Insurance Bad Faith Claims & Insurance Coverage Disputes

Insurance Coverage Disputes in Washington State

Insurance companies have discovered that they can make more money by simply paying out less.  Insurance companies will often unreasonably deny or delay payment of benefits, fail to provide coverage or fail to settle a case within the limits of the insurance policy.  If this has happened to you, you have likely suffered “insurance bad faith,” and you may need to hire an insurance disputes lawyer that can get you the benefits to which you are entitled.

Washington State Insurance Commissioner

Has an insurance company unfairly denied your personal injury claim?   Is the insurance company refusing to pay?  It isn't because they don't have the money.  Insurance companies are putting profits over people. 

Insurance Industry Profits Over People 

• The insurance industry is making huge profits.  The U.S. insurance industry takes in over $1 trillion in premiums annually.3 It has $3.8 trillion in assets, more than the Gross Domestic Products of all but two countries in the world (United States and Japan).4
• Over the last 10 years, the property/casualty insurance industry has enjoyed average profits of over $30 billion a year. The life and health side of the insurance industry has averaged another $30 billion.5
• The CEOs of the top 10 property/casualty insurance companies earned an average $8.9 million in 2007. 
  

FREE Insurance Bad Faith Case Review

If you or a family member has struggled with an insurance claim, Seattle Attorney Chris Davis and the Davis Law Group, P.S. can help you. Having substantial experience with insurance disputes and bad faith claims and trying may of these cases in court, the Davis Law Group has the skill and expertise necessary to help you. 

Contact us now for a FREE conversation about your insurance dispute or bad faith claim. There is no obligation to hire a lawyer.  We are usually retained on a contingency fee basis. There is no fee until our attorneys successfully recover fair compensation for you.

The Top Ten Worst Insurance Companies

To identify the worst insurance companies for consumers, researchers at the American Association for Justice (AAJ) undertook a comprehensive investigation. The final list includes companies across a range of different insurance fields, including homeowners and auto insurers,health insurers, life insurers, and disability insurers.

1. Allstate
2. Unum
3. AIG
4. State Farm
5. Conseco
6. WellPoint
7. Farmers
8. UnitedHealth
9. Torchmark
10. Liberty Mutual

Allstate Insurance - Good Hands or Boxing Gloves?

Allstate’s confrontational attitude towards its own policyholders is legendary. Allstate focuses on reducing the amount of money it pays in claims, whether or not they were valid. When it adopted these recommendations, Allstate made a deliberate decision to start putting profits over policyholders.

The company essentially uses a combination of lowball offers and hardball litigation. It routinely offers claimants less than their case is worth. Those that accept the low-balled settlements are treated with “good hands” but may be left with less money than they need to cover medical bills and lost wages. If the claimant rejects the lowball offer and files a lawsuit Allstate will spend more than the claim is worth to fight it it court...to discourage others from filing suit.

Former Allstate adjusters say they were rewarded for keeping claims payments low, even if they had to deceive their customers.

Unum - Low-ball Claims

Unum has a history of denying and delaying claims. Former employees have gone on record saying Unum ordered them to deny claims in order to meet cost-savings goals. In 2005, Unum agreed to a settlement with insurance commissioners from 48 states over their claims-handling practices. Under the agreement, the company agreed to reopen more than 200,000 cases and pay $15 million.

According to a report by the California Department of Insurance, Unum systematically violated state insurance regulations and fraudulently denied or low-balled claims using phony medical reports, policy misrepresentations, and biased investigations.

State Farm - Deny, Delay, Defend

Like Allstate, State Farm used consulting giant McKinsey & Co. The McKinsey concept involves cutting spending on claims payments to boost profits. Agents steeped in the McKinsey way speak of the “three D’s”— deny the claim, delay the payment, and then do anything to defend against a lawsuit.

While State Farm will do anything to fight a claim once it has been taken to court, the company has never been shy about using the courts to its own advantage, even when it has to first stack the deck.

AIG Insurance - Claims Handling Abuse

The world’s biggest insurer, AIG has a long history of claims-handling abuses for both individuals and business clients. AIG has long had a reputation for claims-handling abuses.

Former AIG claims supervisors have alleged in litigation that the company used all manner of tricks to deny or delay claims, including locking checks in a safe until claimants complained, delaying payment of attorney fees until they were a year old, disposing of important correspondence, and routinely fighting claimants for years in court over small mundane claims.

AIG is not alone in using strategies such as deny-delay-defend to enhance its bottom line at their customers’ expense. What sets AIG apart, however, is the way it has so callously sought to take advantage of its policyholders’ misfortunes.

4. “Insurers as Investors,” Insurance Information Institute,http://www.iii.org/economics/investors/intro/.
5. “Industry Financials and Outlook,” Insurance Information Institute(III), http://www.iii.org/media/industry/; “Life Insurance,” InsuranceInformation Institute (III), http://www.iii.org/media/facts/ statsbyissue/life/.
6. “CEOs Rake in Cash but not Stock,” National Underwriter, January 2, 2008.

 

FREE Insurance Dispute Legal Consultation

Contact us now for a FREE legal consultation regarding your insurance coverage dispute case.  We have offices in Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Renton to serve accident victims all over Washington State. 

Yes, we can arrange to have someone come to you if you are unable to visit one of our our offices.    

