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When you’re hurt and overwhelmed after a crash, you expect your insurance company to step up, not make things harder. Unfortunately, many insurers delay, deny, or underpay valid claims when you need help the most. If you’re searching for a car accident lawyer in Virginia because your own insurance company won’t honor its promises, you’re not alone. Bad faith insurance practices can leave injured drivers struggling with medical bills, lost income, and unnecessary stress, even after years of faithfully paying premiums.
That’s where experienced legal help matters. Gloucester County bad faith insurance lawyers Ken Gibson and John Singleton know how insurance companies operate and how to hold them accountable when they break the rules. At GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys, we fight to make sure insurers honor their contracts and treat our clients fairly.
Call (804) 413-6777 to speak with our team and find out how we can help when an insurance company refuses to do the right thing.
After a Gloucester County car accident, if your insurance company isn’t dealing with you fairly, call us, GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys, at (804) 413-6777. There is no charge to speak with us, and we’ll give you legal advice for your specific situation. If you need us, Virginia car accident lawyers, to represent you in your claim, it will cost you no upfront fees or out-of-pocket expenses. We only get paid if we win you an award. When accidents happen, we’re here for you.
An insurance policy is a contract between you, the insured, and the insurance company, the insurer. The legally binding agreement is that if you pay your premiums to the insurance company, it will pay for specified losses you suffer in the future.
For example, you agree to pay your car insurance company $500 a year in premiums. In return, if you are in a car accident, it promises to pay you enough to fix or replace your car, and also to pay up to $20,000 of your medical bills. Or, if you cause an accident that injures someone else, your insurance company promises to pay the other driver up to $30,000 for his losses (repairs, medical bills, etc.). However, these agreements are sometimes broken by the insurer, which is where the concept of “bad faith” comes in.
If your insurance company denies your claim without a legitimate reason, deliberately offers you a payout that’s less than you deserve, delays paying you on purpose, or does not adequately investigate your claim, that it is acting in bad faith.
For example, if you have been in a serious accident, you will have bills to pay. There is $500 of damage to your car. You also suffer injuries that leave you with $10,000 in medical bills. Under your insurance policy, both the damage to your car and your injuries should be covered. In a good faith situation, your insurance company would uphold that policy. However, if your insurance company denies your claim for $10,500, it has violated its contract with you, meaning that it has acted in bad faith.
An insurance company can act, or fail to act, in several ways that qualify as bad faith, such as:
If your insurance company isn’t honoring the contract you have with it, you may have grounds for a bad-faith insurance claim. When an insurance company refuses to comply with the contract you have with it, the company is breaking the law, which is all the more reason to demand proper compensation. Even better, if you win a bad-faith claim, the insurance company will also owe you extra money for its dishonest behavior.
Just as there are many ways that your insurance provider can act in bad faith, there are also multiple kinds of bad faith.
First-party bad faith is when your own insurance provider is acting in bad faith and denying you proper coverage. For example, suppose you were driving and lost control of your car, swerved off the road, and hit a tree. Your car was totaled, and your arm was broken. Your injuries resulted in $10,000 in medical bills, and the Blue Book value of your car was $16,000. Both amounts are well within your coverage limits, and you’ve met your deductibles. But your insurance company says your car was only worth $10,000, and it will pay only $6,000 for your medical bills.
Third-party bad faith involves your liability coverage. When you are “at fault” in an accident or injury, your insurance company must defend you in a civil claim, and pay all your defense costs – even when the lawsuit is not covered by your policy. Your insurance company must also pay for any judgments against you up to your policy’s limits. There are some exceptions to this, so check with us if you’re unsure.
An insurance provider is ultimately a business. Even if they say they care about their customers and provide compassionate support, their main goal is to make money. So as long as they don’t pay out, they are getting to keep more of the money their clients pay them with each insurance premium.
Once a client needs money for an injury or a damaged car, an insurance company’s profits are reduced. To keep as much money as possible, many insurance companies will try to deny your claim, or offer you a settlement that is far less than you deserve.
In fact, many insurance companies are so determined to make as much money as possible, they will train their employees to trick clients, and even offer incentives to motivate adjusters to offer as little as possible. Former insurance industry employees have described how they were rewarded for cutting costs and increasing profits, regardless of customers’ policy limits.
This is not to say that all insurance companies and all claims adjusters don’t offer fair payouts. Some are better than others. The bottom line is (and Virginia requires) that your insurance company must operate in “good faith” and honor its contract. It cannot deny, diminish, or delay a claim without good reason.
So, if you’ve had a claim denied, you don’t agree with the payout you’ve been offered, or you’re having trouble getting a payout from your insurance company at all, we can help you.
At GibsonSingleton Injury Attorneys, we don’t hate insurance companies. We know many of the adjusters in our area quite well. Instead of picking fights with them, we gather evidence about our clients’ medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and property damage to build a case. Then, armed with our knowledge of the law and the insurance industry, we work in a smart way to get what our clients need to recover and be made whole.
Of course, sometimes insurance companies don’t want to play fairly.
Recent Case Results
Trucking Crash
$1,000,000
Compensation for the family of a driver who was killed in a tractor-trailer truck crash.
Auto Accident
$725,000
Sexual Abuse
$1,000,000
Motorcycle Accident
$300,000
Compensation for a motorcyclist who suffered a fractured pelvis and femur when a driver failed to yield.
Prepared for Every Step, Treated Like Family
I recommend to anyone who needs an injury attorney to use Gibson and Singleton. John did an excellent job helping me get a fair settlement. I could not have navigated through everything myself. John and everyone in the office are always friendly and professional…
C Holt
This is a great Law Firm to work with. They helped me through every aspect and prepared me for every step of the case. I feel as if I have gained a group of new friends. Attorneys Gibson and Singleton both are true professionals. Their assistants are great and very professional also. Thank All of You for Everything…
Patrick Howard
Choosing GibsonSingleton was one of the best decisions I made. In 2023, I was involved in a frightening car accident that left me injured and unsure of my next steps. After seeking help from a personal injury expert, I found GibsonSingleton, and I’m so grateful I did…
Sherrie
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Insurance companies are typically huge corporations with deep pockets. They employ armies of lawyers to protect their interests. To have a successful bad faith claim against an insurer, you’ll need your own team of lawyers to fight for the compensation you deserve. Thankfully, our attorneys can offer you just that. In fact, one of our partners, John Singleton, used to work for insurance companies. So he knows all of their tricks, as well as their responsibilities.
At GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys, we have a Zero Fee Guarantee. We only get paid by taking a percent of the settlement we secure on your behalf. If we don’t succeed, you pay nothing.
Call us at our Eastern Virginia office, (804) 413-6777, for your free, no-obligation consultation.