Having insurance can help many West Virginia residents feel more at ease. Rather than worrying about how you will pay for repairs or medical bills in the aftermath of a serious accident or another disaster, you feel somewhat comforted by the fact that your insurance policies cover at least a portion of what you may need to spend.
You understand that having insurance is a give-and-take relationship, which is why you pay your premiums on time. While you may have hoped that you would avoid any incident that may present the need to file an insurance claim, you were not so lucky. Whether your home sustained considerable damage as the result of a natural disaster or you suffered injuries in a car accident, you called on your insurance to be there for you. Were they?
Bad faith insurance
When you first made the call to your insurance company, you may have expected the call to go relatively smoothly and to receive your insurance payout in a timely manner. Unfortunately, that was not the case. In fact, you felt as if the company was giving you the runaround. Before long, you received notice that the company denied your claim. Did your insurance provider act in bad faith?
Bad faith generally means that the insurance company did not treat you fairly. In order to determine whether you received unfair treatment, you may want to review your insurance policy. If your policy indicates that the claim you made meets the terms of your coverage, the company may have unjustly denied your claim. Having this information may act as useful evidence if you decide to pursue a legal claim.
Additional evidence
In addition to providing evidence that the insurance company withheld due benefits, you will likely also need to prove that the reason for withholding those benefits was unreasonable. When it comes to whether the denial was reasonable, an unbiased evaluation of your circumstances and the claim will need to occur. It is also important to remember that state laws can play a role in determining what constitutes bad faith actions.
Though you undoubtedly feel disheartened by the fact that your insurance company denied your claim, you do not have to feel out of luck. You may want to obtain an assessment of your situation from an attorney experienced in this type of law to determine whether you may have reason to move forward with a legal claim in efforts to obtain compensation.
