Can You Sue Your Insurance Company?
Brian O Sutter
Insurance Laws
Under ordinary circumstances, an insurance policy that you take out for yourself, your home, your car, or even your medical or dental health represents one thing; peace of mind. The idea, of course, is that you pay premiums every month with the hope that you never need to take advantage of it. But, in the event that something does happen, an unexpected, expensive misfortune, such as a car accident or a storm or even earthquake damaging your home, the insurance that you’ve been paying all this time will “come to the rescue” and compensate you for the costs of repair/treatment/restoration, so you don’t have to shoulder all this financial burden yourself.But what happens if, after all those years of faithfully paying money every month, some misfortune does befall you, and your insurance company refuses to honor their side of the bargain? Are you just out of luck?
Acting In Bad Faith
Under normal circumstances, an insurance company is both legally and ethically expected to act “uberrima fides,” or, “in good faith.” All this means is that whatever conditions or stipulations they lay out in a contract with a customer, they honor. So, for example, if a customer takes out a car insurance policy that states that the insurance company will cover damage to a car and medical expenses incurred in the event that a driver gets into an accident with a drunk driver, that will keep this promise if it should happen.
Bad faith, however, is when an insurance company agrees to abide by certain conditions but, when those conditions are met, they don’t keep their promise. So if we take that same, extreme example above of a driver getting into a car accident with someone else that is proven by police on the scene to be drunk, the conditions have been met. Legally, the insurance company should have to pay out for the medical treatment.
But some insurance companies will insist in some cases that the conditions as laid out in an insurance contract have not been met, and therefore, there’s no obligation to pay out. Or they may delay the payments, which, if medical treatment is required, may mean that a person will have to pay out of their own pocket anyway, and hope the insurance decides to eventually pay later.
You Have Options
If you get into an accident, and someone else is at fault, in the event of some dispute about that fault, you should always seek the services of a Sarasota or Port Charlotte accident lawyer. And if you run into problems with your insurance company, where you know the claim you are making is legitimate, but your insurance provider is acting in bad faith, an accident lawyer can help here too.
Just because it is not the insurance company that actually injured you, doesn’t mean there are no legal ramifications for them trying to evade their professional and contractual obligations to you. If you have paid your premiums, been a model customer, and you are certain that the accident you got into was not only not your fault, but meets all the conditions as laid out in your insurance contract, get professional help.