Earlier this week, Brian & Brian at Pistotnik Law settled a bad faith insurance case involving a client who was in a car accident 7/23/18. After the insurance company wrongfully denied our client the minimum payable amount of coverage, we were able to obtain a settlement worth four times the original amount.

What Happened?

Our client was injured in a car accident in Wichita 7/23/18, for which she was not at fault. In Kansas, state law only requires $25,000 of auto insurance coverage. The negligent driver who caused the crash had only a minimum policy, as did our client, and there was no underinsured motorist coverage available. If our client had purchased higher coverage for the underinsured coverage, she could have gone after her own insurance, but that was not an option in this instance.

Our attorneys provided the negligent driver’s insurer with her initial medical records and bills and they neglected to offer their policy limit of $25,000—which they had no reason to deny. So, we decided to file suit and pursue a bad faith claim.

Suing for insurance bad faith can happen when a negligent parties’ insurer violates a duty to their insured to protect them from excess judgment. Excess judgment means the negligent driver was at risk of personally paying beyond the $25,000 of coverage. The insurer was in bad faith due to not offering their limits on their client’s behalf.

Based on their negligence of not offering their limits when they should have, the insurance company ended up settling for $100,000—which was 4 times the coverage purchased. This allowed our client to pay off her medical bills and added an additional and substantial sum to cover her pain and suffering. If the bad faith claims not been pursued, our client wouldn’t even have had enough to pay her bills. We are proud to have been able to secure an amount well over the policy limit and look forward to continue winning our clients the financial support they deserve.To learn more about Brian & Brian at Pistotnik Law and how we handle personal injury cases throughout Wichita, contact us today. We offer free consultations to all new clients and handle accident injury claims ranging from car accidents to workers’ compensation