Severe damage to your home or business turns your life upside down. For businesses, it can mean diminished productivity or even force a shutdown. For homeowners, it can destroy the value of their largest investment or even leave them with no place to live. Most business and homeowners lack the resources to recover from these events. Without benefits from their property insurance carriers, they are wiped out.

Property insurance was invented to prevent households and businesses from being severely burdened or ruined by fires, water leaks, burglaries, vandalism, storm damage, and any other disasters that wreck properties. Property owners pay their premiums faithfully in order to protect their families and livelihoods. If the insurance company lives up to its end of the bargain, they are glad they paid those premiums.

What if the insurance company refuses to live up to its end of the bargain? In some cases, homes are destroyed and businesses remain closed while insurance adjusters dither and nitpick. In some cases, good claims are delayed or denied all together with a devastating effect on the policyholder. Claimants are told to accept a low settlement or nothing. When insurance companies employ these unscrupulous tactics, they act in bad faith. If you are the victim of an insurance company’s bad faith, you have rights under the law that allow you to recover not just the full value of your damage claim, but damages for inconvenience, stress, emotional distress, legal fees, legal advice, and, in some cases, punitive damages.

Why insurance companies act in bad faith

It seems shocking to those unfamiliar with the inner workings of the insurance industry. Aren’t property insurance companies in business to help property owners in their times of need? The answer is no.

Insurance companies are in business to generate profits for their investors. The way they generate these profits is based on a very simple business model: collect the most premium and pay the least claims. The more an insurance company succeeds in that goal, the higher its profits and value.

Because of this, insurance adjusters are trained to look for ways to deny and devalue claims. They rarely settle for the full value of the claim right away. This pits you against your insurance carrier.

The insurance company has a legal obligation to fulfill the terms of the insurance policy and act fairly toward policyholders. When it fails to do so, it commits bad faith and creates a legal claim for the policyholder.

What counts as bad faith?

Insurance companies engage in bad faith in property claims by a variety of actions. One of the most common and severely damaging is denying a claim without reasonable grounds. When this happens, the insurance company often misconstrues facts in order to justify its denial. A property insurance attorney can unravel the insurance company’s false arguments, expose the bad faith, and reverse the denial or take the insurance company to court.

When insurance carriers intentionally delay property insurance claims or ignore them, this also constitutes bad faith. If your home or business is severely damaged and you are made to suffer while the insurance company takes no action, your insurance carrier has treated you in bad faith. A property insurance attorney can force the insurance company to take action or bring it to court.

When insurance companies offer insufficient claims compensation, they act in bad faith. These payments fail to make the claimant whole and are often forced on the claimants after many delays. Putting policyholders in this position always constitutes bad faith. When the insurance company engages in these tactics in order to gain advantage for itself at the expense of policyholders, the policyholder has a claim for punitive damages.

Damages

Bad faith actions on the part of property insurance companies cause policyholder’s damages to increase. Because the insurance company refused to act right, the policyholder suffered more damage than the original claim amount. Damage caused by increased stress, lost time, lost income, inconvenience, and all legal fees become the responsibility of the insurance company. Because the insurance company hurt the policyholder for its own benefit, it also owes punitive damages.

Legal Counsel

If your insurance carrier is acting in bad faith on your claim, contact a bad faith property claims attorney as soon as possible. Our property damage attorneys in San Diego, can help assist you in receiving the compensation you deserve from your insurance coverage. By getting a property damage attorney involved right away, you put the insurance company on notice that you are prepared to fight back. Your attorney can evaluate your legal position and determine how much your claim is worth in court.

Often, insurance companies realize that fighting you and your property insurance lawyer in court will only result in paying out an even higher amount. Because of this, they will often settle with fair compensation. If they don’t, your property insurance lawyer can recover damages in court far beyond the original claim.

When your home or business suffers devastating property damage, you have the right to the insurance benefits your premiums bought. Don’t let the insurance company’s bad faith leave you in the hole. If your insurance company isn’t  honoring its obligations and giving your fair compensation for your damage claim, contact a property damage lawyer right away for legal advice and assistance. Contact our law firm for a free consultation with a property insurance lawyer!