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Blog for Insurance Coverage Disputes & Bad Faith Claims

• The Top Ten Worst Insurance Companies - Washington State Insurance Commisioner
• Seattle Woman Fights for her Life and Insurance Coverage l Washington Lawyer
• Insurance Dispute Resources l Washington State l Seattle Attorney
• Important Resources l Washington State Insurance Claims l Seattle Attorney
• Washington State's Insurance Fair Conduct Act - One Year Anniversary l Seattle Personal Injury Attorney
• Insurance Company "Tricks of the Trade" l Seattle Personal Injury & Insurance Claims Attorney
• From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves: How Allstate Has Earned Billions by Shortchanging Policyholders & Claimants
• Contempt order that triggered huge fines against Allstate to be lifted
• Insurance Company Rules - Watch this Video!!
• Insurance Bad Faith: Farmers Insurance bills fire victims $420,000
• Frivolous Lawsuits by Car Insurance Companies
• New Malingerer Pyschological Test Used and Challenged in Personal-Injury Cases
• Allstate Claims Process Explained l Davis Law Group Seattle
• Health Insurer Ordered to Pay $9 Million for Illegally Terminating Benefits
• Insurance Company Alleged to Have Killed Patient for Refusing to Pay for Treatment
• Insurance Companies Seeking Ways to Mitigate the Insurance Fair Conduct Act (Referendum 67)
• Health Plan Sues Accident Victim to Recover Entire Settlement Recovery l Seattle Attorney

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Library for Insurance Coverage Disputes & Bad Faith Claims:

• Allstate gives McKinsey documents to regulator   
  Description: McKinsey produced about 13,000 pages of documents for Allstate in the 1990s as it developed methods for the insurer to become more profitable by paying less in claims.
• Allstate’s Deceptive Advertising Campaign Sinks To A New Low   
  Description: These days advertising campaigns are designed to do more than just make consumers aware of products that they may need. They are also designed to create public perceptions that will help drive and influence other behaviors on a social level—to change the way they think.
• Expect More “Deny, Delay, Defend” Tactics As Insurance Company Profits Decrease l Seattle Lawyer   
  Description: Industry wide, first-half premium revenue was down for the first time since 2005 while claims jumped by 13.6%, or $20 billion. Allstate, a division of Allstate Insurance Group reported a profit drop of $1.5 billion, more than any other insurer. The percentage decline was 61.5%.
• NAIC Cites Top Insurance Complaints for 2007   
  Description: According to data released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the top three reasons consumers filed formal complaints against their insurance companies in 2007 were delays, denials of claims and unsatisfactory settlement offers. Policy cancellations and premium/insurance rating issues completed the top five.
• Dateline NBC: State Farm Insurance Investigation   
  Description: Dateline investigates State Farm Insurance Company and its little-known practice of "paper review." In a paper review, State Farm employees review a patient's medical records rather than actually examining the patient. The Dateline crew discovered that some State Farm employees use this practice to manipulate the system. For example, the crew found that some employees "secretly orchestrated the supposedly independent medical results, helping author reports and dictating changes to medical opinions that led to lower recommended payments for medical claims."
• Worst And Best Insurers For Non-Payment of Claims   
  Description: Worst And Best Insurers For Non-Payment of Claims
• Good faith insurance bill passes House l Washington State Lawyer   
  Description: The Minnesota House Thursday okayed a measure that would make it easier for homeowners and motorists to sue their insurance companies over unpaid claims.
• Did Insurance Company Cheat Disabled Clients? (60 Minutes, CBS)   
  Description: A number of people who worked at UnumProvident, the giant of the disability insurance business, whose clients include CBS, told us that the company’s management puts tremendous pressure on claims handlers to deny new claims and shut down existing ones. And that many UnumProvident policy holders- who are obviously disabled – are left out in the cold.
• Bad Faith and Excess Liability : Insurance Company Conduct on Trial   
  Description: It is a general rule that every contract implies the exercise of good faith and fair dealing between the parties to the contract -- that neither party will do anything that impairs the right of the other to receive the benefits of the agreement.
• Washington State Insurance Commissioner Rejects Claims On R-67   
  Description: The state's top elected industry watchdog, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, is baring his teeth and pushing back against a heavily financed campaign to overturn new insurance regulations.

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Frequent Questions for Insurance Coverage Disputes & Bad Faith Claims:

• What does the term insurance "bad faith" mean?
• What Are Some Examples of Bad Faith Conduct?
• If my insurance company denies my claim, do I have any rights?

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Videos about Insurance Coverage Disputes & Bad Faith Claims:

• Anderson Cooper 360 -- Keeping them Honest: Insurance Battle

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Web Resources for Insurance Coverage Disputes & Bad Faith Claims:

• AIG Insurance
• American International Group, Inc
• Aetna Insurance
• Safeco Insurance
• USAA Military Home, Life & Auto Insurance
• Farmers Insurance
• The Hartford Insurance Company
• Geiko Insurance
• Travelers Property Casualty Corporation & Insurance Company
• Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

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Helping Injury Victims Across Washington State:
We have offices in Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Renton to serve injury victims all over Washington State.  We have handled cases from Seattle to Spokane, Vancouver to Bellingham, and everywhere in between, such as: Arlington, Auburn, Bellevue, Bellingham, Bothell, Bremerton, Edmonds, Everett, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Lacey, Longview, Lynnwood, Marysville, Medina, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Port Orchard, Redmond, Renton, Shelton, Snohomish, Sumner, Tacoma, Tukwila, and Woodinville.

FREE Personal Injury Legal Consultation

Contact us now for a FREE legal consultation regarding your case. We have offices in Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Renton to serve accident victims all over Washington State. 

Yes, we can arrange to have someone come to you if you are unable to visit one of our our offices.    

Call 206-727-4000 or 1-800-4-Accident today.

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