Insurance bad faith
You pay premiums so the coverage is there when you need it. When an insurer denies, delays, or lowballs a valid claim without a reasonable basis, California law treats that as more than a billing dispute — it is bad faith, and it can expose the company to far more than the amount it should have paid in the first place.
What we handle
We pursue first- and third-party bad faith against insurers that unreasonably deny, delay, or underpay valid claims — property and homeowners, auto, commercial, disability, life, and health coverage — as well as an insurer’s failure to defend or to settle a claim against you within policy limits. We take the matter from the demand through trial.
What to do next
Put the claim — and the denial — in writing
Submit your claim in writing and ask the insurer to state its decision and its reasons the same way. A denial or delay is much harder to justify later once the company has had to commit its reasons to paper.
Keep the policy and the whole file
Save your policy, every letter and email, estimates and photos, and a log of phone calls — dates, who you spoke with, and what was said. In a bad faith case, the claim file is the case.
Don’t treat a lowball offer as final
A partial or early payment does not waive the rest of what you are owed. Before you sign a release or deposit a check marked “full and final,” get advice — that signature can close the claim.
Watch the deadlines
Policies set their own proof-of-loss and suit-limitation periods, and the statute of limitations runs in the background. Missing one can end an otherwise strong claim.
Our approach
We start with the policy and the claim file and reconstruct exactly what the insurer did and when. The question in a bad faith case is whether the company had a reasonable basis for its decision, so we document the delay, the missing investigation, or the unsupported denial in detail. Handled correctly, the claim is worth more than the benefits the insurer withheld: California allows recovery of those benefits, the attorney’s fees you spend to recover them, and, where the conduct is egregious, punitive damages. Insurers understand that exposure — we build the case so they have to take it seriously.