Who did a promoter for the rock band .38 SPECIAL call when Lloyd’s of London did not want to pay under an insurance policy that is supposed to pay if rain cancels an outdoor concert? They called SAM SHERONICK LAW FIRM, P.C., a Cedar Rapids personal injury law firm, who successfully litigated to enforce the insurance policy. 

INSURANCE BAD FAITH involves an insurance company refusing to pay the holder of the insurance policy (or someone who is supposed to be a beneficiary of such a policy) even though all of the policy conditions have been met.  Simply stated, the law requires parties to a contract–like an insurance policy–to treat each other in good faith.  Insurance companies engage in bad faith if, among other things, a jury finds the insurance company unfairly denies paying a claim, or delays paying a claim it has an obligation to pay, or fails to even properly investigate a given claim.  While insurance companies for the person who ran a red light and ran into you can engage in bad faith, it can also occur when your own insurance company denies you payment under your own insurance policy.  If a jury finds an insurance company engaged in bad faith, they may assess punitive damages in addition to other damages.

Sadly, many of the people insured under a car accident insurance policy, a homeowner’s insurance policy, a health insurance policy, a disability insurance policy, a workers’ compensation insurance policy and so on are never even aware that they had policy coverage, and if they are, they are all too often paid far below what they are entitled to receive on the claim because of the mistaken belief that their insurance agent or claims adjuster is working for them.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The insurance companies make money by paying out as little as possible because they know very few people are smart enough to get an experienced and knowledgeable attorney involved.

In fact, our firm has been contacted by an increasing number of attorneys who themselves were denied payment under their own insurance policies, and after our firm was contacted by those attorneys, we were able to show them where their own insurance companies were improperly running circles around them without paying.

Simply stated, if insurance companies are doing this increasingly to attorneys, what hope does the average non-attorney have in determining whether they have insurance coverage for a given accident or how much they are supposed to be paid under the policy?

It’s one thing to get the run around when dealing with the insurance adjuster whose is representing the car driver who ran a red light and broad-sided your car, but we are seeing with increasing alarm insurance companies failing to tell their own policy holders after an accident that they have coverage or failing to pay their own policy holder what their claim is worth.

Remember, the insurance companies do this every day and they employ highly trained adjusters who are taught how to act as though they are your “best friend” while they are secretly building a case against you should you learn that you have coverage under your own insurance policy.

Most people who contact our office had a suspicion that an insurance company was not treating them fairly, and sadly, we are contacted many times each month by persons who waited too long to get our firm involved.

Some of the more common mistakes we have seen people make when trying to deal with insurance companies–although certainly not the only mistakes we have seen–may be found in our post entitled “10 Costly Mistakes to Avoid After an Accident” which you can read by clicking here.

If you suspect that an insurance company is giving you the run around or if something just does not seem right, contact our Cedar Rapids personal injury law firm at www.samlawpc.com for a free initial consultation before your time to do so runs out.

Disclaimer: The information contained here and throughout our website, and in our printed or other materials, are for general informational purposes only as this information should not be considered to be legal advice concerning your specific potential case. You should consult an experienced and knowledgeable attorney in this area of law to determine whether the information given in our videos, website, and other materials applies to your specific potential case as the failure to do so could do significant harm to your potential case. Please realize this is not an all-exhaustive explanation of all legal principles involved.  Please remember our firm does not represent you unless or until we enter into a written fee agreement signed by both you and our firm. Click here for additional disclaimer information which applies to this or any other information you might receive from our firm on this website, in our firm’s videos, or from any other information you might receive or obtain from our firm.

 

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