What Are Unethical Insurance Practices?
Due to the high volume of claims filed by homeowners and businesses throughout the Gulf Coast in recent years due to hurricanes and tropical storms, insurance companies have turned to unethical insurance practices, commonly known as bad faith insurance practices.
Unethical insurance practices include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Delaying payment unreasonably
- Denying a policyholder's claim despite overwhelming evidence to support it
- Making a partial payment and seeking a settlement for the remainder
- Not investigating a claim or, in some cases, denying the claim without providing any reason
- Unreasonably making demands for documents, interviews, and other information in a bid to delay or deny making payments.
Insurance companies may be purposefully misrepresenting the facts of a certain claim or twisting policy provisions to avoid covering the full amount that is due. They sometimes may simply refuse to hold an investigation and then claim that there is not enough evidence to support insurance payment. Even when policyholders gather all the evidence they can and file the claim quickly, insurance companies might still withhold payment. In this case, you need to seek legal representation from a professional experienced in insurance company practices.
Each state has its standard for regulating insurance companies, which in turn tends to favor the insurance industry. With this favoring, insurance companies may be more inclined to practice bad faith claims. Fortunately, Texas law and the laws of states across the Gulf Coast states provide remedies when insurance companies engage in this type of banned business conduct.
Our insurance claim lawyers step in when insurers act in bad faith when investigating and paying valid claims. Call (888) 493-1629 today for experienced help with your claim.