Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act

by Guest » Sat Jan 15, 2011 01:52 am
Guest

How do I start the process do I need an attorney

Total Comments: 5

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 09:42 pm Post Subject:

This question is way to vague. You need to show damages. What are your damages as a result of the violation?

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 07:09 pm Post Subject:

still in offer stage of settlement process. my med bills are $25, my car was totalled paid $23,
first offer from insurance company was $10k second offer was 10, 500. offers very low my
I think my 2 yr statue will be in september to file suit if no acceptable offer is accepted
do i continue to go back and forth and wait until a month before my statue of limitations is due to expire before I file suit if there offers still are not acceptable to me?
can I file a unfair settlement suit against them for dragging this out and requesting medical records that have nothing to do with my injuries caused by the accident and finally their offers being so low?
can I have separate lawyer for each suit?

Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 07:54 pm Post Subject:

Sounds like a 3rd party claim (not your insurance company). If this is the case then an Unfair Claims Act does not apply. The other carrier is under no obligation to offer you anything.

If your meds are $25,000 and the offer was $10,000 then this tells me that either there was a pre-exiting condition, they think you over treated or some PIP or Med Pay was involved.

You only need to file suit before the SOL runs. How long you want to wait is up to you.

Separate lawyer for each suit? There should only be one suit. Why would there be more then one? You could have 10 attorneys all on the same suit... but then you'd pay every last penny to them so what is the point. Keep that in mind... your attorneys fees are paid by you.

Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 03:13 am Post Subject:

no pre-existing condition they looked for one though. I am a diabetic however i had a fractured arm.
thanks i better understand the unfair claims act now.
just got to play the wait game and/or file suit to take my claim to court

Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 01:15 am Post Subject:

just got to play the wait game



Not really. You can press your claim on a daily/weekly basis until they get so tired of hearing from you that they change their attitude. You can search through other threads where we've taken claimants to task for sitting around for months, taking no action at all on their own behalf, and then wondering if they should now go get an attorney to fight their battle.

The old proverb, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," carries a certain amount of cache with most insurance companies' claims departments, where out of sight, out of mind is often the attitude they take.

I can tell you this . . . negotiating a relatively small claim such as this on your own will be far more beneficial to you in the long run. (1) You won't turn over 30%-40% of your settlement to some attorney who did little to earn it (since small claims such as this rarely ever go to trial in civil court -- anything with less than 5 zeroes in the payment is small to an insurance company; sometimes anything with less than two commas in the amount is small), and (2) you'll get an eye-opening, "on the job" education in how to work an insurance claim that most insurance agents and attorneys never get. You won't ever allow yourself to be abused by an insurance company in any other claims situation in the future.

Be proactive, not reactive. Offense, not defense.

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