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: Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:44 pm Post Subject: short term disibility
I had ankle surgery on my right ankle on feb. 26, 2013. i have short term disibility insurance. I did all the paper work for it three weeks before the surgery and it was all approved by my employer. I will not be able to work for three months. I have called the insurance company and they keep telling me they want to know what kind of ankle surgery i had. My doctor has faxed them back all the paperwork they need weeks ago They now owe me 5 checks and i have not received one check. I am so far behind now on everything, My rent, car payment, ect. When i hopefully do start getting my checks, I owe so many late fee's. Can i do anything about this.
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 09:12 pm Post Subject:
I went to get a quote and they ended up charging me a down payment for a policy I never authorized the agent has no license and I told them I dont want that insurance because they dont even know what it covers and they refused to refund my money it all happened the same day. Whar can I do?
Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 11:42 am Post Subject: Any help would be great
hi a few months ago my wife was driving my car without my knowledge and was hit my anther driver. It turned out that they found my wife at fault well here's the kicker my wife doesn't have a drivers license and wasn't on the insurance policy because of that reason. Well so far my insurance company hasn't paid a penny to anyone. I had to pay out of my pocket to the other driver involved to avoid a law suit. My ? is doesn't my insurance have to pay for my car seeing that it was insured with them with full coverage seeing that I have a loan on it? Any help would be great I'm running out of hair to pull out.
Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 03:19 pm Post Subject:
is doesn't my insurance have to pay for my car seeing that it was insured with them with full coverage seeing that I have a loan on it?
First, see my sig.
There is no such coverage as "full coverage". Do you have collision coverage to address the damage to your vehicle?
Has your carrier sent you a written denial? If so, why did they deny coverage? If they have not sent a written denial then they have not denied the claim. Have you asked them for the status of the claim? If not.... ask.
Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 06:53 pm Post Subject: insurance lawsuit
If a motion to dismiss has been granted. For failure to state a claim. What do u sue under
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 04:01 pm Post Subject: Do I have a case?
My husband passed away 7 years ago, we were in financial ruin when he died and had stooped paying the life insurance. I emailed guardian and was emailed back that we no longer had an active policy with the co. During the 7 years, I was forced to move many times. Became homeless for a period and had relinquish custody of my youngest daughter because of financial reasons. We experienced severe emotional hardship.
May 2012 I received a call from a private investigator that we indeed did have an active policy and was finally issued a sum of 70 thousand dollars. What I came to find out that the Governor of the state of ny had passed a law that required insurance companies to cross reference policy holders with the social security agency and if anyone was found deceased the they need to hire an investigator to find the beneficiaries and pay out the money. The day the law became effective was 5/15/12, the same day i received the call.
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 01:37 pm Post Subject:
Did you have a question? It sounds like you want to know if you can sue the insurance company for bad faith. The amount you were paid should have included interest (taxable), and you should have received a statement telling you how much interest had been applied. It's possible that you were not paid the proper amount of interest and death benefit proceeds. NY law does not specify anything other than the insurer's "current rate of interest" on funds left with the insurance company, which is often about 3%, but could be more or less in today's interest environment.
As for the "Governor of the state of ny" passing a law, NY, CA, FL, and a number of other states were part of settlements with several large insurance companies over this very issue of using the Social Security Death Master Index to stop making annuity payments and failing to notify beneficiaries of death benefits available. Several states have adopted legislation or regulations that have changed this practice.
If Guardian did, in fact, deny a death claim it should not have, you would certainly have been entitled to sue them at that time. I'm not sure how the courts would deal with a bad faith suit at this late date (NY statute of limitations on written contracts is 6 years), but if you want some help with this, please contact me by clicking on the email link below. Arguably, you could have a case for bad faith and the trigger date could be May 2012.
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 07:06 pm Post Subject: insurance brokers
we signed with a ins co all paper was signed by march 29th, coverage needed to be active as of March 29, we sent 2 checks1 dated 3/29/13 the other for April, on the the 4th of April the broker called and said they needed the $8000.00 in cash we deposit it on the 5th of April, our truck driver had a accident on the 8th of April they said we were not covered, til the 9th of April. What can we do?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 08:17 pm Post Subject:
What documentation do you have from the insurance company concerning the effective date of coverage? Signing an application and paying premium on March 29 most likely WOULD NOT have made coverage effective before 12:01am on March 30 at the earliest. It's possible that the need to pay additional premium prevented coverage from taking effect, but payment to the agent/broker on April 5 should have satisfied the requirement.
Have you asked the agent/broker about your coverage effective date? If coverage was not immediately in effect after you paid the agent/broker, then you might have a negligence claim against the agent/broker -- the law requires him to tell you when your coverage will take effect.
Ask the agent/broker for the name of his Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance carrier and file a claim for your loss with that insurance company. Expect them to deny the claim, then you will need to find an attorney to sue the agent/broker and/or your insurance company for the claims denials.
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 03:33 pm Post Subject: kgm
hello.
long story short =
3 1/2 yrs ago, classic car, classic car insurance, agreed valuation.
i was driving along and 3rd party turned right across my path, kgm took ages to send assesor, they could not find any 1 to repair my car, finally they found some1 after my pestering them.
car went away & came back looking like a child had patched it up, parts missing that were not replaced, runs in paint, etc etc.
i returned vehicle, delivered back next day in same condition, 2 burley men told me if i dont pay the £100 exsess I will never see car again, i gave them the money & sined the satisfation note to the effect it was rubbish repair, kgm assesor came & agreed with me.
kgm insist i send it back, ombudsman says they should have car mended, ive supplied further quotes, kgm say no.
they say that parts are not needed ie front bummper, front numbeplate etc, all obviousley damaged in the RTA.
car was dropped off undrivable and un movable, ive asked the car be returned to pre accident condition or written off.
last i heard several months ago was ombudsman will re asses situation and it could be 6 months.
also the O/man admitted they were slow & gave me £100 compensattion, i told them it is unacseptable & I will not be cashing the cheque as it may affect my rights.
I am now rather poorley and would like to sell the car as money is tight.
any help / advice appreciated
Regards
Bob T
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