Insurance Matters

Insurance should be one of the more straight-forward concepts that exists. You pay in premiums and the insurer pays out when a covered event happens. Unfortunately, things often go awry as soon as things move past the stage of the insurance company being paid premiums. Insurance claims typically boil down to one of four things:

• Is there an active policy? This can be as simple as if the policy was active and if the insured had paid for coverage up to the date of the accident. It can be a complex as arguing when a policy began, when coverage lasted until, or if proper notice was given by the insurer that the policy would be cancelled.
• Is there coverage? Simply put, does the policy cover the claim being made. For example, a home insurance policy will likely cover damage to the home. It likely will not cover damage to a yacht. Complexities arise when policies contain exclusions (i.e. a policy will cover a dog bite, unless the dog is of a breed considered to dangerous by the insurance company). It can even extend to who is covered under the policy. The homeowner is likely covered, a spouse as well, but what about a child that lives nine months of the year away at college?
• Have the conditions for coverage been met? Just having coverage and an active policy are not enough. No insurance policy will pay out without the necessary conditions being met. A Long-Term disability policy will almost always require that you are disabled from your job to pay benefits. Similarly, an uninsured motorist policy won’t pay out if the other driver has insurance.
• What is a proper payout? Perhaps the most known issue in insurance claims. This is by far the biggest area of dispute. After all, what good is an insurance policy that pays out $10 when there are $10,000 in damages? Insurance companies are much better at taking in premiums than paying out benefits. When they acknowledge they are on the hook, often the fight for fair compensation has only just begun.

You may be here because you're asking "When should I get an attorney?" — When your insurance denies your insurance claim the company must provide a reason for the denial. If you feel that the reason for the denial is unjust or in error, it's time to ask an attorney to provide advice about the next steps to take.

All claims are different and deserve to be handled with a case-specific approach. When you are injured we encourage you to Contact Whitham Law Firm at 816-522-3399, contact us via this website or email us at . We look forward to speaking with you about your claim and assisting in any way possible.

Our initial Consultation is always free! We also handle injury claims on a contingency fee basis, meaning we don't receive any payment unless we obtain some recovery for you.