What is a Bad Faith Insurance Claim?
Your insurance company has an obligation to deal with your claim “in good faith.” That means they have to properly and completely consider your claim and pay you the benefits you are owed when appropriate. If they wrongly deny or delay your claim, you may have a case to make against them for dealing with you in bad faith.
What Are Signs an Insurance Company May Be Acting in Bad Faith?
A disagreement over the value of a claim does not automatically mean an insurance company has acted in bad faith. A potential claim may arise, however, when an insurer unreasonably refuses to provide benefits required under a policy or fails to handle a claim fairly.
Possible warning signs include:
- Denying a valid claim without a reasonable explanation
- Delaying an investigation or payment without justification
- Failing to consider important documents or other evidence
- Misrepresenting the policy’s coverage or exclusions
- Offering substantially less than a claim is reasonably worth
- Refusing to communicate about the status of a claim
- Canceling coverage to avoid paying benefits
Policyholders should preserve their insurance policy, claim correspondence, denial letters, estimates, medical records, photographs, and notes from conversations with the insurer. These materials can help an attorney evaluate the policy, the insurer’s conduct, and the reasons given for denying or delaying benefits.
The remedies available depend on the policy and the circumstances surrounding the claim. Learn more about unfair insurance practices and potential legal options from our Columbia bad faith insurance lawyers
For a FREE case evaluation, please contact us online today. We handle bad-faith insurance claims in South Carolina, and our offices are in Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Kingstree, and Marion.
