Farmers Insurance won't honor its Auto Policy?

Minnie Kaplan, from South Beach, FL is frustrated. She was involved in a car accident a few years ago. The police and insurance investigators found the driver of the vehicle that hit her completely liable, yet she is still waiting to be compensated for her medical bills.

Clearly, her insurance company, [Farmer's Insurance], has acted in bad faith.

Kaplan was rear ended at a stop light - twice. Not only was the rear end of her car damaged, the second "bump" caused her car to hit the vehicle in front of her. All told, the damage amounted to more than $2,000 and Kaplan sustained injuries to her back and fractured her foot. She immediately notified the police and her insurance company. Someone from the accident division of the police department came to the scene of the accident and determined that the woman behind Kaplan was 100 percent at fault.

"I went to work that day and the pain in my foot worsened," Kaplan says. "Finally I went to a podiatrist and found out the metatarsals in my foot were broken and I needed a cast."

"My Farmers auto policy clearly states that it covers all medical bills if the other driver is found at fault, but now Farmers says the other woman's insurance is supposed to cover me, but her insurance company says that Farmers is supposed to cover me," says Kaplan.

In other words, she is getting the run-around. And her medical bills have yet to be covered.

Insurance companies are not all equal. Some run the gamut from refusing to pay all or part of your medical bills, to delaying investigation of your claim for no reason except to hope that you will go away. When an insurance company breaches your trust, you feel betrayed. The company is then acting in bad faith.

Definition of Insurance: Coverage by a contract binding a party to indemnify another against specified loss in return for premiums paid.

In other words, you sign a contract with an insurance company — your insurance policy — which sets out terms and conditions specifiying the amount of coverage or compensation payable to you should you claim a loss or injury. Depending upon your contract, it may cover you against personal injuries, to damage to your vehicle, to a catastrophic event such as Hurricane Katrina.

Sounds straightforward — you buy insurance and assume that you will be compensated by the insurance company if you suffer a loss. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Some companies will deny your legitimate claim even if they don't have a valid reason to do so. They count on you giving up, not pursuing your claim. They count on you not having any recourse. Ater all, they are in the insuarance biz and know where the dice rolls, how to play the odds — a big corporation against you.