Orlando Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer
Insurance carriers owe a duty of good faith when dealing with their insureds. Unfortunately, many carriers try to squeeze out extra profits by failing to investigate a claim in a timely fashion or pay compensation when it’s clear that a claim is covered. Insurance bad faith is a real problem in Florida. Helpfully, an Orlando bad faith insurance lawyer can take legal action to protect you. Contact Geyer Fuxa Tyler for assistance.
What is Bad Faith?
Insurance carriers have a duty to act in good faith and with fairness toward their policyholders. Historically, insurance companies used underhanded tactics to avoid paying out claims, and Florida has tried to stamp out some of the worst abuses. The legislature laid out a laundry list of prohibited practices that insurance carriers should avoid.
Not every denial of a claim is bad faith. Instead, an insurer must have some reasonable basis for denying the claim after performing a thorough investigation.
Policyholders can raise bad faith in relation to both first-party and third-party claims.
A first-party claim involves a dispute between the policyholder and their insurance carrier over a loss. The carrier is acting in bad faith when they do the following:
- Delaying the processing of a claim. Insurers cannot drag their feet when they receive a claim. These delays create financial pressure on policyholders. Instead, your carrier should promptly process and investigate a claim.
- Wrongfully deny benefits. An insurer cannot cite invalid or illegal reasons for denying a claim. Instead, they must pay a claim that falls squarely within the terms of the insurance contract.
- Underpaying a claim. It is bad faith to pay significantly less than the claim is worth without justification. Insurers often cite non-existent reasons for paying less than the loss, or they reject out of hand the documentation provided in support of your claim.
Bad faith also arises in the context of third-party claims. These are situations where the policyholder is sued by an injured third party. An insurance company has a duty of indemnification, which usually means a duty to settle and defend. Some examples of bad faith include:
- Misrepresentation. Bad faith practices include misrepresenting a policy to avoid paying out compensation.
- Failure to settle within the policy limits. An injured third party might submit a claim for an amount that is below the policy limit. An insurer cannot refuse to settle if liability is clear. If they do and lose at trial, then the carrier could be liable for the entire judgment—even the excess over the policy limit.
- Delayed settlement. It is bad faith to unreasonably delay settling a third-party claim.
Call Our Orlando Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers to Learn More about Your Legal Rights
There is no excuse for insurance bad faith, and policyholders have powerful rights to sue any insurer who engages in prohibited conduct. Call our office to speak with an Orlando bad faith insurance lawyer. We can dig into the facts to determine the strength of your claim, and we can get a lawsuit filed in an appropriate court.