Say that you’re a smart and proactive Oklahoma entrepreneur who is hardly the type to leave business risks unaddressed. You flatly know that adverse possibilities need to be flagged and fully protected against through appropriate insurance coverage.
You’ve done all you can. Now your steadily paid premiums assure that your insurance company will step up and honor its contractual commitments if you need to file a legitimate claim for losses.
Right? Isn’t that the way it is supposed to work in the commercial realm?
Indeed, it is. As we noted in a recent blog post, though, prompt and full performance rendered by an insurer is far from being a universal outcome in the real world. We stress in our September 4 entry that insurers in fact “often balk” at doing what they’re supposed to do when they are presented with a claim demand.
That is obviously problematic concerning a health care claim or following an insured’s motor vehicle accident. It can be devastating in a business context.
Here is a cruel irony. Business principals secure commercial general liability insurance to safeguard against material risks, yet sometimes find themselves in truly dire straits following an adverse event because their trusted insurance policy turned out to be hollow and illusory.
Affected business owners in Oklahoma and elsewhere don’t have to accept an insurance company’s delay or denial when it is unethical or, worse, unlawful. Proven pro-claimant insurance law attorneys who routinely advocate for policyholders getting short shrift from insurers know how to push for clients’ best interests and aggressively pursue optimal outcomes.
An insurance contract is reciprocal. A policyholder has a legal right to expect prompt and full performance from an insurer. When that is being wrongly withheld, diligent legal representation can help forge a just outcome.