Legal Question in Insurance Law in Wisconsin

An insurance claim was denied because it was received after the submission date. However, it was submitted, by mail with return receipt, before the submission date. Should the insurance company still honor the claim?


Asked on 1/13/14, 1:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

JAY Nixon nixon law offices

Most insurance companies are publically owned by their shareholders and only have legal duties to make a profit for them. If they are your insurance company, however, under your contract with them, they also owe you a duty of good faith under WI law. Either way, however, you should never expect an insurance company to do what is "right" in a general sense, but rather only what they are legally compelled to do, relating to either contractual duties to you or their duties to make money for their owners by denying your claim if they have any possible basis to do so. You can also create a third type of legal duty, however, by obtaining a court order, which first requires you to file a lawsuit against the insurer. If your case has merit and your lawyer does this properly, you should win a judgment, in which case they will usually pay you. From the information which you provide, I have no idea what sort of claim you were submitting or what the rules were for submitting it, so I have no idea how your lawsuit might go. Sometimes deadlines can be met by mailing prior to the deadline rather than the date upon which the claim is received, in which case you could win. You therefore urgently need to consult with an experienced civil litigation attorney about your case.

Do not assume that I am your attorney due to this answer, but feel free to call my office in Racine (262-633-3090 or email [email protected]) for clarifications or further questions. Otherwise, I would not be taking any further action on your case. See me on the web at www.jayknixonlaw.com. View my past answers at http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/53401-wi-jay-nixon-1529181/answers.html?sort=recency , or http://www.lawguru.com/answers/search/attorney/jknixon.

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Answered on 1/14/14, 6:35 am


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