Dealing with Your Own Insurance Company May Be Bad For Your Heart
As an experienced Philadelphia personal injury and unfair insurance claims practice lawyer since 1979, it seems to me that the insurance companies will stop at nothing to intimidate plaintiffs even when the plaintiff is their own insured. I am currently involved in several unfair and bad faith insurance claims cases where the actions of the insurance companies have been unethical and seemingly criminal. In one of these cases, an insured who was catastrophically injured was repeatedly intimidated by insurance company claims investigators, insurance company attorneys and insurance company claims representatives to the point of requiring psychiatric intervention. Of course, what the insurance company adjuster failed to recognize is that all of these “boxing gloves strategy actions” against its own policyholder benefited the plaintiff’s bad faith action and made the plaintiff’s case stronger in the hands of a lawyer with experience in bad faith insurance litigation.
Unfortunately with many companies, unless you accept the initial or continuing low ball settlement offers, which is often not enough to pay medical bills or wages, the posture becomes more aggressive at every step as the insurance companies attempt to deny claims at any and all costs. While I make my living fighting insurance companies, it always amazes me that if insurance companies would attempt to fight fairly from the beginning, in the majority of cases an amicable resolution could be achieved. In most bad faith cases, the insurance company goes to extreme lengths to avoid paying claims and often they are not shy about using aggressive lawyers, unfair claims handling tactics, and the courts to their own advantage in attempting to stack the deck.
In one of our recent cases, intense discovery revealed obvious and intentional misrepresentation by the insurance adjuster representing the insurance company. Our client, a successful business person, was astounded when the company would not pay full benefits under the policy he purchased. He claimed to have many sleepless nights and in fact, went to see his cardiologist who told him that he had suffered an anxiety disorder and stress syndrome as a result of the insurance company’s activities.
Most people are not equipped to combat the insurance companies on their own and the first time you find yourself being low balled by an insurance adjuster, it would be wise to get an experienced unfair insurance claims and bad faith insurance attorney involved who has the experience and tools necessary to fight back aggressively.
