they are purposefully trying to get out of something they are contractually obligated to do– that is considered acting in bad faith.
However, insurance adjusters are only human, and humans make mistakes. And just because an insurance adjuster is bad at their job doesn’t mean there’s a bad faith claim. It’s actually much more common for the problem to be “negligent handling” of a claim when something goes wrong.
Determining the difference between an insurance claim handled in bad faith and an insurance claim handled negligently can be tricky. In these circumstances, your best option to get the compensation you deserve is to talk to an experienced Georgia personal injury attorney like those at the Law Offices of Gary Bruce.
What Are My Rights When My Insurance Acts in Bad Faith?
Your insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurance company. You agree to pay a premium to the insurance company every month, and they agree to pay up to the policy amount you purchased when you need to make a claim and meet the terms of what is covered under the policy. If they don’t uphold their end of the bargain, then you are well within your rights to sue to get the money you are owed from them. State laws also provide penalties, including awards for attorney fees, when the insurance company acts improperly.
What Do I Do When an Insurance Company Acts in Bad Faith?
When your insurance company breaks contract, the first thing you should do is contact a lawyer. If an insurance company acts in bad faith, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit to pursue compensation not just for your full damages from your accident, but possibly punitive damages (damages awarded to you that are designed to punish the insurance company) as well.
The Law Offices of Gary Bruce have a deep understanding of bad faith lawsuits and what it takes to win one. Consulting one of our lawyers costs you nothing, and there is no obligation to hire after simply speaking with an attorney about your case. Plus, there may be deadlines to submit a lawsuit, depending on what type of bad faith the insurance company displayed.
If you make a claim for coverage in Georgia, whether through your life insurance, homeowners insurance, or even to cover medical expenses through your auto policy after a crash, the failure to pay can result in a claim for damages that also includes attorney’s fees and penalties if the insurance company is notified and given enough time.
There can even be penalties for low offers for property damage claims for a total loss of a vehicle, if the claim is presented correctly.
What You’ll Need to Prove a Bad Faith Insurance Claim
There are generally three main things you’ll need to prove in any successful bad faith insurance claim.
- Benefits that you were owed according to your policy were not provided;
- There was no justifiable reason for why they were not provided;
- The insurance company was given a chance to fix it and refused to do so.
For example, if your insurance company denies a valid claim and refuses to explain why it was denied, that is a clear case of bad faith. But bad faith claims are often not as simple as that. First, you need to prove that your claim is valid, and that’s often an uphill battle all by itself.
Steps to Filing a Bad Faith Insurance Claim
- Review your insurance contract. Since you know that you will need to prove that you have a valid claim, make sure to note all exclusions, deadlines, and so on that are listed, so you can prove that you meet the terms of what should be covered and that you followed all appropriate steps. Generally, if something is not explicitly stated as excluded, it should be included. Be careful about limits on when and where a claim can be filed, too. Some insurance companies require notice ASAP and suit in one year or less.
- Gather evidence. This includes all evidence of loss, estimates for repair or replacement of personal property (especially evidence showing that what the insurance company offered for repair or replacement wasn’t accurate to the value of the property), bills for medical treatment under a medical payment contract, correspondence with insurance company reps, and logs of when you spoke with the insurance company, who specifically you spoke to, and what was discussed. Get everything in writing.
- Appeal the denial. If your claim is denied, ask that a supervisor re-review the claim. Send your demand IN WRITING, request a reply IN WRITING (for documentation purposes), and make it clear you intend to file a lawsuit if you don’t receive either a reversal of the denial or a reasonable and justifiable explanation for why your claim was denied (your bad faith claim could be thrown out if the insurance company isn’t given a reasonable chance to fulfill your claim first before you go straight to a lawsuit).
We Don’t Let Insurance Companies Jerk Victims Around
Just about every insurance company out there likes to portray themselves as reliable friends to their policyholders, but whenever it’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is, well…they’d rather keep the money.
Has an insurance company denied your claim without good reason? Contact the Law Offices of Gary Bruce today for a free consultation.
