Seattle Insurance Bad Faith Lawyer

Shortly after midnight on September 2, 1666, a fire broke out in a bakery on Pudding Lane in London. That fire quickly spread throughout the city and burned out of control for four days. By the time the fires died out, over 13,000 homes, businesses, and other buildings had burnt to the ground. As the residents slowly began to recover and rebuild, a new type of business was created: Homeowner’s insurance.

It wasn’t long before the idea of property insurance caught on. Across the Atlantic, Benjamin Franklin founded the first American property insurance company in 1752. Since then, the insurance industry has flourished, providing protection for homes, businesses, cars, boats, and any possession of value. There is also personal health insurance that individuals and families depend on to cover medical expenses.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the combined property and casualty and life and annuity insurance carriers collected nearly $1.6 trillion in revenues, resulting in $88 billion in profit. The only way those insurance companies can maintain those profits is if there aren’t any claims. Of course, denying claims is also a big part of their bottom line. Unfortunately for the policyholders, some of those denials aren’t justified. If you think you’re currently dealing with that scenario, then you need to speak with a Seattle bad faith insurance lawyer.

At the Law Offices of Justin R. Boland, PLLC, our legal team isn’t afraid to take on an insurance company no matter how big they are. If it is proven that an insurance company you’ve filed a claim with has acted in bad faith, you are entitled to a remedy that will make you whole and punish the insurance company.

An insurance company has three options for responding to a claim. They can accept the premise of the claim and pay the requested amount. That will often happen in small property damage issues like fender bender accidents. In those situations, they will be presented with an estimate for repairs, and if the insurance company considers that forecast to be reasonable, they will pay.

The second option is to make a significantly lower offer than you expect. This is common in cases where depreciated value is a factor. For instance, when a car is totaled in a car accident, the insurance company will only consider paying the car’s value at the time of the accident. Even if you paid $40K for the car three years ago, it might only be worth $25K today. That is what the insurance will pay.

The third option is to deny the claim outright. In some cases, the insurance company won’t even offer an explanation; they’ll just deny the claim and consider the matter resolved. The concept of bad faith insurance can be applied to an unfair offer or a denial. While it might seem like you have no recourse if your claim is denied, laws protect your rights as a policyholder.

Like most states, the Washington State Legislature has enacted its own version of bad faith insurance laws they call “Unreasonable denial of a claim for coverage or payment of benefits.” That law states the following:

“Any first party claimant to a policy of insurance who is unreasonably denied a claim for coverage or payment of benefits by an insurer may bring an action in the superior court of this state to recover the actual damages sustained, together with the costs of the action, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation costs.”

If your insurance company denies a claim without reasonable justification, it could be acting in bad faith. Before you move forward with a bad faith insurance claim, it is important that you speak with a Seattle insurance bad faith lawyer to determine if you have a viable case.

Here are the elements of a bad faith insurance claim you’ll need to establish:

The Insurance Company Misrepresented Your Coverage

“You’re completely covered.” If you heard those words from the insurance company sales agent, you would take them at face value and assume you are covered. However, there have been many instances where policyholders were surprised at the lack of coverage. This happened in the aftermath of a hurricane when homeowners discovered their policy could cover wind damage but not flood damage. That could be a misrepresentation if you were told you would be covered in the next big storm.

The Insurance Company Fails to Recognize Your Claim

Have you ever read a text message or email you didn’t want to respond to? When you file a claim with an insurance company, they are obligated to respond. In Washington, the company has 10 days to respond to a claim from an individual policyholder. When an insurance company fails to respond in that time or asserts they never received the claim, it could be another instance of acting in bad faith.

The Insurance Company Fails to Respond to the Claim

Recognizing a claim means acknowledging they received it. Responding to the claim means approving or denying. The insurance company could delay a response because you didn’t fill out the forms correctly or lacked adequate proof. They might not even tell you that until you ask. This delay tactic would also be considered acting in bad faith.

The Company Fails to Provide a Reasonable Denial Explanation

An insurance company is not allowed to stamp a claim “denied” without an explanation. Even if they offer you a lower amount, they have to explain how they came up with that number and justify it. You can make a bad faith claim if you don’t receive that explanation.

These examples of bad faith can happen if you file a claim with the insurance company of someone with whom you’ve gotten into an accident. They can also happen when you file directly with your insurance company. Your insurance carrier can act in bad faith even if you’ve been a loyal customer for years.

If you’re struggling with the response from an insurance company or lack of one, you need to speak with the Law Offices of Justin R. Boland, PLLC. If we agree with your assertions, it will mean filing a civil complaint against the insurance company. That is something they won’t be able to ignore.

As part of the claim, we will detail the compensation we’re seeking. That can include the following:

• The value of your claim
• Attorney fees and costs
• Consequential damages for emotional distress
• Potential punitive damages that could equal more than the amount of the award

It has been our experience that when an insurance company witnesses a strong resolve, they will often be amenable to making a settlement offer in order to avoid the court costs and damage to their reputation. If one policyholder thinks they are acting in bad faith, how many others will feel the same way?

Before that can begin, we need to hear from you. Call to set up a free consultation today.