QuestionFirst, Thank you for your time. I know you can answer based only on the info I provide, so to keep from having to wrie a book my quesions will be with basic facts of the issue.
In Texas do you believe an insurance company is guilty of bad faith if they offer a settlement for 3000 dollars and the actual value is over 6000.
Second question. I had an parking lot claim, a lady said I backed into her.After taking statements from all parties my ins company paid the other party. I called the claims office who handled the claim and got a supervisor. I explained to her that the other party had no more credible evidence that I did. My vehicle had no damage and there wer no witnesses. I ask the supervisor how they could find me at fault when they never looked at my vehicle to see if I had any damage nor did they measure the how hi the damage was on the other parties vehicle and compare it to see if it was even possible if I could have done the damage.
After giving the supervisor this information she stated that I was correct and that my insurance company should not have paid the claim. She stated she would change it from at fault to not at fault. I requested she send me a letter stating I was not at fault and she did this.
Due to the fact the insurance company did not fully investigate the claim properly are they guilty of bad faith.
AnswerHi Chip,
I will try to answer your questions in the order you asked them:
1) If the insurance company had information that reasonably indicated the value was $3000 instead of $6000 then it is not bad faith. In order for it to be bad faith you would have to prove that the insurance company knew that the vehicle was worth $6000 and intentionally offered less for the sole purpose of harming you and enriching themselves.
2)The desision to pay, deny or defend a claim rests solely with the insurance company. In this case it sounds like the claims adjuster may have needed some additional training and perhaps paid the claim prematurely. However, in spite of the fact that the insurer paid the claim, that fact that they changed the status of the claim from "at-fault" to "not at-fault" and provided you with written confirmation, would mean that there is no bad faith. You were not harmed as a result of their handling of the claim. They did not pay the claim in order to be malicious against you. They corrected the issue so that you would not have a premium increase. The only one harmed here is the insurance company for paying the claim.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
