Insurance Bad Faith

Esteemed Los Angeles Law Firm

Successfully Handling All Types of Insurance Bad Faith Cases

Our attorneys have considerable experience handling all types of insurance disputes and bad faith cases and have developed litigation techniques designed to maximize recoveries against insurance companies that try to avoid paying the benefits their policyholders are entitled to.

If you, your business, or your client has a claim for damages caused by an insurance company's bad faith or unfair insurance practices, it is important that you seek out a law firm with the experience to maximize the damages you can recover.

For experienced representation in an insurance bad faith litigation, contact BIREN|KATZMAN by e-mail or call us toll-free at 866-604-5887.

Why Choose BIREN|KATZMAN to Try Your Bad Faith Insurance Case?

We are Trial Lawyers - Perhaps the most significant difference between BIREN|KATZMAN's lawyers and many other lawyers involved in insurance disputes is that we are trial lawyers. Some parties involved in insurance disputes choose to be represented by general, business or corporate lawyers. While these lawyers may be excellent at giving business or tax advice or handling business transactions or litigation, they do not have the expertise acquired through years of experience dealing with insurance companies and presenting insurance bad faith cases at trial. Many times non-trial lawyers will settle for less than is due to the policy holders or fold before trial. Other times when they do go to trial, they simply are not as adept at presenting a case to a jury. BIREN|KATZMAN has a proven record of success in insurance dispute and bad faith cases built on extraordinarily thorough preparation combined with use of the best experts and creative approaches to communicating our client's story to the jury.

Contingency Fees - Another thing that sets BIREN|KATZMAN apart from many other firms that handle insurance disputes is that we are willing to represent clients who we believe have a winning claim on a contingency fee basis. Often times, individuals or businesses who have been wronged by their insurance companies cannot afford expert counsel if they have to pay them on an hourly basis. Attorneys and CPAs who know how BIREN|KATZMAN works have referred us clients who we have obtained tremendous recoveries for, who could not have afforded to prosecute their claims if they had to pay out of pocket for legal representation.

Maximizing Damages - It isn't enough to establish liability in an insurance dispute or bad faith case, the outcome also depends on proving the full extent of damages. BIREN|KATZMAN knows how to find the best economists and other experts who can quantify losses sustained as a result of an insurance company's wrongdoing. More importantly, we at BIREN|KATZMAN know how to present the damages to juries in a way that makes them understand that our clients have been truly harmed and deserve to be made whole to the full extent authorized by law.

Team Approach / Principal Lawyer Handling - BIREN|KATZMAN is unique in that every case accepted by the firm is handled from start to finish by the firm's principals, Matthew B.F. Biren and Marc J. Katzman. Every case is approached on a team basis where every member of the firm works on the case. This team approach involving hands-on involvement of the principal lawyers is much different than how most firms work, where the handling is basically done by an associate and the senior lawyers only get involved, if at all, in the later stages of the case. Our clients profit from this approach because they not only get the benefit of our senior lawyers' extensive experience and knowledge, but they also get the input from many people, which substantially increases the creative ideas generated about handling, which translates to better results.

Examples of Insurance Bad Faith Cases: There are an infinite number of ways that insurance companies can breach the obligation of good faith and fair dealing. Perhaps the most common breach involves either delay in paying benefits due to a policy holder or not offering fair value for the policy holder's loss. This situation can arise in automobile accidents (property damage claims, uninsured motorist claims, etc.), homeowner claims (damage from fires, theft, etc.), earthquake claims. Other situations where bad faith claims arise are where insurers fail to pay life or disability insurance benefits as it contracted to do; for example, Unum Provident is a persistent offender regarding disability benefits. Insurance companies deal unfairly with businesses by failing to pay for losses, under-evaluating losses, not paying for business interruption, etc. Other times insurance companies commit bad faith by failing to defend their policy holders against claims or not settling those claims within the policy limits when they have a chance to do so, resulting in the policy holder's personal assets being placed in jeopardy.

Failing to Settle a Claim with the Policy Limits - One form of bad faith is where an insurance company fails to settle a claim within the policy limits of its insured. Under California law, when an insurance company commits bad faith in this manner, the policy limits are "opened." The insurance company becomes obligated to satisfy any judgment against its insured, without regard to the insurance limits, if it wrongfully failed to settle within the policy limits. BIREN|KATZMAN's trial lawyers excel in recognizing when a defendant's insurance company has opened the policy of a defendant and recovering more for their clients from the insurance company than the defendant's policy limits.

Extensive Trial Experience Obtaining Large Settlements

Our lawyers at BIREN|KATZMAN Trial Lawyers have achieved extraordinary recoveries for our business clients, including:

• A food business whose insurance company engaged in a bad faith refusal to pay benefits after they had to destroy 100,000 pounds of product that was contaminated by listeria - erroneously claiming that a pollution exclusion applied -was awarded $435,000 in compensatory damages and $12 million in punitive damages.
• In one of our most notable motor vehicle accident cases, Matthew B.F. Biren and an accident reconstruction engineer were able to convince a jury that, contrary to eyewitness accounts and first appearances at the accident scene, our client's pickup truck had not crossed into oncoming traffic, but rather the truck driven by the defendant had wandered into his lane, clipping his truck and starting the reaction that ultimately led to his tragic death. The jury awarded this 61 year old man's family (wife and adult children) $4,500,000. Because the defendant's insurer had failed to settle the claim for the defendant's $750,000 insurance limits (a form of bad faith), the policy was opened and the plaintiffs were able to recover millions more than the defendant was insured for.
• A businessman whose insurance company delayed payment of property insurance benefits so long that zoning changes precluded him from rebuilding his restaurant was paid $2.5 million bad faith damages by his insurance company.

If you or your business has suffered a significant financial loss because your insurance company has not paid benefits that they owe or has otherwise failed to act fairly and in good faith, contact the office of BIREN|KATZMAN to schedule a free initial consultation to review your case. Your consultation is free. Your recovery could begin today.

We welcome attorney referrals and pay referral fees. Contact BIREN|KATZMAN by e-mail or call us at 866-604-5887.