They Must Treat You Fairly
After having regularly paid your premiums, you now find yourself fighting with the same insurance company that you trusted and paid your hard-earned money. Well there is hope. The first good news is you are taking the time to investigate what you can do. Secondly, by law, the insurance company must treat you fairly. This is called the duty of good faith and fair dealing. This duty of fairness is placed into the law by each state’s legislature. So the ways in which a person can enforce their duty will differ from state to state. Even though each state law is different, these laws are designed to give you remedy for the insurance companies’ conduct.
So what is their duty of good faith? This simply means that, first, the insurance company must fairly investigate your claim. They must look at all the information, not just the information that helps their denial of the claim. They must also look to information that will make them pay. Also, they must conduct their investigation in a reasonable time frame. So, if your company is overlooking information that helps you or they are intentionally dragging your claim out, then there is hope. Secondly, they must not just conduct a thorough investigation, the insurance company must reach reasonable conclusions from those facts found. This means if the car has four wheels but no tires the insurance company cannot say that it is fine to drive because it has wheels. So what they decide has to make sense.
This duty of good faith is the strongest weapon you have to help you in fighting the insurance company on your claim. Use it.
How are you going to use it? Unfortunately, there are no standard rules across the country. Because these rules are not uniform from state to state it is very important that you consult with an attorney who is familiar with the insurance laws in your state. Even more importantly, you must speak with an attorney who specializes in suing insurance companies. You wouldn’t go to a dentist if your arm was broken. Get to someone who can really help you.
CLAIM DENIAL:
Good and hardworking people buy insurance for a simple reason – to protect themselves against any loss. In today’s world, however, powerful insurance companies fail to investigate claims made by people who buy insurance: worse, insurers delay investigation and deny claims that should be paid, often relying on a twisted or inaccurate understanding of the language of a policy a consumer purchased.
What happens if your Claim has been Denied?
We’re here to investigate and help. Most people find out too late that there are no federal laws that will uniformly require insurers to deal fairly with people who buy their products. State government often is of little help, either. Enforcement is usually backlogged, and the penalties are not serious enough to make insurers treat people fairly.
Insurance companies have an obligation to their policyholders to conduct business in a manner that is fair and ethical. Those that exercise bad faith practices can be held accountable for their actions.
If you or a family member has been denied long-term disability benefits or has had benefits terminated, call us.