Working families in Texas spend their hard earned money on insurance premiums only to find out when they need the help that they purchased there is no mechanism for making the insurance company who profited on them treat them fairly.
People do not believe that their insurance company will treat them unjustly until they actually make a claim from a car accident or truck accident with their own insurance company. These type of claims happen when the drunk driver has no insurance or the injuries are catastrophic and the drunk driver has minimum limits.
The comment which I hear most frequently from victims who try to handle their own claims is "that's not fair".
They are right, Texas consumers are treated unfairly each and every day because there is no real legal recourse if their own insurer treats them unfairly.
Special interest groups made up of lobbyists paid by big insurance companies have taken a heavy toll on the backs of Texas families.
While insurance companies pocket record profits, victims of drunk drivers are left without justice in dealing with their own insurance carriers and are forced to file lawsuits.
Stripped of legal options by "tort reform" and judicial activism by courts that favor insurance companies and big business texas families are the losers.
Not only are our premiums going up at record paces but in Texas the insurance carrier pays only a small percentage of the premium collected to actual claims. A practice that other states will not allow.
What is acceptable in Texas in the claims handling practices is illegal and actionable in most other states.
It is time that politicians in Austin, their political appointees and the courts put Texas families first and big insurance companies second.
One method of holding insurance companies accountable when they do not treat their policyholders fairly is a true loser pay system.
If your insurance company lowballs you and you obtain more than the insurance company offer at trial they should have to pay you for the cost of suing them to obtain justice which includes your expenses and attorney's fees.
Likewise, if you are overreaching and the insurance offer is as good or better as you obtain at trial you should have to reimburse the insurance carrier for costs of litigation and attorneys fees.
As you may expect, insurance companies and the politicians they support are opposed to such a system because it would require Texas insurance companies to treat their own policyholders fairly.
If insurance companies doing business in Texas had to pay litigation costs when they are unfair in the claims handling process much litigation would be avoided.
It is time that Texas families stood up and said "enough". It is time that the Texas consumer comes first and the our system made fair for innocent victims.
Greg Baumgartner is a Houston auto accident attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping auto accident victims fight insurance companies. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a car accident and would like to speak with a Houston car accident lawyer call Baumgartner law firm.
