When an insurance company deliberately lingers on overanalyzing the claim and making a decision on compensation, the claim can be filed as a lawsuit. The company can also face additional costs from bad-faith insurance practices. Insurance companies who sell liability coverage to drivers are obligated to provide the coverage for their insured, including payment of legitimate claims against that policy. Failing to meet this obligation is considered bad faith, and the insurance provider can be forced to pay additional compensation to the claimant over and above the claim’s value. One of the most common types of bad faith insurance practices involving third-party claims (claims made against a policy by someone other than the policyholder) is insurers deliberately dragging their feet when evaluating a claim and offering a settlement to push the claim past the statute of limitations so that the insurer is no longer legally on the hook for compensating it. An attorney helps prevent this from happening, as they know how long the insurer has to investigate the claim and the consequences they face for bad faith.