A bad faith lawsuit is a tort or personal injury action. It is very different in some key ways from a breach of contract claim which would be your only recourse against your insurer if the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing did not exist.

While a breach of contract case limits your damages to actual provable financial loss, a tort claim for bad faith provides much broader compensation. In fact, when you bring a bad faith cause of action against an insurance company, you may even be entitled to collect punitive damages (compensation intended not to make you whole for actual loss but instead to punish the defendant for willful or egregious wrongdoing).

A bad faith litigation, therefore, can result in a significant amount of compensation being awarded to a plaintiff.

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When Can You Claim Bad Faith?

Of course, you cannot claim your insurance company is acting in bad faith every single time they do not do what you want. In order for you to make a bad faith claim, the insurance company must act without reasonable justification in denying claims, failing to pay claims, or failing to pay the amounts provided for in the insurance policy. In other words, the insurer must somehow unreasonably deny you the insurance coverage you paid for.

An experienced insurance attorney can help you to understand when an insurer acts unfairly or in bad faith. They can also help you to gather the evidence you need to prove bad faith so you can recover the compensation you deserve.