Re: Prohibited and Deceptive Insurance Practices
First off, welcome to A2K,
Debra_Law.
Debra_Law wrote:In my state, it is prohibited practice for insurance companies to misrepresent their coverage. You can probably argue that you have been with the company for 19 years under the assurance that if you paid your premiums, you would be covered for specified losses. Under that contractual assurance, you made 3 claims in the last 6 years for damage to your home caused by winter storms (acts of God beyond your control and typical for your geographical area). As a result of exercising your legal and contractual right to collect for your losses in accordance with your contract, your insurer now refuses to renew your insurance contract (after collecting premiums from you for nearly 2 full decades). If you must risk nonrenewal or cancellation of your home owner's policy simply because you presented claims for covered losses, then you are not receiving the benefit of your bargain and the insurance company is not acting in good faith.
Such a bad faith claim would be quickly thrown out of court. Any such "assurances" of continued coverage are, if anything, quasi-contractual in nature, and thus are neither binding nor enforceable, since they are not part of the contract.
Debra_Law wrote:Inasmuch as your three claims for property damage were due to winter storms typical for your geographical area--your insurance company's designation of your status as "high risk" as an excuse not to renew your policy is a sham. Your company is punishing you for submitting claims that the company was contractually obligated to pay--after all, the company collected the premiums.
No, the company is merely acting like any company acts in a free market system. The company's primary goal is to increase value for its shareholders.
McGentrix represents a risk to that value. Thus, the company terminates its coverage.
McGentrix, in common with most conservatives who place a great deal of faith in the inherent reasonableness of the free market system when it screws someone else, is indignant when it screws him. And so the world spins on.
Debra_Law wrote:If you are still angry when you're done researching and believe you have a claim against your insurance company--consider contacting a lawyer. I sense that you are experiencing extreme MENTAL ANGUISH over your insurance company's nonrenewal of your policy after 19 years of loyalty (and premium payments) on your part. Maybe that mental anguish ought to be compensated--and if so, maybe your insurance company will think twice before it labels others as "high risk" merely because they filed claims for storm damage.
In most states, a claim for mental anguish must be premised on "outrageous behavior" that "shocks the conscience." Cancelling a homeowner's policy, no matter how surprising or disappointing, hardly qualifies.