Auto Insurance Claims: total loss on my truck, small claims court, copys

Question
QUESTION: My teuck was stolen and the insurance company wants all access to my phone records, bank statements, credit reports, maintenance records, I gave them a phone interview but they will not give me a copy of it and they are calling it work product. I thought work product is if it was intement it will go to court. Its been 90 days now and they have denied stating lack of cooperation., Do by law do I have to give them a second interview and all my records and how long can they drag this out. Can I take them to small claims court since I've been denied. Thank you Patrick Penn

   I have gave them access to my records but I asked for copys of anything they get but they said no. They also want a second interview but I have not gave it to them yet. I will give them a second interview after they get my records. Can I take them to small claims court if they still reject me after they have my records. I have no criminal history, I work and make about 5,000 a month and I'm not behind on my payments. And I have reciepts showing I just put a new windshield 3 weeks before it was stolen. I had an attorney thru all this but recently let him go because we was stuck going no where

Answer
Pat,

Upon review of your policy you will don't find that you are to cooperate fully with the insurance company in their investigation of your claim. This will be one of the terms you must comply with by contract.

As far as the recorded statement being work product, it likely is and it may take an attorney to secure it. Sometimes, if they feel it warranted, they may take a second statement to ask additional questions or to see if your answers are consistent with your previous answers. These are all legitimate reasons and the more you balk or stall, the more likely they will further their investigation. Trust me when I say insurers have various profiles and alerts and when they are triggered they follow time proven methods of investigation.

With that said, they cannot ask you for information, documents and information that is not readily accessible and/or available to you. They cannot make demands that are overly burdensome and/or oppressive or as designed to cause you unnecessary delays, costs etc. or to intimidate you into not pursuing your rightful claim.

They should have provided you a written notice of denial stating the reasons for same.

While I'm not an attorney, I can say that you need be sure to comply with their reasonable requests and avoid any appearance of non-compliance to give reason why they declined coverage.

I encourage you to seek another attorney and/or perhaps a public adjuster to assist you in the claim as well as determination of a fair replacement value and other entitlements such as sales tax, tag and title transfer etc.

If it were I, at this point I would consider obtaining another attorney who you can feel comfortable with. If it is found that the insurance company has not sent you a "Reservation of Rights Letter" or followed proper protocol and unnecessarily denied coverage, you may wish to seek a breach of contract claim as well as seek a "Loss of Use" claim for compensation (e.g. rental costs of a comparable vehicle) for each day your vehicle was not available for your normal use. This may be a sanction or putative the insurer will pay in the face of or result of a lawsuit.

I would say your being up to date on your payments, your current income and recent maintenance of the subject vehicle are not indicative of someone who had intent to commit a fraudulent claim.Keep your payments up to date to protect your credit rating.
Note: Don't forget to to discontinue your insurance until you obtain a replacement vehicle as your premiums will continue unless you place a hold on your coverage.

I wish you the best in the resolution of your claim. Thank you for your question and if I can be of further service to you, please let me know.

Barrett