WHAT IS INSURANCE BAD FAITH?

Wham you just got hit from behind while waiting at a stop sign to turn left. You suffered whiplash but your passenger was not injured. Or a tree fell on your new addition to your house. Or maybe you slipped and fell while at work and you had to file a workman’s compensation claim

Most people at some time in their life have experienced a scenario or one just like the ones described above. Ok, you did get injured or hurt at work but you know that you have auto insurance the person that hit you has car insurance or you found out from the nurse at work that you can file a legitimate work comp claim because Arizona law requires your boss or the owner of the company to have valid work comp insurance. Your shook up or are actually in a lot of pain…but hey you’ve got insurance either Car or Workman’s comp or homeowners insurance and everything is going to work out financially. That’s what insurance is all about right?

OH SNAP! You start getting medical bills and things are not working out financially.

The insurance company is taking their own sweet time to make payment for services you were rendered. So, you take matters into your own hands and the insurance company informs you they are going to fight your claim and they deny any and all payments. Now you are on the hook for your bills. The insurance company doesn’t even tell you why they are denying your claim. Or give you a low ball offer leaving you with 50 percent of your bills or even more and they want you to sign off the claim in order to even receive the small amount they offered.

There is a very good chance you are the victim of an act of “bad faith” by an insurance company.

BEHIND THE SCENE HOW INSURANCE ESTIMATES YOUR CLAIM

We face a plethora of commercials from insurance companies promising how well they will provide for us and how much money you will save on premiums. Buyer beware cheap insurance usually means less coverage. Whether it’s an Emu wearing sunglasses, a little green talking lizard or a woman who wears a white waitress uniform… all are making these promises. You must realize statistics indicate that insurance bad faith happens fairly often, and the big firms are just as guilty as the little ones.

Amazingly enough a report by the Fight Bad Insurance Companies or FBIC for short reveals that among the insurance companies both large and small it regularly surveys, approximately 93 % of them have committed “insurance bad faith” at one time or another.

Insurance companies making promises like putting you in their good hands or don’t pay for certain parts of insurance you don’t need, or dodging cut rate insurances are all made up by marketing executives that really don’t have your best interest at heart. These commercials and catchy phrases are there for one reason and one reason only. To get you to buy their product and make a handsome profit for the shareholders of the insurance companies.

We are here to tell you that just about every insurance company use proprietary software that automatically calculates what they will pay out for your damages or injuries based statistically on payouts that have been made in your area of the country for similar or like injuries or property damage. These insurance companies even have the software that determines when to fight a claim or immediately pay a claim based on your age, sex, nationality, marital status with or with out children and education level. We kid you not. Now some are considered legal and others are at best very questionable.

So, you have one of two choices: You can take whatever they give you — which is, sadly, what far too many people do and what the insurance company counts on — or you can file a bad-faith lawsuit.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF AN INSURANCE BAD FAITH CLAIM?

One type of insurance fraud is called “Insurance Bad Faith” which is a legal term for describing the act or acts of trying to pay as little as you the consumer will accept in full or when they try to renege on it’s contractual obligations to their insured as promised.

The Fight Bad Insurance Companies discovered more than fifty different practices where insurance bad faith could occur. 

Here are just a few of the ways insurance companies cleverly try to renege on their contracts with you the consumer or injured party.

They falsify important facts about your case or provisions in the actual policy.

They accept your claim but fail to act speedily or even admit your claim was received.

They hold back benefits that were due under the insurance policy.

They present an unfair explanation for why the benefits were withheld.

They deny defending you against a third-party claim —example an auto collision.

They deny affair and equitable settlement, even if it might be valuable to you because it dodges a lawsuit.

They perform an inadequate or a faulty investigation and use that investigation to deny your claim.

They deny you a reasonable answer for why it rejected your claim.

They deny you a medical care payment stating the expense is way too high, when the policy should cover it.

They practice techniques that are demeaning or invasive while researching your claim.

They create an unjustified claim of arson against you if your claim involves a fire.

They recommend you not to hire an attorney or para legal.

The top insurance companies will settle claims quickly but let’s put things in perspective.

It’s a fact of life insured people and insurance policy owners disagree with their insurance companies more often than not. That alone is not an act of insurance bad faith on it’s own merit. If the insurance company makes an unintentional mistake and then turns around and immediately corrects said mistake as soon as it is discovered that is not an insurance act of bad faith.

Bad Faith laws exist to even the negotiating field between insurance companies and the people who are insured. By the way bad faith laws do differ depending on which state you live in and sometimes where an injury or insurance claim is filed. So, most states enacted laws that you the insured have a right to fair and equitable compensation and the insurance companies have the right to reject invalid insurance claims.

If you recognize any of the practices above, you may already be involved in an act of bad faith by your insurance company or another insureds company.

Insurance companies toy with bad faith methods by looking to not pay the full amount, denying or delaying your insurance claim occurs quite often. So, remember the best insurance providers settle claims promptly and pay quickly and you should at all times believe they are on your side.

