Any Texas resident who has had to interact with an insurance company before on a claim probably knows that the potential difficulty in that situation cannot be overstated. Although we all pay for insurance policies for a variety of reasons – car insurance, life insurance, homeowner’s insurance, health insurance – the reality is that even if we pay our premiums as expected it still seems like insurance companies fight every claim they get.
What if bad faith is involved in the denial of a claim?
Bad faith overview
What does “bad faith” mean in the context of a denied insurance claim? In short, bad faith is dishonest or even fraudulent conduct.
Going beyond that, it could also mean that the insurance company just isn’t engaged in the trustworthy performance of their part of the bargain – and that’s what an insurance policy is, a contract.
So, in essence, if you believe that an insurance company has engaged in bad faith conduct in the denial of a claim, what you are basically saying is that the company breached the contract – the insurance policy. Any breach of contract claim could lead to litigation. Unfortunately, litigation between a policyholder and an insurance company can be quite unbalanced, because insurance companies are the ones who write the contract.
But, if you believe you might be in a position to pursue a bad faith conduct complaint against an insurance company, don’t be deterred by the fact that they write the contract. Consumers are protected in Texas and have every right to expect insurance companies to live up to their end of the bargain.
