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Lehigh Valley Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers
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Personal Injury » Lehigh Valley » Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers
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If you were hurt in an accident and your own insurance is supposed to cover your injuries and expenses, you expect to get paid and move along with your recovery. After all, what else are you paying for when you have an insurance policy if not the peace of mind that your case will be covered?
When insurance carriers deny claims without proper reasons or they give you the runaround and try to avoid any straight answers on delays, you may be entitled to file a bad faith insurance claim against them. These claims can hold the insurance carrier responsible for the money they were initially supposed to pay you, plus punitive damages to punish them for their bad faith. They can also result in attorneys’ fees in most cases.
For help with a case against your insurance company, call Leeson & Leeson’s bad faith insurance lawyers at (610) 890-6332 today.
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Highly recommended.
Abbe F.
He is the best attorney I [have] ever known.
Mr. Joseph was very knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with. Answered all my questions and was easy to contact and replied to all my questions in timely competent manner. Also his staff is very nice and polite. I would highly recommend Leeson & Leeson law office for any further needs . He is the best attorney I ever know.
Sunny Q.
...he is a good person as well as a good attorney.
“Most thought my case was too small to bother with but Attorney Leeson offered to help me because he is a good person as well as a good attorney… He kept me informed throughout the process and walked me through issues that were confusing… I’m very grateful that he agreed to help me and you can feel confident choosing him.”
Laura Accetta, PA
Theodore Roosevelt once said "speak softly but carry a big stick." The Leeson lawyers embody this principle to perfection.
“The Leeson & Leeson firm has a long-storied history of intelligent and sophisticated lawyers and aggressive and tough litigators. Theodore Roosevelt once said “speak softly but carry a big stick.” The Leeson lawyers embody this principle to perfection… I highly recommend Leeson & Leeson for anyone who wants an attorney who is of a high order of integrity and legal intelligence.”
Francis Macri, PA
What Kinds of Cases Involve Insurance Bad Faith Claims in the Lehigh Valley?
Insurance carriers are required to handle the claims that come to them in good faith. This means making an honest effort to assess whether the claim fits into the policy and to pay it if it does. They are allowed to look into the facts and question the accuracy of the information given to them as part of the claim – and they are certainly allowed to deny a claim if they have a good faith explanation as to why it is not covered under the insurance policy. Bad faith insurance claims crop up when the insurance carrier fails these standards.
Types of Insurance
Usually, bad faith insurance claims arise in first-party insurance claims – that is, claims where the victim is the policyholder and they are filing with their own insurance company. This can happen in homeowners insurance claims where your house was damaged or, perhaps more commonly, in car insurance cases. In Pennsylvania, we use a “choice no-fault” car insurance system, through which drivers with “limited tort” policies often file with their own insurance for damages after a crash. If your insurance company refuses to pay or gives you the runaround, they might be acting in bad faith.
Types of Denials/Problems
Just because an insurance company denies your claim does not mean they committed a bad faith violation. As mentioned, insurance companies are allowed to look at the policy and question the facts and deny a claim if they have a valid reason to do so. However, bad faith insurance claims usually involve claims that never actually get heard in the first place or claims that are denied for dubious reasons.
Process of Getting Compensation in a Bad Faith Case
Usually, to get compensation in an insurance claim, you take evidence of your damages and file a claim with the insurance company. Once they investigate the claim and determine what happened, they get back to you with news that they have either accepted the claim (and they tell you how much they will pay) or that they have denied the claim. If your claim was denied, our lawyers can potentially renegotiate with them, ask for reconsideration, or take them to court for full payment.
In a bad faith case, you usually do not hear back from them, or else they tell you the policy has been canceled or that you missed payments. Often, there is no actual assessment of the facts, and any denials – if you even hear back from the insurance company – are not based in facts, policy language, or actual attempts to parse out what happened in the case at hand. Instead of being able to negotiate, our bad faith insurance lawyers can take the insurance company straight to court.
Examples of Bad Faith Insurance Practices in the Lehigh Valley
Bad faith is often quite obvious when it is truly happening, but it is easy to accidentally accuse an insurance company of bad faith just because you do not like the outcome. Denials based on an assessment of the facts are not typically bad faith, but instead, bad faith cases often involve obvious miscommunication and conduct that delays the case from ever actually being analyzed on its facts.
One common way that bad faith happens is that the insurance carrier never actually responds to your claim. They may simply go radio silent and fail to respond to emails, never mail you any paperwork about the claim, and hang up when you call. This is pretty egregious and likely falls into the category of bad faith.
Another common issue is the insurance carrier canceling your policy or otherwise trying to claim that the policy does not exist or is inactive. For example, the company might try to say that your premium was not paid even when you have bank statements and payment confirmations showing it was paid. They may also claim that your policy was canceled, but the date might be after the insurance claim was filed, or it might be completely nonsensical. They may even try to say that you never had a policy in the first place, despite the fact that you have proof of insurance documents, payment receipts, and other proof that you did have a policy.
Another tactic that can really be on the line between good and bad faith is delays. Some delays are warranted, but some go beyond what is reasonable or necessary and stray into bad faith. Our lawyers can help you tell the difference in your specific case.
Damages for Bad Faith Insurance Claims in the Lehigh Valley
Pennsylvania law explicitly authorizes three areas of damages for bad faith insurance claims under 42. Pa.C.S. § 8371. First, you get the payments you were supposed to get from the claim, plus generous interest (prime rate + 3%). On top of that, you can also get punitive damages to punish the insurance company for its bad faith and court costs and attorneys fees, undoing any expenses the case might have cost you, even though lawyers often work on contingency fees for these cases in the first place (i.e., with no up-front payments).
Call Our Lawyers for Bad Faith Insurance Lawsuits in the Lehigh Valley
For a free case review, call Leeson & Leeson at (610) 890-6332 for a free review of your potential case with our bad faith insurance lawyers.
