This scenario is playing out more and more in personal injury cases: The defense lawyer stands in front of the judge and says, “Judge, candidly, the plaintiff’s demand is reasonable, but we can’t get authorization to pay it.”
Certain insurance companies are denying and delaying compensation to our clients in order to boost their profits. Sour grapes? The ranting of a plaintiff attorney perhaps? It’s not just plaintiff’s lawyers who think so. Major corporate defendants have been forced to go to court against their own insurance companies because those carriers are denying claims, increasing legal fees and getting those defendants fined. In some cases, their refusal to settle has even left the defendants on the hook for punitive damages. Since insurance policies usually don’t cover punitive damages, the defendants very often are liable for these on their own.
