Signs an Insurer May Be Acting in Bad Faith

Your insurer may be acting in bad faith if they deny your claim without an explanation, refuse to communicate with you, delay your payments, or pressure you into accepting a lowball settlement.

You don’t have to let insurance adjusters get away with acting this way. If you have a Kansas City bad faith insurance lawyer on your side, you can push back. Our attorneys know the signs that an insurer may be acting in bad faith.

We’ve worked with clients like you since 2018 and do not back down when insurance adjusters try to control your recovery. You can trust us to push back against bad faith misconduct and ensure that you have the chance to fight for the compensation you need to recover.

Understanding Bad Faith Conduct

While it’s never easy to work with insurance companies, adjusters have an obligation to listen to you when you discuss the severity of your accident-related losses and to provide for you according to the policy.

Insurance companies that will not acknowledge your accident, refuse to communicate with you, or that try to lie to you about the nature of your policy are not acting with your best interests in mind. However, short delays in communication over holidays or weekends do not constitute bad faith behavior.

There’s a line between the normal inconvenience of working with insurance companies and instances wherein an insurer is trying to take advantage of you. If you feel like adjusters are purposefully deceiving you or treating you unfairly, then it’s time to contact a lawyer.

Signs of Insurer Bad Faith

Some of the most common signs that your insurer is acting in bad faith include:

Unreasonable Delays

While insurance adjusters have the right to weekends, vacations, and holidays, they also have an obligation to address your accident-related concerns in a reasonable amount of time. No adjuster has the right to stonewall you or repeatedly delay your attempts to request financial support under an available policy.

Likewise, insurers do not have the right to delay an investigation into your losses. Insurers must conduct these investigations in a reasonable amount of time to preserve the viability of relevant evidence and access to key witnesses. If an insurer tries to skip an investigation or avoid interviewing witnesses, they may be acting in bad faith.

Finally, no insurer has the right to ignore your calls, emails, or letters. An insurer that refuses to communicate with you can be held accountable for bad faith conduct.

Denying a Claim Without a Reason

Insurers must provide you with a reason that they intend to deny your accident claim. That explanation needs to directly reference language in the policy and the facts related to your case. Any attempt to brush your accident under the rug or misrepresent policy language, or to avoid an explanation outright, entitles you to a closer investigation into a provider’s behavior.

Unfortunately, some insurers can attempt to deny your claim without explanation in hopes that you’ll let your case for compensation go. Working with a personal injury lawyer lets you push back without letting an adjuster take control of the conversation around your case.

Are Lowball Settlement Offers Made in Bad Faith?

If an insurer communicates with you after an accident but offers you a settlement that vastly undervalues your losses, you may find yourself the victim of bad faith misconduct. Insurers should accurately value your economic and non-economic losses and offer you support under a relevant policy.

Insurers can also attempt to intimidate you into accepting an insufficient settlement or pressure you into letting them dictate how much your losses are worth. If you find yourself dealing with increasingly aggressive rhetoric from a provider, then it’s time to call an attorney. 

How to Challenge an Insurance Company’s Bad Faith Behavior

If you’re not sure whether your insurer is showing signs of bad faith behavior, we encourage you to start documenting every communication you have with them. You should also request a written explanation of any delays or denials you receive. The more written or recorded data you have, the easier it can be to prove bad faith conduct.

Documentation is only the first part of proving bad faith behavior. We encourage you never to go up against an insurance company alone, especially if you suspect one is acting in bad faith. Our legal team understands the approaches insurers may take in your case and can help you communicate your needs effectively.

Contact us so we can review your insurance company’s behavior and elaborate on your right to responsive action. If we can prove that an insurance company acted in bad faith, we can demand compensation not only for your accident but also for the damages that their misconduct caused or exacerbated. 

Don’t Let an Insurance Company Overrule Your Recovery

Insurance companies aren’t the end-all, be-all of your post-accident recovery. If you’re struggling to make an insurance adjuster take your losses seriously, or if you can’t get a provider to talk to you at all, you need an attorney to help move your recovery forward. Our legal team can step up and push back on your behalf.

We know the signs that an insurer may be acting in bad faith and can help you identify them before you take additional action. If you decide to work with our firm, you can trust us to find the evidence needed to prove your right to accident compensation and to manage your conversations with insurers and their affiliates.

We do more than protect your right to reasonable support from an insurance company. If you have the right to request compensation through the civil process, we will help you file a personal injury lawsuit.

You can contact us today for a free consultation to discuss how we will approach your fight for post-accident compensation.