Many of us have heard stories of unscrupulous insurance industry practices, also called insurance bad faith. Insurance bad faith stories usually involve insurance companies denying claims for one reason or another in a manner that seems incredibly unfair to the average person. And the following story meets that requirement and more.
A man gets cancer in his sinus cavity. He beats that cancer, and undergoes many difficult surgeries over the next nine years. Then, tragically, he dies in a car accident. The state medical examiner concludes that his death was an accident. The insurance company who had issued his accidental death insurance disagrees.
MetLife, the nation’s largest life insurance company, told the victim’s surviving family that they were not eligible to collect on the $224,000 policy because the car accident was a suicide. And because the life insurance policy did not cover suicide, they would receive no payments. The victim’s wife spent months sending autopsy records, medical records, and even a letter from the medical examiner to MetLife. Everything concluded that the car crash was accidental. MetLife continued to disagree, pointing to an easily debunked theory of drug overdose. Only after being sued did MetLife pay the full amount owed to the family.
Insurance bad faith incidents such as this illustrate the lengths insurance companies will go to to avoid paying out legitimate claims. Months of emotional distress were inflicted needlessly on a family just to avoid a timely payout. As quoted in the news article, “federal judges have concluded that some insurers cheated survivors by twisting facts, fabricating excuses and ignoring autopsy findings in withholding death benefits”.
Read the entire news article here.
The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker has been keeping the insurance companies honest for over 30 years. We’ll fight for you if the insurance companies refuse to honor their contractual obligations. If you or a loved one has been the victim of insurance bad faith, contact The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at (800) 333-0000 to schedule a free consultation.
