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Life and Accident

Bad Faith Litigation:  The Denial of Life and Accident Insurance Claims

If you have been injured recently, you need to ask yourself this question: "Is my insurance company doing everything it can do to help me with my costs?" Insurance companies are first and foremost businesses that worry about the bottom line. Health care costs have increased enormously in the last decade. To compensate, some insurance companies have become very creative about their denial of health insurance claims.

Some of these creative decisions are legal, and some are not. Bare minimum, the insurance company must provide, in writing, the reason why your claim was denied, and what you must do to appeal the decision.

What to Do if Your Insurance Claim is Denied

If your claim was denied and the reason doesn’t make any sense, or the insurance company won’t tell you why you’re not getting your benefits, contact a personal injury lawyer. You may need to go through arbitration or file a bad faith litigation lawsuit. Most life and accident insurance cases involve "breach of contract" and "breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing," or bad faith.

Lawsuit against Insurance Company for Breach of Contract

With a breach of contract suit, you are saying that the insurance company did not live up to its end of the bargain. You acquired an expense that was covered by your insurance, and the insurance company refused to pay. Everybody focuses on the words of the policy in these cases. The insurance company may have the advantage because they drafted the policy. However, the "rules of construction" are on your side. Rules of construction require the courts to interpret ambiguous language in your favor. If you prevail, you can recover the value of your benefits and any incidental damages.

Lawsuit against the Insurance Company for Bad Faith

A bad faith claim says that the insurance company acted unreasonably. All insurance policies require that the insurance company act in good faith when reviewing a claim. If the insurance company did not perform an adequate investigation, or attempted to settle your claim for less than what it’s worth, you may have a viable bad faith claim and you can recover your benefits. If you can establish a bad faith claim, you may be awarded for "infliction of emotional distress and fraud" and receive compensation for punitive or exemplary damages, which can exceed the actual amount owed under the contract.

Statute of Limitations

You also need to be aware of the "statute of limitations." A civil lawsuit for breach of contract or bad faith must be filed within a certain time period after the insurance company makes its final denial of your claim. Once the statue of limitations expires, it may be difficult or impossible for you to protect your rights.

Complexity of Life and Accident Insurance Claims Requires Representation by Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys

Life and accident insurance law is very complex. For all of the above concerns, we strongly recommend that you find dependable legal representation as soon as possible.

At Pritzker | Ruohonen & Associates, P.A., our attorneys specialize in personal injury and insurance claims. We have considerable knowledge and skill when it comes to representing a client with a bad faith claim. With decades of collective experience, lawyers at our firm consistently gain some of the largest recoveries in personal injury and insurance cases.

If you would like a free consultation about your life and accident insurance claim, call us toll-free at 1-888-377-8900, email us at info@pritzkerlaw.com, or fill in our online consultation form. We are a national personal injury law firm with clients throughout the United States. Our offices are centrally located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We’re ready when you are.


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