Suing your insurance company for negligence can seem like a challenging process. You and your lawyer need to be able to show that the insurance company took actions that purposefully resulted in financial loss for you. This can happen through a negotiated settlement or through a court case.
As you might imagine, insurance companies rarely are going to admit that they behaved negligently. You may want to consider hiring negligent Florida insurance company attorneys to represent you in a complex case like this. The insurance companies have plenty of attorneys available to help them, and you can even the playing field with your own legal representation.
What Does Negligent Behavior From an Insurance Company Mean?
When you purchase an insurance policy, it has a lot of legal jargon in it. In basic terms, you are paying the insurer to provide a service for you, and the policy lays out the legal obligations for both parties.
As long as you are paying your premiums and as long as the policy remains active, the insurance company is bound by the promises it makes in that policy. When you have a claim that fits the parameters of the policy, the insurance company has an obligation to pay you for your claim.
Negligent behavior from the insurer means that it refuses to pay you or tries to reduce your claim amount, even though it knows your claim is correct. The insurer may use confusing language or legal jargon to try to explain why it won’t pay your claim. If the insurer is knowingly avoiding its responsibility to pay your legal claim in full, this negligent behavior will result in a financial loss for you.
How Do You Spot Negligence From an Insurer?
Florida Statute § 627.71424 spells out the Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights. This law describes some of the rights you have when an insurance company treats you unfairly after you make a claim of loss.
Certainly, not every denial notice from the insurer rises to the level of negligence. If the insurer follows the legal obligations in the policy when denying a claim, it’s possible that no negligence is occurring.
This makes the process of spotting negligence challenging, but attorneys can help you determine when it’s appropriate to sue the insurance company for denying your claim. Some of the circumstances in which negligence may occur include the following:
Denying a Proper Claim
After you have property damage or some other type of loss, you may believe you are precisely following the insurance company’s instructions for filing a claim. However, the insurer may return a decision that results in a claim denial, saying that you missed a step.
If you and your lawyers can prove that the insurance company is purposefully denying your claim not because you missed a step but because it simply doesn’t want to pay, this is negligent behavior. Always keep a copy of anything you submit to the insurer, so your property damage lawyers can prove that you submitted everything.
Underpaying Your Proper Claim
One of the most common ways for insurance companies to behave negligently is by purposefully reducing the amount of your claim versus what you should have. Insurers are for-profit companies that can increase their profits by paying you less than you deserve in a claim.
Rather than denying your full claim, the insurer may believe you’ll accept the reduced settlement as is without fighting it, allowing the insurer to keep the money you should have and to increase its profits.
Having a full understanding of your policy and the obligations the insurance company has regarding making payments to you is key to spotting this type of negligent behavior. Hiring a Boca Raton personal injury lawyer to help you decipher the language in your policy and to provide advice about whether the insurer is underpaying you can help, too.
Delaying Payment of an Approved Claim
When you need to file an insurance claim after you have a loss, you want to receive your money as quickly as possible, so you can fix any damaged property and try to return to your normal life in a reasonable amount of time. So, when the insurer doesn’t send you your payment on time, it is an unsettling feeling.
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to tell when the insurance company is purposefully delaying payment of your approved claim and when the process is simply wrapped up in red tape. Insurance companies often are large organizations, and payments to clients typically go through many steps before you receive your money. Some clues that the insurer may be delaying your claim in an unfair manner include:
- Not being able to tell you when the payment will arrive
- Claiming the check is lost in the mail
- Claiming you failed to provide the correct information for an electronic deposit
- Asking for you to submit extra documentation after approving the claim
What Damages Can I Receive If the Insurance Company Is Behaving Negligently?
If you and your attorney can show that negligence is occurring with your valid insurance claim, you have the right to potentially receive payments in a few areas, including:
- Original claim amount: You can receive the payment you were trying to seek from the original claim.
- Damages for losses: Because you did not receive your full payment on time, you may have incurred additional expenses that the insurer should pay for on your behalf.
- Punitive damages: In an effort to punish the insurer for its negligent behavior, you could receive punitive damages.
Contact Ged Lawyers Today for Help With Holding Your Insurance Company Accountable for Its Negligence
You paid your premiums on time, and you expect your insurance company to reciprocate by treating you fairly when it’s time to make a claim. If this isn’t happening, trust the team of experienced attorneys at Ged Lawyers to fight to protect your rights.
We will explain what you need to know when suing your insurance company for negligence in terminology you can understand. If you suspect your insurer is behaving in a negligent manner, reach out to us today for a free consultation.
