If your insurance claim was denied, you are not alone. It is estimated that every year as many as 1 in every 14 claims are denied by Insurance Companies in the United States. <However, the number that’s even more startling is that only one percent of these claimants question or challenge their insurance companies after being denied.

The good news is that, as the insured, the law does give you some recourse in the event of an unfair insurance claim denial. Contact the Law offices of Ford & Laurel to schedule consultation today

The first thing that you must determine after the insurance company denies your claim is why your Insurance Company did so. Your first line of defense in learning why the insurance company made this decision, is usually to speak with your insurance agent. If that doesn’t help the next step should be to review your policy to see if it reveals anything that could cause your claim to be denied.

Often the answers that you uncover at this point will determine whether you need to continue pursuing the claim or whether the insurance company was justified. If after consulting the agent or policy you believe that your insurance company was wrong, it may be a bad faith denial.
What Is Bad Faith?
Bad faith is a legal definition that applies to the practice of insurance companies:
Partially paying an insurance claim
Delaying the decision on insurance claims
Denying the claim, even though the evidence indicates that you had a valid claim
Additionally, each state has a list of practices that they deem as unfair insurance practices. In the state of Texas the Texas Insurance Code stipulates that insurance companies who underwrite policies within state lines must meet certain minimum conduct standards.
For example, in Texas, insurance companies only have 15 days from the date of receiving a claim to respond with a written acknowledgment of receipt of the claim to the insured party; beginning to investigating the claim; and request all necessary paper work, forms and other information from the policyholder in order to process the claim.
The Texas Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act (Insurance Code 542.001-542.302) also provides a comprehensive list of insurer settlement practices that are illegal in Texas.

Texas does have a statute of limitations on bad faith insurance cases. This means that once you are beyond the statute of limitations period you will be unable to file a bad faith lawsuit against the insurance company.

Another detail that you should be aware of is that Texas permits insurance companies to shorten the statute of limitations period through the terms of the insurance contract. The only way to definitively know when your limitations period ends would be to review your insurance contract or alternatively you could consult a Texas bad faith attorney. Don’t delay talk to an experienced attorney today.

If your insurance claim has been denied, remember that since there’s a statute of limitations time is of the essence. Call us today for a Free confidential consultation about your case.

To find out how much you can expect to receive if you succeed in your claim, contact the Texas Insurance Claim Attorney at Ford & Laurel. Arrange for a free case evaluation with Sandra today!
Articles about Insurance claims Stats:
Texas Liability Insurance annual report 2011: