First, what is a bad faith insurance claim? A bad faith claim arises when the person who filed the claim believes that the insurance company handling the claim isn’t adhering to the legal guidelines set by the state and thus, mistreating the claimant.
Insurance companies are supposed to act in good faith, which means to pay fairly when justified and cannot purposely add roadblocks and deny the settlement. While this is a universal agreement, bad faith insurance tactics do occur.
Examples of bad faith tactics
- Wrongly denying a claim
- Unreasonable delays of the settlement payment
- Suddenly cancelling the claimant’s policy without providing a reason
- Declining to perform an investigation
- Not informing the claimant with updates on the status of the investigation
- Offering an unreasonably low settlement amount
How to prove a bad faith claim
You will have to prove that the insurance company acted unreasonable and mistreated the claim by citing and proving the specs listed above. One tactic used by insurance companies as defense is to claim the events were only “mistakes and oversights,” which cannot be considered bad faith. Oversight examples can include lost paperwork or missed calls. Another way the insurance company will defend itself, is to say that the claimant acted unreasonable which lead to the cited issues while resolving the case.
You must prove the insurance company was purposely trying to pull a fast one on you. The best advice, is to not fight this alone. If you sense bad faith insurance, contact an attorney who is willing to dig into the details and fight on your behalf.
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