Bad Faith Insurance

Insurance Scams?

July 14, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Residents of Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Fort Worth, Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, Richardson, Carrollton, and other places in Dallas County and Texas should be concerned about insurance scams. They drive up the cost of insurance and nobody likes the thought of someone profiting from illegal actions. Most of the time when you think of this, what comes to mind is staged car wrecks, intentional fires to collect insurance money, and other similar actions. What you do not normally think of is, the insurance company being who is doing the scamming.

Here is a story worth reading.

The Houston Chronicle published an article on May 13, 2011, written by Patrick Danner. The title of the article is, “USAA sued anew over medical payouts in crashes Plaintiffs say insurer’s reviews are ‘shams’; firm defends pratices.”

Insurance Law Solutions

May 19, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Solutions are what someone in Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington, Cockrell Hill, Irving, Mesquite, Richardson, Garland, Duncanville, and other places want when it comes to a situation where they are being taken advantage of by an insurance company.

One of the first things an experienced Insurance Law Attorney has to decide when taking on an insurance case is – Who can be sued.

The Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.151, provides that a person who has sustained damages caused by another’s engaging in unfair or deceptive insurance practices may sue the person engaging in those acts or practices. The statute itself defines “person” to mean “an individual, corporation, association, partnership, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, Lloyd’s plan, fraternal benefit society, or any other legal entity engaged in the business of incurance, including an agent, broker, adjuster or life insurance counselor.

Insurance Law And Deceptive Trade Practices Act

April 16, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Insured people in places like Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Mansfield, Burleson, Crowley, Joshua, Keene, Alvarado, and other places in Texas would know very little about Texas Insurance Law or the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The two are connected and maybe this article will help to make that clear.

A large part of this information is taken from a lawyer resource called, Texas Practice Guide – Insurance Litigation.

The Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.151(2) cross-references and prohibits conduct defined in the Texas Business & Commerce Code, Section 17.46(b). This 17.46 is part of what is commonly called the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). the DTPA applies to all types of consumer transactions, not just insurance, so many of the provisions are not directly relevant. The most relevant provisions prohibit:

A Bad Faith Insurance Claim

April 7, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Here is one for the insured in Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas, Mansfield, Lancaster, De Soto, Duncanville, Cedar Hill, Pantego, or any other city and town in Texas.

What happens when you are in an accident that is your fault, the other person, who is injured makes a claim against your insurance company for an amount of money that is within your policy limits, the insurance company refuses to pay, the injured person sues you and gets a judgment in excess of your policy limits; Are you liable for the amount of money above what the insurance policy pays?

Answer: It depends! Don’t you just hate it.

Bad Faith Claims

March 26, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Someone in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Fort Worth, Dallas, Irving, Mesquite, Garland, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, or anywhere else in Texas may use the term “bad faith” when talking about insurance, but very few people can actually define it. And those who can define it will still have a hard time, in a legal sense, applying that term or definition to a particular fact situation.

The United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, had a case recently dealing, in part, with this issue. The opinion in the case was issued on February 28, 2011, and is styled, C. K. Lee v. Catlin Specialty Insurance Company, Justin Carroll, and Engle Martin & Associates, Inc.

Here are some of the underlying facts:

Insurance Law Notice Requirement

March 15, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Folks in Weatherford, Parker County, Aledo, Azle, Springtown, Poolville, Whitt, Peaster, Hudson Oaks, Brock, Willow Park, Cool, Millsap, and other places in Texas will at one time or another have a claim against their own insurance company. When making this claim against their own insurance company, otherwise known as a first party claim, and the insurance company does not treat you properly in the handling of the claim it is likely that there have been violations of provisions of the Texas Insurance Code. When this happens it is advisable to seek the assistance of an experienced Insurance Law Attorney. Here is what he should tell you.

1) gather all the documents you have related to the claim, such as the policy itself, letters and e-mails and faxes to and from the insurance company, and any documents verifying the value of the loss such as repair bills or estimates;

2) write out what has happened – this should be your version of the sequence of events with all the relevant information to help the attorney understand the case – the writing should start out: My name is …, I have a policy of insurance with …, On such and such date … happened, I then made a claim to my insurance company for benefits. Then write down a sequencial listing of what happened in the claims process.

Bad Faith And Insurance Contracts

January 30, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

How does this stuff work?! That is a question someone in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Weatherford, Arlington, Mansfield, Irving, or anywhere else in Texas might ask when it comes to insurance contracts and bad faith insurance.

“Insurance coverage claims and bad faith claims are by their nature independent. But, in most circumstances, an insured may not prevail on a bad faith claim without first showing that the insurer breached the contract.” This was stated in the Texas Supreme Court case styled, Liberty National Fire Insurance Company v. The Honorable Ted Akin, decided in 1996.

The case is called a mandamus proceeding.

Theories Of Recovery In Insurance Cases

January 23, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Weatherford, Parker County, Aledo, Azle, Mineral Wells, and other residents through out Texas would wonder what are the different ways of recovering losses that result from an insurance company or insurance company agent doing something wrong in the sale of an insurance policy.

The Texas Department of Insurance has a web-site that provides some information about insurance companies and insurance agents. There is also information at this site about insurance adjusters.

The Texas Supreme Court hears and issues opinions about situations that have happened across the state dealing with insurance related issues. Plus the lower appeals courts and the local courts have to hear and decide on insurance related cases on a fairly regular basis.

Negligent Misrepresentation

January 22, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

People in Grand Prairie, Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield, Garland, Mesquite, Rowlette, De Soto, Cedar Hill, Duncanville, and other places in Texas would like to think that people are honest with them in their business dealings. The majority of the time, this is true. Rarely does someone intentionally lie about a subject, but occassionly a misrepresentation is made, not on purpose, but accidently. When this is done it is called negligent misrepresentation.

Here is an example of negligent misrepresentation. This is from a 2003 case styled, New York Life Insurance Company, et al v. Phillip M. Miller. This case was decided by the Texas Court of Appeals, Austin.

Here is some background:

First Party Theories Of Recovery

January 20, 2011 | Mark S. Humphreys

Insureds in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Cedar Hill, De Soto, Duncanville, Red Oak, Lancaster, Arlington, Forest Hills, and other places in Texas do not really understand the different parts of insurance transactions. Let’s try to get an understanding and be more educated about insurance transactions.

To understand the different ways disputes can arise, it is helpful to consider the sequence of events that is likely to occur. At its very simplest, the insurance transaction can be divided into the initial sale of the policy, and subsequent handling of claims. These can be broken down further to include:

(1) The sale of the policy: Initially, the consumer and insurer or insurer’s agent must communicate to establish a contractual relationship. Disputes may arise over what was asked for by the applicant, what was represented by the insurer or agent, or the timeliness of the insurer or agent in providing coverage. Issues may also arise about the truthfulness of the applicant or agent in disclosing information requested by the insurer;