During the initial process of paying out life insurance policies, the life insurance companies have all the power. Not only are they the initial deciders of whether to pay or deny a claim, but the life insurance companies have all the knowledge, power, and resources at their behest. These multi-billion-dollar life insurance companies are self-assured that only they truly understand the complex ambiguities and terminology of their policies and the extensive, complicated rules, procedures, and laws concerning life insurance policies. They have armies of adjusters, lawyers, and experts available to construe their life insurance policies in their favor. Even more importantly, the life insurance companies know that on the other end of the deal is a person or family who has recently experienced the death of a loved one. They also know that this person or family has none of the knowledge of the complicated rules, procedures, and laws concerning life insurance policies. And this person or family is possibly so mentally and emotionally exhausted from the recent death of a loved one that this beneficiary may just accept the life insurance company’s denial of death benefits and walk away. The beneficiary is almost certainly in no position to compel the life insurance company to pay because, ultimately, that means filing a lawsuit. This is where a qualified, experienced life insurance lawyer can step in and help a beneficiary recover the death benefits that rightfully belong to the beneficiary and his or her family.
What an Experienced Life Insurance Lawyer Can Do for You
Hiring a qualified, experienced life insurance lawyer can be the best decision a denied beneficiary can make. When a life insurance company fails to keep its promise to pay the death benefits rightfully owed under a life insurance policy, an attorney can take the following actions:
- Handle the entire life insurance company’s claim denial appeal process.
- Review and investigate all the reasons for a claim denial.
- Review and investigate all of the life insurance policy documents, initial application, medical questionnaire, medical records, and other documents.
- Investigate the facts underlying the alleged reasons for the denial.
- Determine and gather the necessary documents and information in order to convince the life insurance company to reverse its decision.
- Compel the life insurance company to pay out the life insurance claim.
- File a bad faith life insurance lawsuit when the life insurance company refuses to pay a claim.
- Retain a proper life insurance expert, if necessary, for litigation and trial.
Additionally, if a life insurance claim has been denied for a material misrepresentation, a life insurance lawyer can take the following steps to recover the proceeds for a beneficiary:
- Review the deceased’s life insurance application to check closely for inconsistent answers and answers that reveal an undisclosed medical condition, either of which would prevent the life insurance company from denying the claim since they knew or should have known of the conditions.
- Obtain the insurance company’s underwriting guidelines to determine whether any error or misrepresentation was, in fact, material.
- Depose the insurance company’s underwriter to determine whether any error or misrepresentation was in fact material, to assess mortality as a factor in underwriting decisions, and to find subjectivity in the underwriter’s decisions.
- Depose the insurance agent to determine if the application was handled correctly, or if the agent knew of any errors or inconsistencies, or paraphrased questions.
- Check the Medical Information Bureau (MIB), which is an insurance company-sponsored database used by most insurance companies to log medical information about insurance applicants, since if there are any conditions on these MIB records, then the life insurance company cannot deny the claim because of those conditions.
- Contact the treating physician of the deceased in order to understand if the deceased condition would have had an effect on the deceased’s mortality.
- Discover other similar individual’s life insurance policies and applications from other individuals to see how those claims were handled.
Finally, one of the most important actions a life insurance lawyer can do is threaten a life insurance company with a lawsuit that includes assessing bad faith penalties and attorney’s fees against the life insurance company, especially if the filing attorney has a successful track record in these types of actions. Very often, in order to get what a beneficiary rightfully deserves, the beneficiary needs to have an attorney threaten the insurance company with consequences that are twice as bad.
You Can Afford an Experienced Life Insurance Attorney
Most life insurance attorneys will work on a contingency-fee-basis, which means that the attorney will not charge any legal fees unless the attorney makes a successful recovery of life insurance proceeds. That means that the beneficiary will never pay or owe the attorney anything out of his or her pocket. Plus, the attorney will forward all the costs of legal representation. Additionally, most life insurance attorneys will even provide a free consultation. Last, in some cases, a skillful life insurance attorney can force the insurance company to pay for the beneficiary’s legal fees.
Let New Orleans Legal Handle Your Life Insurance Claim Today
If you have been denied a life insurance claim, or the life insurance company is still giving you the run-around, you need the assistance of an experienced life insurance attorney right away. In fact, most life insurance companies will not pay a life insurance claim that they have previously denied until the beneficiary is represented by an attorney willing to pursue penalties and attorney’s fees against the insurance company. Let New Orleans Legal stand with you and fight back against the life insurance company.
Peter Diiorio of New Orleans Legal, LLC is an experienced Louisiana life insurance claim attorney representing insureds and beneficiaries in life insurance claim disputes against life insurance companies. Mr. Diiorio is happy to handle your case on a contingent fee basis, which means that all legal fees are taken at the end only if there is a recovery of life insurance proceeds for you. Please contact us now at (504) 897-5580 to schedule a free no-obligation face-to-face, Zoom, or telephone consultation, and let us recover the life insurance benefits you deserve.
