Lawyer / Attorney - Las Vegas Region

In Nevada, an insured under an insurance policy (for example an underinsured/uninsured - UIM/UM automobile policy or homeowners policy) is owed the highest duty of good faith by an insurer. The duty of good faith arises from an insurer's role as a fiduciary. A fiduciary has the hightest duty to avoid self-dealing and to act reasonably and promptly and to put its insured's rights far above its own. Unfortunately there are many insurance company's which would rather deny claims, settle claims for less than fair value and litigate claims for years just to harass their insureds and force them to settle for less years down the road after they have had to retain an attorney and incur substantial litigate costs. It is known that insurance adjusters receive bonuses for getting insured's to drop their claims or settle for below fair value, and those bonuses can be substantial -- thus they have a self-serving incentive to get insured's to drop or reduce their valid claims. Another form of insurance bad faith is when an insurer early on accuses its insured of fraud without any evidentiary support. Nevada's laws protect insureds and require insurers to promptly process claims, to settle claims for reasonable and fair amounts, to provide insureds with accurate information about the policy and coverage and to handle the claim in good faith. A violation of Nevada's statutes (a claim under such statutes must be brought as soon as three years after the bad faith) permits an insured to sue for compensatory and punitive damages. In Nevada punitive damages are usually limited to three times compensatory damages, but there is no limitation on punitive damages for an insurer's bad faith. That is because Nevada has a zero tolerance public policy for insurer bad faith and it believes insurers which commit bad faith should be punished with an award of money sufficient to deter them from engaging in such conduct (for a large insurance company that would be millions of dollars). If you are the victim of insurance bad faith, call us for a free consultation. We have experts and the resources available to assist you.