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The above is a good question by anyone in Mansfield, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Dallas, Seagoville, Newark, Keller, Colleyville, or anywhere else in Texas. What does an insurance policy cover? Well the question may be good but the answer could be very long. So lets get more specific. Does an auto insurance policy cover exemplary damages?

The last question was answered in a 1972 case styled, Dairyland County Mutual Insurance Company v. Glen F. Wallgren, Indiv. and as Next Friend For Nancy. This was a Fort Worth Court of Appeals case.

The only question answered in this case was: Are indemnity benefits for exemplary damages afforded in Texas under a policy of automobile liability insurance written pursuant to the provisions of the Texas Insurance Code and under the delegation of legislative authority granted in the Insurance Code?

You live in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Weatherford, or anywhere else in Texas and your health insurance company does you wrong; does it happen to others?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran an article on April 19, that highlighted a health insurer based in North Richland Hills, Texas. This North Texas insurance company has had many complaints filed against it by its’ customers.

The title of the article is, “Health Insurer Based In North Richland Hills Facing Many Customer Complaints.” The article is written by Dianna Hunt.

You live in Grand Prairie, Texas, or Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Weatherford, or anywhere else in Texas and your insurance company does you wrong. What are the remedies against the insurance company?

A prior blog at this site discusses the policy damages that can be recovered under an insurance policy. The policy damages being the actual benefits provided by the policy that the insurance company should have paid or the actual policy benefits themselves. We will discuss three other recoveries here; mental anguish damages, “treble damages” and attorney’s fees.

To be able to recover mental anguish damages when an insurance company violates the Texas Insurance Code, the policyholder must show that the insurance company acted “knowingly.” This is stated in the Texas Supreme Court case, State Farm Life Insurance Company v. Beaston, a 1995 case.

A Grand Prairie man is in a wreck and the other guy’s insurance company tells him to get his car fixed and where to go. Same facts, but the guy is from Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Weatherford, or somewhere else in Texas. The insurance company later denies the claim for benefits. What does this mean?

It is rare for a person to be able to make a claim for benefits or sue an insurance company that is not his own insurance company. The exceptions have been pointed out in other posts and deal with situations where the person who does not have the policy was an intended beneficiary of the policy. An easy to understand example is a life insurance policy.

The general rule, or law in Texas is that a third party cannot use the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) or the Insurance Code for sueing an insurance company or one of it’s representatives or agents. But there is Texas case law that allows the third party claimant to sue when the insurance company makes misrepresentations that result in harm to the third party claimant.

Anybody who has bought a house in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Dallas, Mansfield, Weatherford, or anywhere else in Texas has probably had to buy a title insurance policy on the house. This is always a requirement when a house is financed and only cash purchasers sometimes do not buy this coverage.

Texas Lawyer magazine publishes a book called Texas Insurance Law Digest. A lot of attorneys who practice insurance law will have this book in their library for quick reference. The book is over 800 pages and the pages are 8 1/2 by 11. In other words a lot of information. The section dealing with Title Insurance is only two pages and cites a total of four cases.

For someone interested in what can be done when a title insurance company does something wrong the first case listed is probably a good example. This case is, Chicago Title Insurance Company v. McDaniel. The case was decided in 1994 by the Texas Supreme Court.