Professional Disability Bad Faith Insurance Cases.

Professional disability insurers have been found liable for denying coverage on claims brought by disabled professionals. In the 1970s and 1980s some of these insurers grossly oversold disability policies to younger professionals, anticipating that few claims would mount from this low risk population. However as the policyholders aged and professionals became disabled, the claims mounted steadily. Some of the companies decided to cope by unfairly denying claims to cut their losses.

A Florida ophthalmologist who suffered a back injury and was denied coverage was recently awarded 37 Million (June 2001) which included punitive damages against the insurer.

Bad faith claims are basically a breach of the insurance contract, when insurers use non-legitimate reasons to deny claims. Insurers have a duty to the insured to examine claims in good faith and use fair dealing when evaluating claims. To act in bad faith requires the insurer to engage in unfair dealing not just a mistake. Most lawsuits involve action against an insured's own insurance company, and arises in situations where the insurance company unfairly and without proper cause, fails to compensate the insured for a loss covered by the policy, or unreasonably delays making payments due under the policy.

If you believe you have been the victim of professional disability insurance bad faith, we invite you to contact us by filling out the information below to speak with an attorney about your case.