Allen Law Accident & Injury Lawyers is proud to serve Gainesville and surrounding Florida communities with compassionate, results-focused personal injury representation. When an insurance company fails to handle a claim fairly, the financial consequences can make an already difficult accident or injury even harder.
Florida insurers have legal obligations when investigating, evaluating, and resolving claims. A disagreement with an insurance company does not automatically amount to bad faith, but certain conduct may create additional legal issues. Allen Law helps injured people in Gainesville and throughout Alachua County understand insurance disputes and determine what options may be available.
Call Allen Law today for your free consultation.
What Is Insurance Bad Faith in Florida?
Insurance companies have the right to investigate claims, question liability, and evaluate damages. They do not, however, have unlimited freedom to put their own financial interests ahead of the obligations imposed by Florida law.
Florida Statute §624.155 provides a civil remedy for specified insurance violations. Among other things, the statute addresses an insurer’s failure to attempt in good faith to settle a claim when, under the circumstances, it could and should have done so while acting fairly and honestly toward its insured and with due regard for the insured’s interests.
Florida law also makes an important distinction between negligence and bad faith. Mere negligence alone is not enough to establish insurance bad faith.
That means a delayed payment, disagreement about value, or denied claim does not automatically prove that an insurer acted in bad faith.
What Are Examples of Potential Insurance Bad Faith?
Whether an insurer acted in bad faith depends on the complete circumstances surrounding the claim.
Potential warning signs may include:
- Failing to reasonably investigate a claim
- Ignoring important evidence
- Unreasonable delays in handling a claim
- Failing to communicate important information
- Refusing to consider reasonable settlement opportunities
- Misrepresenting relevant policy provisions
- Making claim payments without identifying the applicable coverage
- Failing to settle when liability and damages support settlement
- Placing an insured at unnecessary risk of an excess judgment
Sometimes the issue is obvious. Other times, a policyholder simply notices that calls are not being returned, explanations keep changing, or the insurer appears unwilling to meaningfully evaluate the available evidence.
Allen Law can review the claim history, policy, correspondence, settlement demands, and other evidence to determine what actually happened.
When Does Bad Faith Matter in a Personal Injury Case?
Bad faith issues frequently arise in serious motor vehicle accident cases.
Consider a driver who causes a severe crash on I-75 near Gainesville. The injured person presents evidence of liability, significant medical expenses, and serious injuries, but the at-fault driver’s insurer fails to reasonably respond to an opportunity to resolve the claim within available coverage.
Depending on the circumstances, the insurer’s handling of the claim could later become important.
Bad-faith questions can arise in cases involving:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- Rideshare crashes
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death
- Uninsured or underinsured motorist claims
These cases can become especially important when the injured person’s damages substantially exceed available liability insurance limits.
How Does Allen Law Investigate Potential Bad Faith?
Insurance bad-faith claims can be document-intensive. Establishing what happened may require reconstructing how an insurer handled the underlying claim from the time it received notice.
Allen Law may review:
- The applicable insurance policy
- Settlement demands and responses
- Letters and emails with adjusters
- Claim decisions
- Medical records
- Evidence establishing liability
- Evidence documenting damages
- Payment records
- Claim timelines
- Other available insurance documentation
The goal is not simply to show that an insurer made a decision the claimant disliked. The question is whether the evidence supports the legal requirements for a bad-faith claim.
Allen Law has extensive experience dealing with insurance companies in personal injury cases. The firm’s existing bad-faith page also notes that former insurance adjusters are part of its team, providing additional insight into how claims are evaluated and processed.
Contact Allen Law Accident & Injury Lawyers to learn how we can protect your rights.
What Does Florida Law Require Before a Bad Faith Lawsuit?
Florida imposes procedural requirements that can make these cases more complicated than ordinary insurance disputes.
