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Northwest Oklahoma's only regional
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Insurance Defense
What is Insurance Defense?
Insurance defense is a division of civil law. Insurance defense covers disputes between policyholders and insurers. It encompasses everything from discrimination in the workplace, auto accidents and asbestos law suits. In the United States, insurance defense is one of the largest areas of civil law and is continuing to grow each year.
Identification
- Insurance defense law covers many practice areas and forms of civil liability. The most common areas include homeowners insurance, personal injury, auto accidents and workers' compensation. Other areas include professional and medical malpractice, admiralty, governmental, labor and employment, asbestos litigation, product liability, toxic torts and professional negligence.
Function
- The primary function of insurance defense law is helping insurers through indemnification, or when an accident is caused by a policyholder. Also, insurance defense law covers disputes over obligations and liability, or when a person files a claim for an incident not covered under their policy.
Litigation
- Insurance defense often demands little litigation. The primary goal of insurance defense law is to settle every claim before a court trail can ensue. Litigation is a very time consuming and an expensive process. According to author, Thomas F. Goldman of the book "Civil Litigation: Process and Procedures," cases of insurance defense litigation have lasted as long as ten or fifteen years before concluding because insurance companies need to keep their operating and legal costs low to afford claims they receive each year. (See Reference 1) An insurance defense lawyer may appear in court only a few times in his or her career.
Indemnification
- The transfer of liability from one party to another is called indemnification. For instance, when a driver causes an accident, he transfers liability to his insurance company to cover for loss and property damages. The driver pays the insurance company a monthly premium to compensate the cost of claims in exchange for indemnification. The driver then hires an insurance defense lawyer to represent him at the expense of the insurance company. An insurance defense attorney negotiates with claim adjusters to get the most money possible to cover damages and medical treatments.
Coverage Disputes
- Insurance defense law involves coverage disputes that occur when there is an argument over what is actually included in an insurance policy. This is likely to happen when there is confusion over verbiage in the policy, when an insurer files a clam for an incident excluded from its policy and when policy limits have expired. In some cases, insurance disputes arise when there is a mistake because of a clerical error on the insurance company's part, from disagreements over which insurance company is liable in a primary and secondary insurance format, and when the insurance company thinks the insured person has filed an exaggerated or fraud claim against it.
DISCLAIMER: This site and any information contained herein are intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Seek competent legal counsel for advice on any legal matter.
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