Insurance Bad Faith Attorneys
People buy insurance in a spirit of trust. They feel assured that the insurance policy will bear the heavy financial responsibility if property is damaged or a family member or friend is seriously hurt.
But sometimes the insurance company views the situation from a different point of view. We have experience with insurance companies that act in bad faith against their policy holders. Over the years we have helped many people recover full payment from their insurance companies. It's all about doing what's right.
Representative cases
Ethel Adams v. Farmers Insurance Co.
Michael Testa rammed his girlfriend’s truck as he chased her down Aurora Avenue. The truck crossed the centerline where it flipped upside down ontop of and head on into Ethel Adams almost killing her. Ethel’s insurance company, Farmers decided not to pay the claim because road rage was not an “accident”.
The public became outraged as media covered the lawsuit. The Insurance Commissioner threatened to shut Farmers down in Washington at which point it changed its mind and paid on the policy. Ethel then sued Farmers for bad faith. One year after Ethel was hurt, the Governor signed the Ethel Adams bill into law – when innocent person is injured in a car accident, the insurance company can no longer play the same word games.
Dussault v. Midcentury Insurance Co.
$2.825 million settlement
In one of the largest insurance bad faith cases in Washington state, our legal team facilitated a settlement arising from an auto collision that resulted in a severe closed-head injury.
Slape v. State Farm
Medical benefits settlement State Farm did not play fair when handling plaintiff's Automobile Accidents case. State Farm insured both the plaintiff and the person who rear ended her. First, it forced her to sue the negligent driver by refusing to admit his fault. After a judge entered an order finding the driver responsible, State Farm paid modest policy limits. Its second bad act came a few weeks later when it cut off plaintiff's medical benefits to discourage her from pursuing an underinsured motorist claim. After an arbitrator ruled that her medical benefits needed to be fully paid, a bad faith lawsuit was filed. State Farm settled for the largest amount paid in this state for a personal injury protection bad faith case.
Worley v. B&G Farms & Life Insurance Company
$440,000 settlement
Thick smoke from an agricultural fire blew across a road in Eastern Washington and caused a five-car collision. Horace Worley, age 79, fell from his crashed car and lay in the smoke and cinders for more than an hour. He later died from his injuries. We showed that B&G Farms was negligent in handling its mint waste, which caught fire and led to the accident. A life insurance company refused to pay Worley's widow, claiming the cause of death was "heart disease." We got a settlement for close to policy limits.
