Is there anything easy about insurance? Health insurance has been a flashpoint for controversy for years now. Auto insurance has gone through some tough times, too, especially since the advent of no-fault coverage. Homeowners insurance — most Florida homeowners would likely start any discussion about property insurance by saying, “Don’t even get me started.”
For some reason, when we think about reading the fine print of an insurance policy, a Peanuts strip about Linus reading “The Brothers Karamazov” comes to mind. Lucy asks him if he finds the Russian names to be difficult. “No, when I come to one I can’t pronounce,” Linus replies, “I just bleep right over it.”
As might be expected, there are a few growing pains associated with the Affordable Care Act. The website issues have been documented in the media, but a lesser-known problem involves unfamiliarity with new procedures applicable to both doctors and patients.
We encourage people to read their insurance policies thoroughly, even before they write the first premium check. The policy explains what is covered by the insurance, what kind of event triggers a valid claim, and what portion of the total loss the insurance policy will cover. The challenge is understanding exactly what the policy language means.
Another round of “take-outs” is coming for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The state-backed insurance company has made some progress in its struggle to move policyholders to private insurers, paring down its rolls from a 2012 high of 1.4 million policyholders to today’s 933, 422. Still, there is a ways to go: Even with the take-outs scheduled to be completed by fall, Citizens will be far from its goal of 650,000-700,000 policyholders.
Most Floridians are well aware of the difference between owning a condominium and owning a single-family house. The owner of a house is responsible for everything that has to do with that property: the house and the yard, utilities, water and sewer, insurance, flood insurance … ad infinitum. The owner of a condo, however, is only responsible for maintaining the individual unit. The homeowners association takes care of the rest.
As we said when we started this series of posts, it is rare to find news stories about insurance bad faith cases. This case, against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., is remarkable because of the punitive damage award — the $18 million referred to in the headline. That is a drop in the ocean for such a big company (Nationwide reported net income of $1.35 billion for 2013), but, then, the initial claim was worth just $25,000.
A woman we know remembers being in a two-car accident. Her vehicle was drivable, but there was significant damage. When it came back from shop, everyone agreed that it just didn’t drive or ride as well. It was soon a family joke to comment that the Jeep just hadn’t been the same since the accident.
We are talking about a bad faith case against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. The policyholders won the most recent round in the years-long litigation, with the court ordering Nationwide to pay $18 million in punitive damages. Nationwide is appealing that decision.
We don’t often have the chance to discuss a bad faith lawsuit against an insurance company. The cases may settle out of court, or they may not be interesting enough to get the attention of even legal periodicals. Whatever the reason, an excellent example of bad faith crossed our desks in a case about a couple’s decades-long fight over an auto claim.
