If your own insurance company delayed your claim, lowballed it, or denied it outright, you may be entitled to far more than the amount it should have paid you in the first place. California holds insurers to a duty of good faith, and breaking that duty is a legal claim of its own.
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Every insurance policy carries an implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. When an insurer breaches that duty, it can be liable for damages beyond what the policy itself promised, not just the claim amount it withheld.
An insurer that drags out a straightforward claim, asking for the same documents twice, reassigning adjusters, going quiet for months, is often counting on you to give up or settle for less than you're owed.
Insurers are required to investigate a claim thoroughly before denying it. A denial built on an incomplete file, a desk review with no site visit, or an ignored expert opinion is evidence the investigation itself was the problem.
A straightforward breach of contract claim gets you what the policy promised. A bad faith claim can add emotional distress damages, punitive damages, and the attorney's fees it took to make the insurer pay what it already owed.
The insurer, the policy, and the tactic are different in every case. Each needs its own evidence of what your insurer knew and when.
A denial letter that cites a policy exclusion that doesn't actually apply, or that ignores evidence you already provided.
Months of silence, repeated requests for documents you already sent, or an adjuster who never seems to move your file to the next step.
An offer far below the documented cost of repair or treatment, made before the insurer has finished, or sometimes even started, a real investigation.
A denial based on a desk review, a report from an expert who never saw the property or the injury, or evidence your insurer had but never looked at.
An adjuster who tells you a loss isn't covered when the policy language says otherwise, or who never mentions coverage you clearly have.
Bad faith shows up across homeowners, auto, health, disability, and business policies. The duty of good faith applies to all of them.
The record you build while the claim is still open is usually the record that wins the bad faith claim later.
Follow up every phone call with an email confirming what was said. An insurer's internal notes rarely match what its adjuster told you on the phone.
You are entitled to the documentation your insurer used to evaluate your claim. What's missing from that file is often as telling as what's in it.
The exact language an insurer uses to deny or undervalue a claim, and whether that language changes over time, is direct evidence in a bad faith case.
An insurer that slow-walks a decision does not extend your deadlines. Keep meeting every requirement the policy puts on you while you wait.
When you submitted documents, when the insurer acknowledged them, and how long each step actually took. Unreasonable delay is proven with a timeline, not an impression.
Once you sign a release, the bad faith claim connected to that payout is usually gone with it. Call before you sign anything.
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An insurer that takes your premium for years and then disappears when you actually need it isn't making a business decision. It's breaking a promise it was legally required to keep, and the law gives you a way to make that expensive for them.
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A bad faith claim can recover more than the benefit your insurer should have paid in the first place.
The claim amount your insurer should have paid from the start, the foundation every bad faith case is built on top of.
Compensation for the genuine stress and anxiety of fighting your own insurer for money you were already owed.
The cost of hiring an attorney to force payment of a claim your insurer should have paid without a fight.
Losses that flowed from the delay or denial itself, like a foreclosure that followed a denied homeowners claim or a default that followed a denied disability claim.
Available when an insurer's conduct is especially egregious, intended to punish the insurer and deter the same tactic against the next policyholder.
