Austin Insurance Law Blog

The upside of rejecting uninsured motorist insurance in Texas is obvious to many people: it would likely reduce monthly auto insurance bills. The disadvantages of opting out are probably greater in most cases, although they could prove somewhat more difficult to enumerate and explain.

Many people see underinsured or uninsured driver coverage as supplemental to standard insurance policies: this is true, legally speaking. However, despite the fact that these insurance products are not mandatory, injured drivers routinely benefit from their coverage. 

At our law offices here in Austin, we are proud to be part of the team supporting Jon Michael Smith in providing representation for people who are struggling with insurance companies' failures. Our goal with our clients from across central Texas and beyond is to guide them efficiently and compassionately through complex, frustrating appeals and trial processes.

Big insurance companies do not scare us away. When we take a case — regardless of the size of our opponents — we represent the interests of our clients patiently and tenaciously, always with an eye towards obtaining the compensation necessary to deal with disabilities and maintain reasonable standards of living. 

If you have been diagnosed with a chronic condition that makes it difficult for you to continue working, you may rely on your long-term disability benefits to make ends meet. When you file a claim for long-term disability, the claim administrator over your case will determine whether there is sufficient evidence indicating that you suffer from a disability and truly deserve benefits. However, there are incidents where long-term disability claims have been denied, even when medical documents show that there is an actual case of disability. What do you do when your claim has been denied?

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act gives you the right to appeal your denied claim. First, you may want to request your file from the insurance company. This shows all of the evidence, such as doctors’ files, memos, charts and reviews, the administrator used to make his or her decision to deny the case. Now you can check for any incomplete information or miscommunication that may have occurred in your files. You can also get detailed medical letters from your physicians indicating your chronic condition and how it acts as a disability in your life. You can also include notes from your employer and people in your life who witness your struggle on a daily basis.

If you, like many others across Texas, have ever filed an auto insurance claim after a car accident only to receive a denial in response, you probably understand all too well just how infuriating this can be. Expecting to receive a certain amount of money after your accident and then hearing that you will instead receive nothing at all can leave you scrambling to figure out how to make up the difference. You might be remiss, however, to simply accept your insurer’s claim denial without a fight, and there are certain steps you may be able to take to help fight your denial.

Per The Street, you may be especially wise to fight back against your insurer if the accident in question was not your fault, and you receive a claim denial despite fully understanding the terms of your policy. After all, insurance companies are businesses, and at the end of the day, they are out to make a profit – but you do want to make sure that they do not make that profit at your expense. So, what can you do to help argue your side?