Under Florida Statute §624.155, a person pursuing certain statutory bad-faith remedies generally must first provide a Civil Remedy Notice containing information required by the statute. The insurer then has a 60-day period after receiving notice from the Florida Department of Financial Services in which payment or correction of the circumstances giving rise to the alleged violation can prevent the statutory action.
Liability insurance claims have additional protections. Current Florida law provides that a bad-faith action involving a liability insurance claim generally does not lie when the insurer tenders the lesser of the policy limits or the claimant’s demand within 90 days after receiving actual notice of a claim accompanied by sufficient evidence supporting the amount claimed.
Florida law also requires insureds, claimants, and their representatives to act in good faith when providing information, making demands, setting deadlines, and attempting to settle claims.
These requirements make careful documentation important throughout the underlying injury claim.
What Is the Difference Between a Coverage Dispute and Bad Faith?
Not every insurance dispute is a bad-faith case.
A coverage dispute generally concerns whether a policy provides coverage for a particular loss or how policy language should be interpreted.
A bad-faith claim focuses on the insurer’s conduct in handling or settling a claim and whether that conduct satisfies Florida’s legal standard.
The two issues can sometimes overlap, but they are not interchangeable.
This distinction is especially important in property insurance cases. Florida law currently requires an insured or named beneficiary seeking certain extracontractual damages from a property insurer to first establish through an adverse court adjudication that the insurer breached the insurance contract and obtain a final judgment or decree.
Understanding which type of dispute exists is therefore an important first step.
What Compensation May Be Available in a Bad Faith Case?
Available damages depend heavily on the type of insurance, underlying claim, insurer’s conduct, and losses caused by that conduct.
Florida §624.155 provides for damages that are a reasonably foreseeable result of specified statutory violations. In qualifying circumstances, a bad-faith case can involve damages beyond the original insurance policy limits.
Punitive damages are subject to additional statutory requirements and are not available merely because an insurer made a mistake or disputed a claim.
Rather than assuming what a bad-faith case is worth, Allen Law evaluates the underlying accident, insurance coverage, claim handling, and documented losses.
Why Local Experience Matters in Gainesville Insurance Claims
Gainesville residents encounter serious accidents throughout Alachua County, from crashes along I-75 to collisions on Newberry Road, Archer Road, Main Street, and roads surrounding the University of Florida area.
When those accidents cause significant injuries, insurance coverage can become one of the most important issues in the case.
Allen Law serves injured clients from Gainesville and North Central Florida, as well as Ocala and Marion County. Because the firm’s practice focuses on personal injury matters, its attorneys regularly deal with insurers while handling accident and serious injury claims.
Frequently Asked Questions About Florida Insurance Bad Faith
No. Insurers can dispute claims when they have legitimate coverage, liability, or damages issues. Bad faith involves a separate legal analysis of the insurer’s conduct under Florida law.
Not necessarily. Florida law specifically states that mere negligence alone is insufficient to constitute bad faith.
A Civil Remedy Notice is part of the statutory process for pursuing certain bad-faith claims under Florida Statute §624.155. The notice must contain information required by the statute and gives the insurer an opportunity to address the alleged violation.
Section 624.155 provides a 60-day cure period after the insurer receives the statutory notice from the Department of Financial Services.
Yes. Bad-faith issues can potentially arise when a liability insurer fails to appropriately handle an opportunity to settle a serious accident claim. However, Florida law contains specific protections and procedures governing liability-insurance bad-faith actions.
Potentially. First-party claims, including some uninsured or underinsured motorist disputes, can raise bad-faith issues depending on the policy, insurer’s conduct, and statutory requirements.
Talk to a Gainesville Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer
Dealing with a serious injury is difficult enough without an insurance company creating additional uncertainty. If you believe an insurer has failed to handle an accident or injury claim fairly, understanding the difference between a difficult insurance dispute and legally actionable bad faith is important.
Allen Law Accident & Injury Lawyers represents injured people in Gainesville, Alachua County, Ocala, Marion County, and throughout Florida. Speak with a Gainesville injury lawyer today — free consultation, no obligation.
