Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“Since you raised bad faith, let’s explore that a little bit. That is a phrase that the general public reads about in the newspaper. And realistically, most of the general public has a bad attitude towards insurance companies, even though it’s a necessary evil. So, when they hear somebody being accused of bad faith, it’s almost like I’m going to stand up and clap. What is, other than this particular situation, how do you prove the bad faith?”
Spencer Freeman – Fire-Loss Attorney – Pierce County, WA
“It’s important to understand that bad faith doesn’t necessarily require bad intent by the insurance company, or malice of forethought by the insurance company. Although, those situations would certainly be bad faith. Bad faith, here in Washington, can exist when their position is unreasonable. Even if maybe they’re good people and well-intended…the insurance adjusters. If their position’s unreasonable, then they’re committing bad faith. Or their position is untenable, then they’re committing bad faith. They’ve got a duty to treat their policyholders…let me phrase it this way. They’ve got a fiduciary duty to treat the financial interests of their policyholders equal to their own financial interests.
An insurance company can’t put their financial interests ahead of their policyholders. If you think about it, you’ve been paying money, monthly, to your insurance company. For them to provide you coverage in case something bad happens. For years. So, when something bad happens, you sure as well, want them to be there and have your back. From my perspective, if they don’t have your back, if they’re looking at nickel and diming…this couch wasn’t worth that, and you didn’t own this, and we think maybe you did something wrong here and failed to mitigate your damages, or were you involved in the fire, and they’re wrong in those scenarios, then they should be held accountable. I think those are bad faith actions.”
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