Insurance Bad Faith
When you buy insurance, you do it for the protection and security of yourself, your family, and your property. An insurance contract is the insurance company’s promise to you to follow through on this guarantee of protection and security. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not always keep their promises.
If you have been involved in an Insurance Bad Faith incident, please call or email our attorneys for a free consultation.
Insurance companies have a duty under the law to act in good faith and to deal fairly with you. This is called an “implied covenant of good faith,” and it is part of every insurance contract, even if not contained in the written policy. If an insurance company offers an amount that is unreasonably low, or if an insurance company wrongfully denies a claim, the company is acting in bad faith and is breaking the law.
Examples of bad faith include:
- Denying a claim without a reasonable basis
- Failing to conduct a reasonable investigation
- Misrepresenting your rights under the policy
- Unreasonably delaying in making payments
- Failing to defend you against a claim or failing to settle a claim against you
Our bad faith insurance and insurance law practice includes the following areas:
- Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA)
- First Party Bad Faith
- Third Party Bad Faith
- Improper Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Claim Handling
- Improper Uninsured Motorist (UM/UIM) Claim Handling
- Examinations Under Oath
- Homeowners Policies
If you have had any of these things happen to you, you need to talk to an qualified insurance lawyer. GLP Attorneys is home to a deep bench of knowledgeable attorneys with decades of experience handling insurance bad faith claims. Call us today at 206.448.1992, or email our attorneys at attorneys@glpattorneys.com for a free consultation.
In 2007, the Washington legislature passed the Insurance Fair Conduct Act ("IFCA"). This gives insured persons in Washington significant protections from unreasonable and unscrupulous conduct by insurance companies. There are significant penalties for insurers if they violate these rules.
Fundamentally, the IFCA prohibits insurance companies from unreasonably denying a claim or unreasonably paying benefits which are due under a policy of insurance. This can occur in many different ways:
- Unreasonably denying PIP benefits
- Failing to conduct a reasonable investigation of the claim
- Misrepresenting policy terms
- Failing to acknowledge communications in a reasonable time
- Failing to adequately defend a claim made against you, resulting in financial hardship
At GLP Attorneys, we have deep experience in working with insurance companies in settlement of claims by injured people. This experience has formed the basis of our ability to successfully bring claims against insurance companies under IFCA.
If you believe that you have been treated unfairly or unreasonably by an insurance company, please call one of our bad faith insurance attorneys at GLP Attorneys to discuss whether we will be able to help you.
If you have been involved in an Insurance Bad Faith incident, please call or email our attorneys for a free consultation
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