Dealing with insurance providers can be stressful, particularly when you are depending on their follow-through to cover expenses from an accident or procedure. No one wants to receive medical care, thinking your plan will cover it, to find out you owe thousands of dollars later on. Similarly, it can be discouraging and sometimes illegal when an insurance provider drags their feet or needlessly delays negotiations only to send an offensively low settlement offer or deny your claim outright. At Hearn Law Firm, our Jackson personal injury lawyers are committed to supporting clients victimized by someone else’s malicious intent or negligence. Our commitment to supporting our community extends even to our Jackson insurance bad faith lawyer, who is dedicated to holding insurance companies accountable and helping you get the coverage you deserve.
Understanding Bad Faith Insurance Practices
Lately, the standard rhetoric for insurance companies has been that they engage in exploitative and unfair practices. While this may be true, and you may have many reasons not to trust your insurance adjuster, you might be unsure of when stingy and expensive policies turn into bad faith practices. Examples of bad faith behavior in an insurance company include:
- Unlawful policy cancellation
- Misrepresenting policy benefits
- Failure to investigate a claim or delaying the investigation
- Failure or unnecessary delay in paying a legitimate claim
- Denying coverage for an appropriate claim
- Intentionally undervaluing a settlement
- Failure to provide adequate support for a low settlement offer or denied claim
- Lack of response in an appropriate time frame
Unfortunately, we see these practices across all insurance platforms, including medical, property, and vehicle insurance. If you have encountered these situations and have concerns about the validity or legality of the company’s behavior, it may be time to take further action to protect your rights.
When You Suspect Your Insurance Provider Is Operating in Bad Faith
In most situations, you will not have a bad faith insurance case after the initial claim denial or delayed response. For a successful legal outcome, most judges will want to see that you took the appropriate steps to escalate, to no avail. Some of the things you can do to bolster your case include:
- Keep evidence of interactions with the insurance provider, file your claims, and any necessary follow-up in writing.
- Ensure you are familiar with your policy to understand what should be covered under what circumstances
- Some individuals may elect to record phone conversations for their own records in addition to the recordings your insurance company is likely to take
- You may need to file a complaint or grievance through your insurance provider, according to their policy, to escalate the issue
- You may also choose to file a complaint regarding a specific agent or company with the Mississippi Insurance Department
You may pursue all of the above steps without retaining an attorney, but contacting a bad faith insurance lawyer sooner rather than later can help you reduce your own risk of liability in the situation and may move the process forward a little bit faster. Bad faith policies and behavior from an insurance company often rely on consumers to feel the issue is not worth pressing and accepting the illegal treatment they provide. However, when you are educated on your rights with an attorney to support you, sometimes they can be quick to turn around when they realize you are serious.