by ty_ger88 » Fri Sep 14, 2007 02:20 pm
Many a times you may be unhappy with your insurance company for not paying you your dues or for delaying your payments or for any other reason. Your insurance company does not always have the upper hand. There are laws to protect you if you have a dishonest insurer.
When can you sue your insurance company?
You can sue your insurance company on grounds of:
If your insurer tries to trick you by not paying up a legitimate claim you can put up a civil suit against the company for having acted in bad faith. A company shows bad faith when it unreasonably denies a legitimate claim. This may mean that:
You can sue your insurance company for the full amount of benefits that has been denied to you as well as for any economic loss or emotional distress that you may have had to suffer as a result of the refusal. If your insurance company has been dishonest you may also get punitive damages. This is a means to make the insurance company behave more responsibly in future correspondences.
It is good to keep all paper works organized so that you can find them as soon as you need them. You may think of an old receipt as unimportant but it might hold great importance when you have a case standing against your insurer for bad faith or breach of contract.
- Bad faith and
- Breach of contract
If your insurer tries to trick you by not paying up a legitimate claim you can put up a civil suit against the company for having acted in bad faith. A company shows bad faith when it unreasonably denies a legitimate claim. This may mean that:
- The company has failed to carry out proper investigations
- Undue delay in processing a claim
- Disregarding the rights of the policyholder
- Inadequate compensation provided against claim filed
You can sue your insurance company for the full amount of benefits that has been denied to you as well as for any economic loss or emotional distress that you may have had to suffer as a result of the refusal. If your insurance company has been dishonest you may also get punitive damages. This is a means to make the insurance company behave more responsibly in future correspondences.
It is good to keep all paper works organized so that you can find them as soon as you need them. You may think of an old receipt as unimportant but it might hold great importance when you have a case standing against your insurer for bad faith or breach of contract.
Related Readings
- Suing your insurance company
- Can you sue your insurance company?
- Suing car insurance company
- How to sue car insurance company?
- Suing insurance company for bad faith
- Truck driver suing insurance company
- Suing for liability claims
- Sue for breach of contract
- Can you sue for liability claims?
I'm confused, please help. Here's my story and question. I'll try to make it short. My car was hit about a month ago. I was not in the car. It was parked on the side street. The driver of the truck that hit me left a note with all of his information. Now, it has been almost a month, and his insurance is not doing much. At first, they promised to have the damage estimated, but then nothing was sent to the car shop where my car located. I ended up going through my own insurance company. The problem is before I went with my insurance company, I had rented a car and had discussed this with the other insurance company. They said they would reimburse me all the fees. Now, they're not answering my calls. They keep on telling me that the agent is busy and will get back to me. It has been 4 days since I faxed in my car rental bill. What can I do? Can I sue them? Would you tell me how to sue an insurance company? The bill was paid for by my credit card, and I don't want to owe interests on it. Please help. Thanks.
Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 06:27 pm Post Subject: Home owners claim denial
Sirs I filed a claim against travelers Ins for water damage resulting in mold problem - claim was denied due to fact that condition existed for more 14 days. I had no way to no condition edisted.
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:17 pm Post Subject: LPAN REQUESTS BY AGENT FOR MASSACHUETTS MUTUAL LIFE INSURANC
CAN I SUE THEM FOR AGENT MISCONDUCT.
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:32 am Post Subject:
Agent misconduct? Can't tell you because most of your post much have been on the subject line, not in the body of your questions. So please repost your question . . . but you don't have to YELL by typing in all capital letters.
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 09:16 pm Post Subject: stolen vehicle found burned
My car was stolen from my driveway with both keys still in my possession. State Farm has found no proof of me having any thing to do with what happened. So, now they have obtained my credit report and are trying to say that entries 4 years before I purchased my car can cause denial of reimbursement. If I was having no financial difficulties before the car was purchased and non after the car was purchased can they use this credit report to deny me?
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 05:16 am Post Subject:
Your credit report might be reason to deny an application for auto insurance as a new customer (not all states permit such action on the part of an insurance company), but to bring it up after a policy is issued and following a loss, is a practice known as POSTCLAIMS UNDERWRITING.
It is most commonly seen in health insurance, but your situation is an instance of the same thing in property & casualty insurance. As far as I know, all states have laws that generally prohibit such actions on the part of an insurance company.
Common "escapes" that insurance companies may sometimes rely on legally include material misrepresentation or fraud. Doesn't appear, based on your post, that either of those are present here . . . but
So, now they have obtained my credit report and are trying to say that entries 4 years before I purchased my car
I am assuming that you have been insured with State Farm for a considerable period of time. Is this correct?
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 09:34 pm Post Subject: medical claim
Claim denied re travel insurance out of country Alberta to USA because of the word metastasis. Oncologist, Surgeon and Physician wrote letters supporting me with the phrase lymph nodal involvement. National Cancer Institute also uses the above phrase when when surgery performed with Lymph nodes removed inclose proximity of tumor. Do you think I have a chance of winning my case?
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 01:29 pm Post Subject:
You don't post enough information. How does metastasis relate to travel?
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:02 pm Post Subject: over charging
I think i was being over charge when i live DC i was told that my rate would be high because where i live. But i move to VA my rate remain the same. how can i find out about the rate i should have been paying
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 02:58 pm Post Subject:
Rate for what? We have no way of knowing the answer to this question.
If you are concerned, contact your insurance company directly.
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:25 pm Post Subject: delaying medical treatment for injuries
my ins. co. has delayed surgery for severe torn rotater cuff for 5 mos. just had surgery and what should of been 2 hr. surgery took 4 hrs. due to scar tissue buildup also they keep refusing both knees for mri.s my surgeon knows i have meniscus damage possible cartlage damage to one if not both knees can i sue ins. for denying fair treatment in a no-fault state mainly nj
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