You purchase insurance policies to protect you and your family in California from the consequences of a life-changing disastrous event. All too often, however, we at Pillsbury and Coleman have seen insurance companies go to great lengths to protect their profits and pay as little as possible on insurance claims. Sometimes, insurance companies may even turn on the very people they are supposed to protect by making false accusations of insurance fraud.
If you make an insurance claim, it means that you have already had some sort of difficulty or trouble that you are trying to overcome. A false accusation of insurance fraud to justify denying a valid insurance claim adds insult to injury.
False insurance fraud accusations can take many forms and apply to many different types of policies. You may have a debilitating injury that puts an end to your career, but your disability insurer may accuse you of malingering, i.e., exaggerating the effects of your injury or faking an injury that never even existed. Your home insurer may accuse you of committing arson after a fire that damages or destroys your home. Your health care insurer may accuse you of misrepresentation on the basis of an innocent oversight on your claim application.
Insurance companies owe a number of duties to their policyholders. One of these duties is to pay out a legitimate claim in a timely manner. To do otherwise is an act of bad faith, and to make false accusations of fraud against the insured is one of the most blatant forms that bad faith can take. More information about insurance fraud allegations is available on our website.