W Insurance might be one of the lesser-known insurance companies, but they still occasionally mistreat their policyholders, just like the more well-known insurance companies sometimes do. If you’ve had a recent insurance loss and feel Wawanesa didn’t act fairly or reasonably when handling your claim, consider consulting with an insurance attorney.
Depending on what W Insurance (formerly Wawanesa) did, you might have a bad faith insurance claim and can take legal action to recover damages. Bad faith often exists when insurance companies make low-ball settlement offers to their policyholders. To learn more about your legal rights and how to make the most of them, contact Maison Law. We offer free, no-obligation consultations where you can tell us what happened and we can help you obtain the compensation you need and deserve.
What Is Insurance Bad Faith?
An insurance company may be liable for bad faith if it intentionally acts unfairly, unreasonably, or dishonestly with its policyholders. California’s insurance laws and regulations require insurance companies to honor their insurance contract obligations, which include acting in the best interests of their policyholders.
This doesn’t mean an insurance company must approve and pay out for every claim they receive. However, if they refuse to cover a loss or don’t pay the amount requested by their policyholder, they must explain their decisions.
Wawanesa Insurance has changed its name to W Insurance. W Insurance is required to process claims within a reasonable amount of time and not unfairly burden its policyholders with conditions for coverage.
Under California’s Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations, an insurance company could be subject to bad faith liability if it fails to:
- Acknowledge claims submitted to them.
- Decide submitted claims within 40 days.
- Settle claims once liability has been reasonably determined.
- Attempt to settle a claim that a reasonable person would conclude they’re entitled to receive.
- Confirm or deny coverage within a reasonable amount of time.
- Provide a reasonable explanation for a claim denial.
A California insurance company might also be liable for bad faith if they:
- Advise a policyholder not to consult with an attorney.
- Threaten further legal action to coerce a policyholder to accept a settlement.
- Mislead a policyholder about an insurance claim or lawsuit filing deadline.
- Fail to indemnify a policyholder in a personal injury lawsuit.
Insurance Bad Faith in a Failure To Indemnify Claim
Indemnification within this context refers to an insurance company paying a third party for damages due to the wrongful act of the insurance company’s policyholder. If an insurance company refuses to indemnify its policyholder for a covered loss, that might constitute bad faith, depending on what happened.
For example, let’s say you get into a car accident where the other driver in the accident gets hurt. You’re deemed to be at fault (there’s no dispute here) for the accident, and the other driver asks for $100,000 in compensation.
Your car insurance company should pay this amount, assuming it’s a covered loss. However, your insurance company believes the other driver is inflating their claimed damages. But instead of negotiating with the other driver to a lower amount, your insurance company flat out refuses to pay a dime. You ask your insurance company to settle, given how it’s clear you caused the accident. Your insurance company dismisses your concerns, stating it wants to go to court and will take its chances there.
The other driver sues you, and the jury awards that driver $200,000. Your car insurance company has to pay that amount, but your policy limits only go up to $150,000. Now, your personal assets are in jeopardy, as they could be used to make up the $50,000 difference.
In this example, your car insurance company may be deemed to have acted in bad faith by rejecting the $100,000 settlement offer without providing a reasonable explanation. While it’s reasonable for an insurance company to believe a third party is asking for excessive damages, it’s not reasonable to flat-out refuse to negotiate, especially when the liability of their policyholder is clear.
Avoiding Mistreatment By W Insurance
W Insurance isn’t perfect, and sometimes they don’t always do what’s required by the law or in the interests of their policyholders. In some instances, there are things you can do to improve the chances of protecting your rights and ensuring W Insurance properly handles your claim:
- Be careful when giving recorded statements to a W claims adjuster. Being asked to provide details of your accident or loss in a recorded statement is normal. When doing so, understand that what you say can potentially be used against you by taking what you’ve said out of context. Depending on whether liability is being contested and the value of your claim, you may want to talk to an insurance lawyer before giving a recorded statement.
- Be wary of low-ball settlement offers. Immediately after an accident, you may be in desperate need of cash to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs, property repairs, and/or lost income. However, don’t let this desperation force you to accept a claim settlement offer that you know is too low. Doing so not only means you get less money for your claim, but it can also prevent you from recovering for financial losses due to long-term health issues.
- Be prepared to show receipts. A W Insurance adjuster may try to convince you that your claimed amount is too high. They might use their own “expert” to show that your repair estimate or medical bill was excessive. To counter this, you may need one or more of your own experts to justify the amount you claim. Yes, this forces you to do more work to get what you’re already contractually entitled to, but it’s an unfortunate fact of the insurance claims process. Refusing to provide your own evidence means either accepting W Insurance’s low-ball offer or getting your claim rejected for lack of cooperation during the investigation process.
Proving W Insurance Acted in Bad Faith
You’ll generally be able to prove bad faith if you can show that a valid insurance contract was in effect and Wawanesa:
- Unreasonably delayed the payment of a claim;
- Unreasonably denied a claim;
- Failed to conduct a proper investigation into a claim; and/or
- Breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing.
If you can show bad faith, you’ll be eligible to recover damages.
What Can I Recover in a W Bad Faith Insurance Lawsuit?
There are three main types of damages you could potentially recover:
- Contract damages: These are equal to the amount of the denied claim, plus interest.
- Extracontractual damages: These are intended to compensate you for financial and psychological harm stemming from the bad faith conduct. It will also reimburse you for other related costs, like attorney’s fees.
- Exemplary (punitive) damages: These are designed to punish the insurance company for their bad conduct. Under California Law, exemplary damages may be awarded if the insurance company is guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice toward their policyholder.
Maison Law’s Bad Faith Insurance Lawyers Can Help
If you have a claim with W Insurance that hasn’t been handled fairly or appropriately, you may have a bad faith insurance cause of action against them. Maybe your claim was improperly denied without explanation. Or perhaps a claims adjuster low-balled you following an accident. Whatever the reason, the bad faith insurance lawyers from Maison Law can help.
We deal with unreasonable insurance companies often, so we understand what it takes to get them to listen and do what’s required for their insureds. Our attorneys are ready to negotiate a fair settlement on your behalf. If that’s not possible, we’ll take W Insurance to court to ensure you get the compensation you deserve.
To learn more, contact us today. The sooner you reach out, the sooner we can hold an insurer accountable for their contractual duties under your insurance policy. We don’t charge you until we recover money on your behalf. There’s also no fee or obligation for having a consultation.
