In Orange County, California, bad-faith insurance practices can take many forms. Before determining whether an insurance company likely violated its legal and contractual duties, you should understand what those duties are at a given time.
First of all, insurance companies must abide by the duty of good faith and fair dealing at all times. This duty means that insurance companies must always deal fairly with claimants—including their insureds—when investigating a claim.
In addition, if an insured individual or accident victim makes a claim under an insurance policy, the insurance company has a duty to take the necessary measures to thoroughly investigate the claim in an unbiased manner. If the insurance company, upon investigation, decides to deny the claim for some reason, it has a legal duty to explain that denial in writing and to outline the specific reasons for the claim denial.