How Can You Prove Your Auto Insurer Acted In Bad Faith?

You pay your hard-earned money for you auto insurance premiums. The insurance carriers make a lot of money from people who pay their premiums. When you’re in a car crash, you deserve to have your claim treated promptly and fairly. You need your medical bills paid so you can get the care you need. You need your car fixed or replaced so you work or transport your family. You need your lost wages paid as soon as possible to pay your bills.

Sadly, some insurance adjusters try to take advantage of your needs by denying your claim and delaying the investigation to increase the pressure on you to make a quick and unfair settlement. If insurance companies act in bad faith, they need to be held accountable. A message also needs to be sent to ensure that these bad actions don’t continue.

When insurance companies act in bad faith, our experienced Oklahoma City lawyers:

• Prepare your case for a jury trial. We understand how much cases are worth. We negotiate strong settlements – but only when the settlement is reasonably close to how much you should obtain if the case is tried before a jury.
• Demand payment for all your damages – even if they exceed the policy limits.
• Demand punitive damages to punish the insurance companies for their improper conduct and to make the companies think twice before negotiating in bad faith with someone else.
• Seek payment for the interest, in full, due to the unreasonable delays and denials.

We understand what conduct constitutes bad faith. A few common examples include:

• Denying that the insured has coverage when it’s clear they do
• Failing to have their investigators examine your car
• Not returning phone calls and messages in a prompt manner
• Refusing to disclose the policy limits

Ways to document bad faith negotiation

The first step any car accident victim should take after a car accident is to hire an experienced Oklahoma City injury lawyer. A skilled lawyer understands when liability insurance carriers and your own uninsured/underinsured carriers aren’t negotiating in good faith. We understand that cases generally shouldn’t be settled until your medical diagnosis and treatment plan is clear. We understand the tactics insurance adjusters should follow so that when adjusters act in bad faith, we can immediately start documenting their deliberate misconduct.

Bad faith tactic documentation includes the following:

• Amending our complaints to include a request for bad faith damages
• Communicating through writings so there’s a formal record instead of one persons’ word versus another
• Using written interrogatories to force adjusters to give formal responses
• Conducting oral depositions which detail how improper the negotiation process has been
• Requesting documents such as the insurance policies
• Working with honest adjusters who can report or testify how the adjuster delayed or improperly denied a claim
• Asserting the correct legal positions for interpreting any insurance contract issues

Additional documentation may vary depending on the type of bad faith negotiation.

You deserve to have your car accident claim handled in a professional manner. At Cunningham & Mears, our Oklahoma City car accident attorneys immediately work to inform the adjusters that we are handling your case and we expect your claim to be handled in accordance with standard insurance company practices. We understand when an insurance adjuster isn’t cooperating. We let the adjusters know we are ready to file a bad faith complaint. For help with any car accident case in Oklahoma, call us at 405.232.1212 or complete our contact form to schedule an appointment.