Dealing with the insurance company can be frustrating. Even just handling the basic mechanics of the process can be a trial, from trying to find an insurance agent you trust, to dealing with an online service or chat format. After making your way through that first step, you must also attempt to understand your policy. No matter how many times you have bought insurance, and no matter what your educational background is, you may still find car insurance or homeowners insurance policies to read like a foreign language (one usually known as legalese).
After you have waded through buying an insurance policy and attempting to understand it comes the hard part: paying for it over the long haul. Protecting your property, life, and health certainly is not an inexpensive endeavor—and the insurance companies are more than happy to scoop up your money and put it in their coffers to earn interest. They are not empathetic or sympathetic friends, and they do not feel your pain when you may struggle to pay for a policy, or when you are suffering due to injuries from a car accident or the loss of extremely valuable property. There are many complications to insurance, and it affects us continually throughout life.
Most insurance companies are not hurting financially, so why don’t they pay a valid claim expediently? The answer is simple. They like to pay as little as possible, and for each claim, they want to spend as little time on it also. Insurance adjusters often get bonuses and extra commissions based on how many cases they can turn over with the least amount of settlement money paid out. In more extreme cases, exemplifying bad faith, insurance companies may act like you are the one at fault. Although a bad storm may have damaged your home, or you may have been injured in a car accident due to the negligence of others, the insurance company may spend an inordinate amount of time turning the tables on you. They may even accuse you of fraud.
Insurance companies who do not pay on claims could just be downright hard to deal with, or they may be engaging in bad faith. The bottom line is either they are not paying your claim because they have a valid reason which should be clearly outlined, they are slow to pay because they investigate every claim meticulously (to see if there is any way to get out of paying a settlement), or they may be blatantly acting in bad faith. If a substantial amount of time has passed, it is time to consult with an insurance attorney from an office like the Bolender Law Firm.
Other signs that you are dealing with bad faith include intimidation tactics such as offering you lowball settlements and then intimating that you would not be offered anything else and you better take what you can get, asking for excessive documentation in an effort to run you off, intimidating witnesses by grilling them or acting aggressively over the phone or in interviews, along with unreasonable delays, outright denials, or wild accusations of fraud.
If you need help reviewing your insurance policy, or if you suspect your insurance company may be denying your claim in bad faith, contact the attorneys at the Bolender Law Firm. If a dispute over a claim cannot be easily resolved through a call or written communication, our attorneys will advocate on behalf of policyholders through litigation, arbitration, or non-binding mediation. Our attorneys are experienced in representing clients in state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate level. Call us at 310-320-0725 now or submit an easy consultation request online. We are here to help!