Failure to Settle
When an insurer gambles with its own policyholder’s exposure. These cover policy-limit demands, excess judgments, and what the insured can do about it.
The Policy Limits Demand and Why It Matters
This is the moment that creates most third-party bad-faith cases. An injured claimant offers to settle for the policy limits, the insurer declines, the case goes to trial, and the verdict lands above the limits. What happens next depends entirely on whether that refusal was reasonable.
Read more →Time-Limited Demands and Their Mechanics
A settlement demand with a deadline compresses the insurer's decision, which is exactly its purpose. It also has to be made and handled correctly, and in some states the rules for doing so are set out specifically.
Read more →When the Judgment Exceeds Your Coverage
Learning that a judgment is larger than your insurance is frightening, and the instinct is to deal with the judgment. The more important question is how the case got there.
Read more →Assignment and How the Claim Actually Gets Paid
In most states an injured person cannot sue the other side's insurer directly. Assignment is the mechanism that bridges that gap, and it is why third-party bad-faith cases take the shape they do.
Read more →When Your Insurer Refuses to Defend
Being sued and told by your own insurer that it will not defend you is among the worst positions a policyholder can be in. It is also a decision insurers get wrong reasonably often, because the duty to defend is broader than most people assume.
Read more →Looking for the law in your state?
These describe how each denial works, which is much the same everywhere. What you can do about one is not — choose the state where your policy was issued.