How to sue an insurance company?

by ty_ger88 » Fri Sep 14, 2007 02:20 pm

Many a times you may be unhappy with your insurance company for not paying you your dues or for delaying your payments or for any other reason. Your insurance company does not always have the upper hand. There are laws to protect you if you have a dishonest insurer.

When can you sue your insurance company?

You can sue your insurance company on grounds of:
  • Bad faith and
  • Breach of contract

If your insurer tries to trick you by not paying up a legitimate claim you can put up a civil suit against the company for having acted in bad faith. A company shows bad faith when it unreasonably denies a legitimate claim. This may mean that:
  • The company has failed to carry out proper investigations
  • Undue delay in processing a claim
  • Disregarding the rights of the policyholder
  • Inadequate compensation provided against claim filed

You can sue your insurance company for the full amount of benefits that has been denied to you as well as for any economic loss or emotional distress that you may have had to suffer as a result of the refusal. If your insurance company has been dishonest you may also get punitive damages. This is a means to make the insurance company behave more responsibly in future correspondences.

It is good to keep all paper works organized so that you can find them as soon as you need them. You may think of an old receipt as unimportant but it might hold great importance when you have a case standing against your insurer for bad faith or breach of contract.

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I'm confused, please help. Here's my story and question. I'll try to make it short. My car was hit about a month ago. I was not in the car. It was parked on the side street. The driver of the truck that hit me left a note with all of his information. Now, it has been almost a month, and his insurance is not doing much. At first, they promised to have the damage estimated, but then nothing was sent to the car shop where my car located. I ended up going through my own insurance company. The problem is before I went with my insurance company, I had rented a car and had discussed this with the other insurance company. They said they would reimburse me all the fees. Now, they're not answering my calls. They keep on telling me that the agent is busy and will get back to me. It has been 4 days since I faxed in my car rental bill. What can I do? Can I sue them? Would you tell me how to sue an insurance company? The bill was paid for by my credit card, and I don't want to owe interests on it. Please help. Thanks.

Total Comments: 380

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 05:27 pm Post Subject: insurance

MaxHerr, I understand that which is why I would only be refunded collision (not the full liability etc) which will amount to maybe 3,000 if that over the past 5 years. While my car is worth around $14,000. However after contacting the New Jersey Department of Insurance yesterday they told me that they can't just pay out the other party and refuse to pay me anything for your car. Right there they are admitting that I have been insured for the past 5 years, instead of what they are claiming in my case which is that I wasn't being insured period since the car was incorrect on my policy. They did however have no problem taking my money each month (for the past 5 years totaling about 10 grand) for a car that according to them does not exist (because they totaled it in 2008 which I still have a copy of the check) If I wasn't insured under a car then how are they paying another party out on this claim? If technically they claim I haven't been insured for the past 5 years since the car is the incorrect year, then how is it ok to have taken my money each month?
Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:40 pm Post subject: tcope

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Quote:
The fact is my dealer is required to contact my insurance company whether it be via fax etc
I don't know that they have an obligation. However, _you_ do. Actually the dealer _can't_ add a vehicle into your policy. Only you can do this.

In response to this: Both of my parents just purchased vehicles in the last month. Each one showed proof of insurance to the dealership (or they wouldn't of left the lot or been given a financing contract) and the dealership contacted their insurance companies in both of their cases in order to report the new vehicle on the policy. My parents had to contact no one in either case. All I know is that both my make and model was exactly the same for each car I had and someone in Liberty Mutual made a mistake and is now trying to cover their butt. But according to the NJ department of insurance consumer inquiries, what ever it is that Liberty Mutual is doing or in my case not doing, they are obligated to pay me a claim on my car especially since they are paying another party's claim. I think the woman who handled my claim in 2008 screwed up because she somehow can't find any documents or proof of the payout. I however have every piece of correspondence when that car was deemed totaled and the copy of the check issued etc. I just think its funny that the same woman is handling my most recent claim, when originally I was assigned a different claims adjuster. She did something wrong and I think is trying to cover this fact up.

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 06:55 pm Post Subject:

_________________

"Other forms of P&C insurance may cover claims on a "retroactive" basis if coverage was in force during that time period. But even then, the coverage that was in effect could have been from another insurer -- there is only a requirement for continuous coverage."



I still have coverage under Liberty Mutual they have not dropped me they just have not settled my claim because I won't agree to be cut a check of $0 for my car or agree to be refunded for collision with is barely any money compared to what I am owed from this company. This whole thing is just one giant headache. Obviously I can't be refunded for my entire premiums or I would be responsible to pay for the damage to the other party's car. But I guess only time will tell after I file my claim with NJ department of banking and insurance today. My insurance company will receive correspondence immediately when I file the inquiry and they will have I believe 15 days to respond and if they do not they will receive heavy fines until they do so. I just know that I have rights and I believe Liberty Mutual is taking advantage of those rights by having taken my money every month for the past 5 years for a car they now say never existed to begin with

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 06:16 am Post Subject:

If technically they claim I haven't been insured for the past 5 years since the car is the incorrect year, then how is it ok to have taken my money each month?

The situation in which they are providing liability but not collision -- by refunding only the collision portion of the premium -- was not made clear in your original post. THAT DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL. (Not your fault.)

