How important would $99.94 be to you?
Just about a hundred bucks – a Benjamin.
For our client, who had settled her lawsuit at a relatively modest sum, $99.94 wasn’t the point. And it wasn’t the point for us at [nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-3″], either.
The point was that the insurance company was required to deliver settlement proceeds within thirty days of receiving the Release, but it didn’t. In many instances, insurers deliver settlement checks well before thirty days elapse, but not this one.
As things developed, we were close to thirty days, and the check hadn’t arrived. Rather than allowing things to go too far, we gave the insurer’s attorney a call to remind him. He said that the company told him that the check was in the mail.
But it wasn’t.
Then we were a handful of days past thirty, but we gave the insurer the benefit of the doubt and contacted the lawyer again. We told him that it would be a good idea to overnight the check.
That’s when it became obvious that the company was playing dirty. That’s when the company made it clear that it believed that the law didn’t apply to them.
This happens to a lot of lawyers, apparently. Days go by and even weeks past the deadline, but the insurer isn’t held accountable.
[nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-3″] doesn’t tolerate bullies, or arrogant corporate defendants. It wasn’t the amount of the post settlement interest that was the point.
The point was to make sure that this particular insurer learned that they can’t take advantage of our clients or this firm.
We filed for Default Judgment. It had barely landed when a representative from the insurer called us, begging us to withdraw the motion.
Our Practice Manager said “not a chance”.
Hence the check. It certainly wasn’t the biggest check that we’ve ever received, but it was one of the most smile-inducing pieces of mail that has come to us in quite a while.
I think that we’ll frame it.
PROTECT. ADVOCATE. DEFEND.