The Insurance Company’s Duty of Good Faith to You
When Your Claim Is Denied, What Can You Do? A slip and fall or an unexpected car crash could turn your life upside down. When you suffer an injury, you believe that your insurance company will uphold their end of the bargain and pay your claims. Sadly, this is not always the case. Many of […]
5 Ways Insurance Companies Can Wrong Their Clients
Consumers are often dismayed to find out just how far their insurance company will go to deny a claim, raise their rates, or deny coverage entirely despite insurance law in San Francisco and the rest of California. Many people believe that purchasing insurance is a simple business transaction—you pay your monthly premiums, the company pays […]
Litigating An Insurance Bad Faith Case Based On A Denial Of Disability Benefits
Litigating an insurance bad faith case based on a denial of disability benefits has become increasingly complex in an age where mergers and acquisitions may put distance between your defendant and your ability to prove a company-wide plan to deny benefits in order to increase profits-a clear necessity of you hope to obtain a punitive […]
Serbonian Bog – re the enactment of ERISA in 1974 by Congress
In 1974 Congress enacted ERISA to “promote the interest of employees and their beneficiaries in employee benefit plans.” Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 90. Spurred on by the Studebaker plant shutdown in 1963, which caused approximately 4,400 workers to lose their pensions, ERISA was specifically enacted to address, and aid the […]
Do You Need An Expert To Prove Bad Faith?
In a bad faith case, use of an “insurance” expert can be discretionary. Numerous cases have held that it is not necessary to use an expert to prove bad faith. For example, in DeChant v. Monarch Life Insurance Company, (1996) 200 Wis. 2d 559, the court opined that the insured was not required to introduce […]
The Use Of Bad Faith And Other Experts In The Trial Of A Bad Faith Disability Case
1. What Is Expert Opinion In An Insurance Bad Faith Case? “Bad Faith” as that term is used by the Courts in insurance coverage cases, simply means an unreasonable denial of benefits including an unreasonable denial of the duty to defend. Just as with a personal injury case, or any other kind of tort case, […]
The Use Of Depositions From Other Cases To Prove Pattern And Practice
On February 3, 2002, a unanimous federal jury awarded our client, Joan Hangarter, $7.7 million in damages against Paul Revere Insurance and UnumProvident Corporation for bad faith denial of disability benefits. The jury’s award included$5 million dollars for punitive damages. The subject discussed in this article figured prominently during the course of the litigation. We […]