Is Your Insurance Company Throwing You To The Wolves
This morning I received a call from an insurance agent of a defendant who was clearly responsible for damages to my client under his homeowner’s policy. The naive agent, a representative of one of the nation’s largest insurance carriers, questioned me on why I felt this was a valid homeowner’s claim despite the fact that I have been practicing law for over 30 years and clearly this was a valid claim. However, the agent informed me that she did not wish to report it to the carrier for some unknown reason.
Most of us are confident that when we purchase insurance for our home that the insurance carrier will be there to protect us. After all we have paid the premium and given them prompt notice of a claim as well as provided them with all the necessary paperwork and we had nothing to do with causing the loss.
Well the real answer is that in today’s age this may not always be the case. Today more than ever many of the insurance companies and their agents and adjusters are acting unfairly and in bad faith in failing to provide proper and full coverage to their insured, looking at each and every loophole in the policy in a biased way towards the insurance company. This insurance agent represented to me that the insurance company was not going to cover the loss without even consulting the company or the adjuster. Frankly, I believe that the homeowner and the insured has a cause of action against his insurance carrier for failing to deal in good faith and breaching their fiduciary obligation to protect his or her interests.
I recommend to all of my readers that they read their policies closely to make sure that they have the appropriate coverage that they think they have. Do not always count on your insurance agent or delegate the making of the claim to another person. Always be honest with your insurance carrier and never exaggerate the claim.
If you have a question regarding an insurance issue, please feel free to contact one of our experienced bad faith or insurance claim lawyers at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.
