Accidents happen, particularly car accidents. In fact, the U.S. alone has over 227.5 million licensed drivers- some are great, some not so much. That’s why we have insurance to protect ourselves and our property from financial hardships. So what do you do when your insurance company refuses to provide the protection you paid for?

An insurance policy is a promise. When an insurer breaks its promise to a client (the insured party), the company is acting in bad faith. Some examples of bad faith include:

  • When the insurer won’t pay what is owed for a claim
  • Refusing to handle a claim within a reasonable amount of time
  • Failing to defend the insured against a claim
  • Failing to settle a claim against the insured within the policy limits

Recently, we represented a client whose auto insurance company enacted bad faith by refusing to defend the insured. Our client had purchased a car insurance policy from a large national carrier. Later, his car broke down and he stopped paying the premium, so he received a policy cancellation notice.

After the cancellation, our client purchased a new vehicle. The seller sold him the new car on the condition that he get insurance first. He promptly drove to his agent, made a payment, and got new cards for the new vehicle. A couple of weeks later, he got into an accident. The insurer’s excuse was that he had been canceled, and so the company refused to cover him- even though he had proof of insurance cards and a paid receipt!

The injured victim of the accident went to court. Since our client wasn’t being defended by his insurer, the injury victim got a $160,000 judgment against our client, who was already struggling financially due to the expenses of his own vehicle damages and injuries. He was only able to make monthly payments of fifty dollars.

After several months of scraping money together, he mentioned to Kirksville, Missouri attorney Tom Hensley what had happened. Mr. Hensley contacted our office and referred the client to us. We fought and sued the insurance company for bad faith refusal to defend the claim against our client.

The insurance company ultimately settled for a sum large enough to not only satisfy the judgment against our client (and stop the monthly payments, which were a constant source of stress) but also put a substantial amount of money in the client’s pocket to compensate for the burden he had to endure due to the insurer’s failure to maintain its promise.

If you believe your insurance company has acted in bad faith, legal options are available to you. The thought of suing your insurance company can be intimidating, but not nearly as scary as becoming a victim of bad faith insurance. Hiring an attorney may be the only thing protecting you from losing everything!

Discuss your case thoroughly with a qualified attorney who has experience taking on insurance companies. The Missouri accident lawyers at The S.E. Farris Law Firm have successfully represented clients in bad faith and vexatious refusal to pay cases, so act soon and contact us for a free consultation.