Sue Insurance Company
Most of us pay insurance premiums of some sort for our entire lives - car insurance, health insurance, homeowners insurance - with the agreement that they will pay us when we need it. When they don't, it might be time to sue your insurance company.
It is infuriating and possibly devastating when State Farm, Allstate, United Healthcare, or any other insurance company fails to hold up their end of the bargain. How can that be legal? Well, it is not. Insurance companies deny legitimate, covered claims, or try to lowball their insureds all the time. When they do create an unfair insurance dispute, you can sue them. And, if you can prove that your insurance company has done that in bad faith, you can get treble damages (ie more money as punishment to the insurance company).
What to Do if You Have an Insurance Coverage Dispute
1. ALWAYS make a paper trail. If you call your insurance company and they give you some information, send an email to the person you spoke with stating what you think that person said. For example, "Hi Jenn - When I spoke to you earlier today you said that I needed to resubmit my entire claim because part of the file was lost, right?" It doesn't matter if you receive no reply. Just make sure to keep the email you sent. Oh, and in Ohio, it is legal to record a phone conversation without the other person on the phone knowing.
2. Ask the insurance agent to tell you specifically what part of the policy they are looking at. The agent should be able to tell you something like "We are denying coverage because you didn't do XYZ, as required by Section II(25)(b) of your insurance policy.
3. Be courteous. Every email you write could be seen by a jury if your insurance dispute ends up going to trial. You do not want the jury to see you calling someone names or using obscenities.
4. Call a lawyer as soon as you figure out that your insurance company is not going to treat you fairly. The statute of limitations to sue insurance company is pretty short.
