How do I File an Insurance Lawsuit?

Most jurisdictions provide for very specific legal and procedural rules for filing any type of lawsuit, including an insurance lawsuit. In most cases, a party who wishes to initiate an insurance lawsuit must file a complaint with the appropriate court. There may be certain steps that an aggrieved party must take prior to filing an insurance lawsuit depending on the requirements of the jurisdiction involved.

Insurance lawsuits typically result from some sort of injury or damage to a person or property that an insurance policy covers. For instance, a common type of insurance lawsuit involves injuries and property damage sustained during an automobile accident. In this case, the injured party would file a claim for monetary compensation with the automobile insurance company of the party who is responsible for the automobile accident. An insurance adjustor, a professional who assesses the value of the claimed damages and the coverage mandated by the insurance policy applicable to the incident, then will extend a settlement offer to the injured party.

The settlement offer that the insurance company extends to the injured party may or may not be acceptable to him. Assuming that an injured party does not believe the settlement offer of the insurance company is adequate to compensate him for his injuries and property damage, his recourse is to file a lawsuit in the appropriate jurisdiction. In this lawsuit, the injured party would seek to compel the insurance company of the responsible party to pay out a certain sum to him. Filing an insurance lawsuit is a complex matter that usually requires the injured party to hire an attorney who specializes in the area of insurance law and personal injuries.

Another type of insurance lawsuit is a class action lawsuit. In this circumstance, a large number of people have suffered injuries due to the wrongful actions of a person or, more often, a company or business. One or more attorneys may represent the class of injured persons, and the goal is to reach a group settlement of the injuries. Aside from the award of damages to the injured parties, a class action lawsuit also may seek to change or remediate the practices of a business that led to the injuries at issue. To some degree, the class action lawsuit also insulates the wrongdoer and his insurance company from multiple inconsistent awards of damages in many different jurisdictions.