Insurance Bad Faith
You paid for coverage, and when you needed it the insurer delayed, lowballed, or denied without a real reason. Washington gives policyholders powerful tools when an insurer acts in bad faith, including treble damages, and we use them to make the company answer for how it handled the claim.
Talk to an attorneyFounded
1965
Attorneys
11
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Founded
1965
Attorneys
4
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Insurance bad faith attorneys for Bellevue and Seattle policyholders
Oseran Hahn represents policyholders whose own insurer treated them unfairly: a claim denied without a reasonable basis, a payment dragged out for months, a settlement offer far below what the policy owes. Washington holds insurers to a duty of good faith, and when they breach it the remedies go beyond the policy itself, including treble damages and attorney fees under the Insurance Fair Conduct Act. We build the claims-handling record, send the statutory notice, and pursue both the coverage owed and the penalty for how the insurer behaved. The first conversation is free.
Insurer bad faith turns on a simple question with expensive consequences: did the company treat your claim reasonably, or did it put its own interests first? We show what the duty of good faith required and where the insurer fell short; we bring the Insurance Fair Conduct Act claim that can treble the damages; we add the regulatory and Consumer Protection Act violations that come built in; we pursue the attorney fees Washington awards when an insurer forces you to fight for coverage; and we use the presumption of harm that follows a finding of bad faith.
What counts as insurer bad faith
An insurance company owes its own policyholder a duty of good faith that is close to a fiduciary's. It has to investigate fairly, evaluate honestly, and pay what it owes without unreasonable delay. When it denies, delays, or underpays a claim without a reasonable basis, that is bad faith. The Washington Supreme Court set the standard in Safeco Insurance Co. v. Butler, 118 Wn.2d 383 (1992): conduct that is unreasonable, frivolous, or unfounded. Honest disagreement about a close coverage question is not bad faith; ignoring the facts or the policy to avoid paying is.
The Insurance Fair Conduct Act
Washington's strongest tool is the Insurance Fair Conduct Act, RCW 48.30.015. A first-party claimant who is unreasonably denied coverage or payment can recover the actual damages, and the court may award up to three times those damages plus attorney fees and costs. IFCA requires a written notice to the insurer and the Office of the Insurance Commissioner at least twenty days before suit, which gives the company a last chance to do the right thing. We send that notice carefully, because it frames the case.
Regulatory violations and the Consumer Protection Act
Bad-faith conduct usually breaks specific rules. Washington's unfair-claims-settlement-practices regulation, WAC 284-30-330, lists practices an insurer may not engage in, like misrepresenting policy terms or failing to investigate promptly. Violations support a Consumer Protection Act claim under RCW 19.86, which carries its own treble damages, capped at $25,000, and attorney fees. Even where coverage is ultimately a close call, Coventry Associates v. American States Insurance Co., 136 Wn.2d 269 (1998), lets an insured pursue bad-faith and CPA claims for unreasonable claims handling.
Attorney fees when you're forced to fight for coverage
Washington does not make policyholders pay to enforce coverage they already bought. Under Olympic Steamship Co. v. Centennial Insurance Co., 117 Wn.2d 37 (1991), when an insurer compels its insured to litigate to get the benefit of the policy, the insured recovers attorney fees on winning the coverage dispute. That rule shifts the economics: the insurer can no longer count on the cost of a lawyer to wear a policyholder down.
Proving the claim, the presumption of harm, and the deadline
Bad-faith cases are won in the claims file: the adjuster's notes, the timeline, the internal evaluations, and what the insurer knew when it said no. We obtain that record and show the gap between what good-faith handling required and what happened. Under Butler, once bad faith is shown, harm is presumed and the burden shifts to the insurer. The deadlines vary by theory: generally three years for the bad-faith and IFCA claims and four years for the Consumer Protection Act claim, so the file should be reviewed before any of them lapse.
Insurers keep track of which firms prepare a file like it's headed to a jury and which ones take the first offer. We're in the first group, and it changes what your claim is worth.
You pay nothing unless we recover.
We handle injury cases on a contingency fee. The consultation is free, we advance the costs of building the case, and our fee comes out of the recovery, not your pocket. If there's no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
Built for trial, which is why most settle.
Every file is prepared as if a jury will see it: evidence preserved, experts lined up, damages documented. That preparation is exactly why the other side settles, and settles higher. The firm's trial group has been in Washington courtrooms for decades.
Senior attorneys, straight talk.
You work with experienced attorneys, not a rotating case manager, and you'll get an honest read on your claim, including when a case isn't worth bringing. Communication is steady and in plain language, so you always know where things stand.
The attorneys behindthe work.
Our business and corporate attorneys handle this work alongside our litigation team, so you have coverage whether your matter stays transactional or becomes something more.
What clientsask us first.
What is insurance bad faith?
It's when your own insurer treats your claim unreasonably, by denying, delaying, or underpaying without a legitimate basis. Washington holds insurers to a duty of good faith close to a fiduciary's, and under Safeco v. Butler, conduct that is unreasonable, frivolous, or unfounded crosses the line into bad faith.
What is IFCA and what can I recover?
The Insurance Fair Conduct Act, RCW 48.30.015, lets a first-party policyholder who was unreasonably denied coverage recover their damages, and the court can triple them and award attorney fees. IFCA requires a written notice to the insurer and the Insurance Commissioner at least twenty days before filing, which we handle.
My insurer denied my claim. Is that automatically bad faith?
No. An insurer is allowed to disagree about a genuinely close coverage question. Bad faith is about how the claim was handled, whether the investigation and evaluation were reasonable, not simply that the answer was no. We review the claims file to see which one you have.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. We take these cases on a contingency fee. Bad-faith law also shifts fees onto the insurer in many situations, through IFCA and the Olympic Steamship rule, so the company can be made to pay your attorney fees when it forced the fight.
How long do I have?
It depends on the theory. Bad-faith and IFCA claims generally run about three years, while a Consumer Protection Act claim runs four. Because more than one clock can apply, it's worth having the file reviewed early so no deadline is missed.
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Tell us what happened with your claim. The consultation is free, and an attorney from our personal-injury group will follow up within one business day.
Oseran Hahn P.S. · 11225 SE 6th St, Suite 100 · Bellevue, WA 98004
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