If you are filing a complaint with the NJ Dept of Insurance, then stay away from any attorneys for the time being. Once you involve an attorney, the DOI must back off. You don't want that to happen just yet. But if the DOI cannot get Liberty Mutual to pay your claim, then you immediately want to find an EXPERIENCED insurance litigation attorney.

Suing an insurance company is not something every attorney is equipped to handle, and an inexperienced attorney will screw up your case more likely than not. In your situation, you did have a responsibility to notice that the VIN was incorrect. That, in and of itself, is not a good reason for LM to say that you had no insurance either. They were the ones who totaled your former vehicle, and they had a responsibility to know that they were inadvertently continuing coverage on a vehicle that should not be insured. So the heart of your case is pretty simple: Who had a bigger responsibility to know that something was wrong? The insured, who probably has no idea what to look for in his policy documents, or the insurance company that is supposed to know that it cannot insure a vehicle it has totaled and of which it has taken possession? Who makes the entry in the insurance company's computer database? The insured or an insurance company employee?

A good attorney will go looking to see if the insurance company has done this same thing to other people, hoping to make a class action out of a case. But even as an individual action, proving that the insurance company should have performed with greater care and accuracy, and not allow your situation to fester for six years is a bigger problem for LM than for you -- after all, if you had not been involved in the collision, how much longer would they have continued to collect your full premium? Another 6 years? 10 years?

The good thing about insurance cases like yours is that the judge, and most members of the jury, have insurance, and some of them (or someone they know personally) have been mistreated by an insurance company somewhere along the line. Although they are supposed to listen to the evidence, and decide a matter according to the law, that little seed has been planted, and insurance company defense attorneys don't always win.

I think you have a pretty good case to make here. But first, give the NJ Dept of Insurance a month or so to see if they can't help you, then decide what course to pursue.

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 03:04 pm Post Subject: sue an insurance company

I have asked to cancelled my policy after one week but by mistake they cancelled from the same day without knowing me. until i received their letter i was keep driving but i did not know i am uninsured. how ever couple of days later they apologies for the incident can i sue them for their negligence?.

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 03:09 pm Post Subject:

can i sue them for their negligence?


Sue you can sue. What are your damages? :roll:

(this is the world we live in... when people want to sue for a simple and small mistake just to make some money)

Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 03:09 pm Post Subject: Sue health insurance company for denying treatment?

Several months ago I developed back pain. Dr. requested MRI. However, the insurance company denied. So told doctor to treat with medicine. Got no relief. Again Dr. requested approval for MRI. Denied!! Told Dr. to send me to massage therapy. No relief. Dr. again requested MRI. This time approved. Results showed 4 herniated discs. Dr. referred me to neurologist. He asked insurance to try injections . His request denied twice. Now after 3 months of severe pain. Still no help from insurance. company. Do I have any legal recourse against them?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 07:21 am Post Subject: distressed

I had a car accident in Oct 2011 I bumped into the car in front of me the police didn't want to pull up a police report because there was no physical damaged done to neither vehicle. well a week later Triple AAA calls me and tells me that she was suing me for personal damage and for her hitting the steering wheel which at the moment of the accident she said she was fine and she drove off she didn't want me nor the chp call an ambulance was going less then 30 miles per hour my air bag never deployed. here is my question Triple AAA payed 1700. to fix her car right but the damages she was clamming were done by me but were really done in a previous accident that happen in 2010 so know triple a wants to put a point on my DL for them paying those damages that I didn't even do. so what can I do there. we went to court to and she lost her case I didn't have to pay nor the triple a have to pay the seven thousand she was asking for. I have all the prof that she claimed the same things both times what can I do there please help I'm in distress my accident happened in 2011 helpppp!!

Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 07:28 pm Post Subject: My bad insurance company AAA

Slab leak in my home almost 2 yrs ago. Triple A is out of compliance with themselves; Failure to perform, Designated dry out , testing, disposal of hazardous waste. Triple A refuses to payout per policy; personal loss, income as home is uninhabitable; verified asbestos and mold. Myself, former tenants others have confirmed related health problems. I want to sue for everything; need to verify how many times can I file action for related causes, within 2, 4 and 6 yr statutes?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 06:30 am Post Subject:

Several months ago I developed back pain. Dr. requested MRI. However, the insurance company denied. So told doctor to treat with medicine. Got no relief. Again Dr. requested approval for MRI. Denied!! Told Dr. to send me to massage therapy. No relief. Dr. again requested MRI. This time approved. Results showed 4 herniated discs. Dr. referred me to neurologist. He asked insurance to try injections . His request denied twice. Now after 3 months of severe pain. Still no help from insurance. company. Do I have any legal recourse against them?


Sorry to know about your predicaments. These are !@#%$ ridiculous. Did your insurance company reject your pleas showing proper reasons? They are bound to do that. What were they? Perhaps they refused to pay as it was "experimental". Did they say something like this? You can obviously take legal recourse against them if your are not satisfied with their approach. Before that it’d be great if you could help us by providing more details about the events over here. Thanks!

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 06:54 am Post Subject:

...we went to court to and she lost her case I didn't have to pay nor the triple a have to pay the seven thousand she was asking for.


Rachell , If she lost that case what are you worried about then?

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