Having trouble resolving a valid claim with your insurance company? AlpernSchubert P.C. is a resource in the Pittsburgh, PA for bad faith insurance claims and insurance coverage. Our experienced attorneys provide the personal, individualized attention you can count on to resolve your matter quickly.
Whether it’s an issue with denial of a valid claim, delayed payout for a claim, or the burden of proof, we have the knowledge and skills to provide the legal recourse you need.
Nowadays, the United States regulates insurance companies through laws, guidelines, and independent commissions and regulatory bodies. These laws and statutes ensure that the policy holder is protected against bad faith claims on the insurer's part, that premiums are not unduly high (or fixed), and that contracts and policies issued meet a minimum standard.
A bad faith action may constitute several possibilities; the insurer denies a claim which is seemingly valid in the contract or policy, the insurer refuses to pay out for an unreasonable amount of time, the insurer lays the burden of proof on the insured - often in the case where the claim is improvable.
Other issues of insurance law may arise when price fixing occurs between insurers, creating an unfair competitive environment for consumers. A notable example of this is where Zurich Financial Services - along with several other insurers - inflated policy prices in an anti-competitive fashion.
If an insurer is found to be guilty of fraud or deception, they can be fined either by regulatory bodies or in a lawsuit by the insured or surrounding party. In more severe cases, or if the party has had a series of complaints or rulings, the insurers license may be revoked or suspended.
In the case that an insurer declares bankruptcy, many countries operate independent services and regulation to ensure as little financial hardship is incurred as possible (National Association of Insurance Commissioners operates such a service in the
United States).
Insurance law is the name given to practices of law surrounding insurance, including insurance policies and claims. It can be broadly broken into two categories - regulation of the business of insurance and regulation of claim handling.
As a preliminary matter, insurance companies are generally required to follow all of the same laws and regulations as any other type of business. This would include zoning and land use, wage and hour laws, tax laws, and securities regulations. There are also other regulations that insurers must also follow.
Insurance regulation that governs the business of insurance is typically aimed at assuring the solvency of insurance companies. Thus, this type of regulation governs capitalization, reserve policies, rates and various other "back office" processes.
In the United States each state typically has a statute creating an administrative agency. These state agencies are typically called the Department of Insurance, or some similar name, and the head official is the Insurance Commissioner, or a similar titled officer.
Regulation of insurance companies in the United States is almost exclusively conducted by the states and their insurance departments. Various states have different names for their regulatory agencies and regulators. In many states the department is called the Department of Insurance, and the regulator is called the Insurance Commissioner - although there are numerous variations. The federal government has explicitly exempted insurance from federal regulation in most cases.
Our Insurance Coverage Services Include:
Regulation of insurance business
Regulation of insurance claim handling
Our Bad Faith Insurance Claim Services Include:
Valid insurance claim denied
Failure of insurer to pay claim in a reasonable amount of time
Insured responsible for burden of proof
Price fixing
Contact AlpernSchubert P.C.today at 412-765-1888 for all of your Pittsburgh, PA bad faith insurance claims and insurance coverage needs.
