Insurance Disputes
Advice on refusal / rejection of insurance claims.
Insurance Disputes
Our specialist attorneys can offer you advice when your insurance company has refused to settle your claim either entirely or settles at a lower amount for what you have claimed for.
Basis of Rejection / Repudiation?
Some of the common reasons for rejecting insurance claims are:
Non-Disclosure
This occurs when the insurance company alleges that you have failed to furnish important information at the inception of policy cover, and it later turns out that had the insurance company been aware of such information they would have either turned down cover or offered you cover at a higher premium or limited benefits.
Failing to fulfil certain obligations
These may include your failure to ensure your home or business has proper security measures in place or the failure to store your valuables in a safe etc. The failure to install a tracking device in your vehicle, some policies also require you to inform the insurance company of a change in your health status or occupation.
Why Engage in a Specialist Law Firm?
1. It will be prudent for you to engage a law firm that has knowledge in civil litigation and especially insurance law.
2. We have often been approached by clients who have unfortunately engaged an inexperienced firm of Attorneys only to be faced with the dilemma in that summons were served out of the time periods stipulated in the policy or in the wrong court.
3. Insurance companies have huge resources at their disposal to defend claims made against them. If your attorney is unable to engage with them and fight them tooth and nail you will find yourself in a long and drawn out battle which will ultimately drain you mentally and financially.
The Claims Process
(Insurance Disputes)
Check Internal Dispute Remedies
There are policies that will require you in the event of a rejection to first exhaust the internal dispute remedies / processes afforded by the insurance company itself. And only once this has been complied with may you proceed with summons and litigation.
Check Limited Time Periods
Insurance policies often have limited time periods in their policy documents for you to serve summons. These time periods are relatively short and it’s not unusual to see a policy that requires you to serve summons within 60 or 90 days of the repudiation of your claim.