If you diligently pay your insurance premiums, then you expect your insurance company to take care of you when the time comes for you to file a claim. Yet, all too often insurance companies look for ridiculous ways to delay and deny legitimate claims. They do this so that they can avoid costs and hang onto profits. But a delayed or denied insurance claim can wreak havoc on your life, leaving you without the funds needed to get by and perhaps even preventing you from advancing your recovery. That’s why it’s crucial that you consider whether your insurance company acted in bad faith, and if they did so that you take legal action to protect your rights.
How can you build a strong bad faith claim?
To succeed on a bad faith claim, you typically have to show that the insurance company breached its obligations under the policy in a way that was unreasonable, reckless or unfounded. This can include failing to appropriately investigate the claim, denying a valid claim, intentionally lowballing a payout offer or unnecessarily delaying payment. Here are some tips to build a strong bad faith case so that you can protect your interests:
- Familiarize yourself with the policy in question so that you can articulate how it’s been breached.
- Collect and organize all documents relevant to your case, including police reports, medical records and correspondence that you’ve had with the insurance company.
- Consult with experts so that you have a clear understanding of the losses that you’ve experienced and can clearly portray them to the court, if needed.
- Calculate all your damages, being sure to retain all documentation that demonstrates those costs.
- Gain an understanding of the law so that you know how to effectively argue your case in a persuasive manner.
Don’t allow yourself to be cheated by the insurance company
Your insurance company might try to take advantage of you if you let it. To avoid that happening, stay on your toes, follow the steps mentioned above and discuss the matter with your attorney to develop the best strategy moving forward. Hopefully then you can secure an outcome that leads to the recovery of compensation that you deserve pursuant to your policy.