HOW DO COURTS DECIDE IF AN INSURANCE COMPANY ACTED IN BAD FAITH?

Bad Faith Laws and the reasons they are written is to protect both the insured and the insurer and these laws are mostly consistent across the United States, but regulation and court decisions can vary in different states

For instance, depending on which state your case is being heard you may have to prove the insurance company did not provide a proper or exhaustive investigation of your claim before denying it. You may be required to show that the insurance company disregarded state regulations concerning investigating insurance claims or that you prove that the insurance company deliberately ignored the facts would have substantiated your rightful claim.

Some states are considered very strict and require you to prove an act of bad faith by the insurance company was in fact a deliberate act of bad faith.

The Bad Faith legal process does vary nationwide. Determining how Arizona regulators and courts interpret the insurance bad-faith laws is the best reason for hiring an attorney to represent you just makes sense. Be smart, insurance companies have limitless piles of money to fund fighting against any claim they choose to and to win at all costs against a bad faith claim.

SO YOU WANT TO FILE A BAD-FAITH INSURANCE CLAIM IN ARIZONA

If you feel you are being mistreated and you truthfully feel that an insurance company has in fact acted in bad faith you should contact the Tucker and Miller law firm immediately. It really is unwise to take matters in your own hands when dealing with insurance companies. They are used to dealing with the intricacies of bad faith n a daily basis. They actually have a team of lawyers who do nothing but legally defend the insurance companies. The only experience you have is usually none.

First and foremost, we will get a current and timely copy of your policy and we will examine your insurance contract with laser accuracy. No one can file a lawsuit unless a true act of bad faith has been committed.

We will organize all your evidence and documents and document every interaction we have with the insurance company, every letter you have written, every text you sent to your agent and every phone call you make. Make sure If you any conversations, document everyone’s name who you spoke to and what was talked about.

All this must be done in real time and we mean immediately right away, not later when you get home or the next day. A documented record of a meeting carries a ton of weight in any legal proceeding especially if the notes were timely.

Next in the process we get a supervisor not an agent to review your insurance claim. If denied by the supervisor, we will inform them we are considering a lawsuit. We want to show good faith and have the ability to show a judge and a jury we went above and beyond when trying to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company before filing a lawsuit. This entails a letter of demand, demanding they pay the claim. They have between 15 and 60 days to answer and If insurer doesn’t respond, or if they still refuse to compensate you, we will proceed with a lawsuit.

Here are a few fine points to consider. Should you file the suit in state court or federal court. What damages should you seek? Do you know if you are to high or worse what if you are too low? Either scenario can lead to bad news for you. In actuality you need to understand how the bad faith act affected you and what is really considered fair and equitable by the court system. And what do you do if the insurance company backs down and sends you a check? Do you cash the check? Or do you proceed? If they do back down can you even proceed with the lawsuit? Or should you just settle?

WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE THE TUCKER & MILLER LAW FIRM TO HELP WITH AN INSURANCE BAD-FAITH CLAIM?

Remember the David-vs.-Goliath scenario we mentioned above? An experienced lawyer can help put the fight on a more even playing field. If you’re going to file a bad-faith lawsuit against They, hiring a lawyer makes sense for a lot of reasons.

Let’s put it this way by now you are in a true David-Vs-Goliath scenario and the last time we checked you can’t bring a sling and 5 stones into the court room. Hiring an experienced Arizona bad faith insurance claim attorney just makes sense. Bad faith claims are tricky and let me tell you something you want to win on the first try.

At Tucker and Miller your insurance bad faith law firm we will:

Help you review your insurance contract and pinpoint the exact violation that took place and that you should cite in a lawsuit.

Help you prepare all your documentation.

Provide the correct paperwork to present when you file a bad-faith lawsuit, which level of court you should file in and the best jurisdiction to do it in.

Get you the largest possible settlement allowed by the bad faith laws of Arizona.

Protect you from the insurance company that fight these types of lawsuits 24/7 365 — this whole process is considered normal and even mundane for them they do it so much. They aren’t nervous, they aren’t sick to their stomach and they have nothing to lose. As a matter of fact, they are making money while you are spending money.

We do this for a living and we very good at it. We will vehemently and aggressively represent you and your best interests.

THE EXPERIENCED TEAM AT TUCKER & MILLER INJURY LAW FIRM WILL HELP YOU WITH ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LAWSUIT

We know the complex rules and legal documentation required by the courts concerning an insurance bad-faith lawsuit. Yes, these can appear daunting and confusing to you at first. Our experience and knowledge lawyers will ascertain the best course of action to a successful conclusion to your insurance bad faith claim. We make sure you receive the maximum benefits you are rightfully and legally entitled to under the policy you enacted with the insurance company involved.

Don’t let a wrongly denied insurance claim affect you emotionally and financially. We will strive for you and your loved ones to resolve all of your insurance bad faith issues in a prompt and orderly fashion.

We invite you to schedule a free consultation where we can talk about your situation and determine the best way to win your Arizona Bad Faith claim against the insurance company