All too often, insurance companies don’t meet their obligations to you, the policyholder. In order to ensure your insurance company treats you fairly when you file an insurance claim, you need to know your rights.
When you file a claim, the insurance company must:
- Promptly investigate all facts
- Objectively evaluate your claim, placing your interests at least as high as their own
- Identify provisions of the insurance contract that may be applicable to your claim
- Explain to you what you have to do to make sure your claim is filed correctly
- Make a fair and equitable payment as soon as liability is clear
- Give you courteous, fair, and just treatment
- Make a reasonably prompt acknowledgment of all communications with the insurance company
The insurance company cannot:
- Deny your claim without having a valid reason for doing so
- Deny your claim without giving you a reasonable explanation
- Ignore facts, or fail to investigate all the facts relevant to your claim
- Make you suffer unnecessary delays of payment on a valid claim
- Consider any factors other than those dictated by your contract
- Require you to file a lawsuit to collect the amounts you are owed
- Make a “final payment” as a settlement, without your consent
This information is not intended to provide legal advice, and no legal or business decision should be based on its content. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. Read full disclaimer.
