Partner
It’s a tale we’ve heard over and over. You’ve been with the same insurance company for years. You’ve paid your premiums diligently. But then, when something bad happens and you need them, they leave you hanging, drag their feet, lowball your claim, or flat-out refuse to pay.
It’s a terrible betrayal—one that hurts even more because you are already at your lowest. After an accident, you’re dealing with injuries, medical bills, lost income, pain, and stress. The last thing you need on top of that is a fight with your own insurance company, who is supposed to be there when you need them the most.
Thankfully, Washington law recognizes that the relationship between you and your insurer is built on trust—and that when an insurer breaks that trust, there should be real consequences.
You Pay Premiums for a Promise
When you buy insurance, you’re paying for more than a piece of paper. You’re buying peace of mind—the promise that if something goes wrong, your insurance company will be there for you.
When it comes to car insurance, for example, one important part of that promise is called underinsured motorist coverage, or UIM. If someone crashes into you and they have no insurance, or their insurance isn’t enough to cover your injuries, your own UIM policy is supposed to make up the difference, up to however much UIM insurance you have.
Insurance Companies Have a Legal Duty to Treat You Fairly
Washington law is clear: insurance is a business that affects the public interest, and everyone involved—especially the insurance company—must act with honesty, fairness, and good faith.
What does that actually look like? Your insurer is required to:
- Investigate your claim promptly and thoroughly. They can’t ignore your claim, sit on it, or cut corners.
- Evaluate your damages fairly. They can’t cherry-pick the evidence that benefits, ignore the evidence that supports your claim, or make their evaluations based on speculation. They also can’t put its own financial interests ahead of yours.
- Pay what they owe, when they owe it. Once it’s clear they owe you money, they need to pay—not stall, lowball you, or force you to sue just to get what you’re owed.
- Communicate honestly and accurately. Whether they are telling you about the terms of your policy, offering you a claim payment, or denying your claim, they have to be honest, accurate, and explain their reasoning.
You don’t have to prove that your insurance company set out to cheat you or had some evil intent. Bad faith simply means the insurer’s actions were unreasonable—that they didn’t have a legitimate basis for their decisions and actions.
These and other legal requirements are set out in Washington’s insurance laws, and they apply to every insurance policy sold in this state.
You Have Multiple Legal Protections
If your insurance company acts in bad faith, Washington law provides several potential avenues to hold them accountable which, depending on the circumstances, can result in you not only being paid the benefits you were owed, but other damages, including:
- Emotional distress
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Attorney fees and costs
- Even “exemplary” damages, up to as much as three times your actual damages
Washington law doesn’t normally allow “punitive” damages, i.e. damages beyond those designed to make you whole and compensate you for your actual losses. But it does here—to make it easier for people who have been wronged by their insurance companies to get justice, and to discourage insurance companies from behaving badly in the first place.
What Should You Do?
If you believe your insurance company is treating you unfairly, don’t just accept it. You have rights, and there are legal tools specifically designed to protect you.
Talk to an attorney who understands insurance bad faith. The sooner you get help, the better positioned you’ll be to get the benefits you paid for.