Most homeowners’ insurance policies provide liability coverage that offers protection against lawsuits if a person is injured or suffers damage to their property while on your premises. All too often, however, liability claims are denied by insurers for unclear or unfair reasons.
At this time of the year, most people are focused on preparations, gatherings and all things holiday-related. Indeed, it’s probably safe to say that the last thing on the minds of many Floridians are the two major hurricanes that hit the state this past fall — Hurricane Hermine in September and Hurricane Matthew in October.
In a previous post, we discussed how the failure on the part of an insurance company to fulfill its duties to defend and indemnify may be grounds for an insurance bad faith lawsuit. Specifically, we discussed how aggrieved policyholders can pursue either first-party claims — failing to settle claims in good faith — or third-party claims — failing to settle third-party claims within policy limits in good faith.
Many people in Florida and elsewhere do not question an insurer when it issues a denial of benefits. In many instances, however, insurers will interpret language in the policy to their own benefit. When they do that blindly and ignore their plain responsibilities to their insured customer, the company may be liable to the insured under the principles of bad faith insurance law.
Health insurers are not consumer-oriented protectors in our dog-eat-dog healthcare system of today. In fact, in Florida and elsewhere, some of the greatest heartache and family suffering has been caused by wrongful decisions of health insurers. It is common these days to receive a denial of health insurance coverage based on illogical and irrational reasons. These decisions are so hurtful to consumers that some of them must seek bankruptcy relief while others suffer permanent credit record blemishes for outlandish medical bills that they cannot pay.
In general, insurance companies owe their policyholders the duties to defend and to indemnify, meaning the obligation to provide a legal defense against claims filed by third parties that fall within the scope of the policy and the obligation to make payments to their customers for valid claims, respectively.
When the day finally arrives for a person to take the plunge and purchase a new car after years of driving the same vehicle, they will find that much has changed. These changes aren’t just confined to things like engines, fuel economy and interior features, however, but also safety.
Over the course of 2016, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has made a series of announcements that could best be described as upbeat. For example, the state-run non-profit indicated early in the year that its catastrophe funds were carrying a balance of close to $17 billion in cash and bonds, such that it was “in the strongest financial position” since its inception back in 2002.
While it can undoubtedly be painful to write out a check once a month, once every six months or once a year to cover an insurance premium, it can nevertheless grant you, the policyholder, much-needed peace of mind. Indeed, you might feel secure knowing that should the unexpected and the unfortunate occur, your best interests will be protected — at least from a financial perspective.
It goes without saying that as soon as Hurricane Matthew was forecast to hit Florida, insurance companies doing business in the state almost immediately began preparing for worst-case scenarios. Indeed, initial projections were showing that certain areas of the Sunshine State could experience catastrophic damage.
