Tim Gallagher recently spoke at a Continuing Legal Education Seminar sharing his expertise with other area lawyers on Insurance Bad Faith.
Tim joined a panel consisting primarily of insurance defense attorneys to give his perspective on Bad Faith litigation from the Plaintiff’s perspective.
So, what is Bad Faith?
When someone is injured in a car crash, lawyers usually refer to three parties: the injured party, the party responsible for the crash and the responsible party’s insurance company.
Auto insurance is supposed to provide economic protection both for people who are injured in car crashes and for people who cause car crashes. The insurance company of the person who caused a car crash acts in “good faith,” when it properly investigates, evaluates and then quickly settles a claim. When it doesn’t do those things, then both the injured party and the party that caused the crash are harmed by the insurance company’s actions.
People hire us when they are hurt in a car crash to make sure they are treated fairly. Sometimes people who caused a car crash hire us to make sure that the insurance that they bought protects them like it is supposed to.
As Tim discussed in his presentation to a group of lawyers on June 14, 2012, litigating insurance bad faith from an individual’s perspective includes both complicated issues of contract and statutory law, as well as knowledge of available remedies and issues surrounding legal ethics.
Hopefully if you are involved in either side of a crash, the insurance company will do what they’ve promised (good neighbors, good hands, on your side…) If not, be sure to talk to a lawyer who is experienced in taking on insurance bad faith.