By: Guy O. Kornblum, Certified Civil Trial Advocate, National Board of Trial Advocacy and Member, Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Most of you have insurance. You insure your autos, your homes, your health (medical insurance), your income (disability insurance) and your lives. You may also insure your businesses against damage to property used for commercial purposes and loss of income. Your insurance includes protection against lawsuits filed by a third-party against you, and you expect your insurance company to defend you in that lawsuit, and protect you against a judgment for money damages.
We buy insurance not because we want it but because we need it. Fear of the future motivates us to protect ourselves against injury to ourselves, our families and our property. The prudent person buys as much insurance as he or she can afford sometimes even more. We seek from our insurance company peace of mind and security against the risk of financial injury caused by the unexpected.
Your insurance company is a friend when you buy the insurance. However, often that same insurance company becomes your enemy when you make a claim. The claims process is often a hostile and difficult one with burdensome paperwork and frequent requests for more information usually with the goal of finding a way to turn your claim down or limit payments. Some insurance companies reward their claims handlers for keeping claim costs down by basing their compensation on how little they pay on legitimate claims.
Insurance companies are powerful financial corporate structures. They have large treasuries. While the purchase of a policy may take place at your home or business or at a local office, things are different when a claim is made. Nearly all the time you are dealing with someone who is hundreds if not thousands of miles away. There are no face to face meetings (except when in investigator shows up at your door unexpectedly). Indeed, your insurance company has the power and control over you in your relationship with it. Consider these points:
Your insurance company fixes the price; there is no bargaining. You can lower your cost only by accepting less insurance; It chooses the language for your policy; you are stuck with the policy terms your insurance company selects; Your claim is paid when your insurance company decides to pay; it determines when and how much you receive; Dealing with your insurance company is on a "take it or leave it" basis.
What can you do when you believe your insurance company acts unfairly? How do you combat "low-balling" or wrongful refusals to pay you what the insurance company promised to pay you for the protection that you purchased?
You can go to your state Department of Insurance. However, these state executive departments are generally ineffective. More than one-half of the states underfund their Departments of Insurance, so they have inadequate staffs and resources to handle complaints from the public. In Indiana, the Department of Insurance was graded as an "F" by a independent agency. Not surprisingly, when a claim is denied your insurance company will usually refer you to the Department of Insurance if you disagree with the claims decision, knowing that you will receive little help.
What your insurance company does not tell you is that there are ways to combat them. For example, in most states there is an Unfair Claims Practices Act which lists 16 Unfair Claim Practices which insurance companies cannot engage in. You are never told about this when your insurance company denies a claim. In addition, all insurance companies must abide by a duty of "good faith and fair dealing" in their investigation, administration and decisions regarding your claim. If your insurance company violates these duties to you, you can sue and obtain money damages for what is owed you under your policy plus damages for your worry and anxiety and in some instances attorney fees. And, in the cases of malicious and fraudulent claims handling, your insurance company may be liable to you for punitive damages based on a civil fine which you receive to punish the company for its wrongful conduct.
Don't put up with insurance company abuse and unfair treatment. We can help you evaluate your claim and determine if you need to sue to get what is rightly yours under your insurance policy. You paid for protection. We can help you get that protection.
