Citations Affected: IC 27-4-1-4.5; IC 34-51-1-4.
Synopsis: Civil action for unfair claim settlement practices. Allows a
person to file a civil action for damages related to an unfair claims
settlement practice. Specifies the manner in which payment of certain
damages must be made.
Effective: July 1, 2007.
January 16, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Corrections, Criminal, and
Civil Matters.
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
insurance.
reasonably clear.
(7) Compelling insureds to institute litigation to recover amounts
due under an insurance policy by offering substantially less than
the amounts ultimately recovered in actions brought by such
insureds.
(8) Attempting to settle a claim for less than the amount to which
a reasonable individual would have believed the individual was
entitled by reference to written or printed advertising material
accompanying or made part of an application.
(9) Attempting to settle claims on the basis of an application that
was altered without notice to or knowledge or consent of the
insured.
(10) Making claims payments to insureds or beneficiaries not
accompanied by a statement setting forth the coverage under
which the payments are being made.
(11) Making known to insureds or claimants a policy of appealing
from arbitration awards in favor of insureds or claimants for the
purpose of compelling them to accept settlements or compromises
less than the amount awarded in arbitration.
(12) Delaying the investigation or payment of claims by requiring
an insured, a claimant, or the physician of either to submit a
preliminary claim report and then requiring the subsequent
submission of formal proof of loss forms, both of which
submissions contain substantially the same information.
(13) Failing to promptly settle claims, where liability has become
reasonably clear, under one (1) portion of the insurance policy
coverage in order to influence settlements under other portions of
the insurance policy coverage.
(14) Failing to promptly provide a reasonable explanation of the
basis in the insurance policy in relation to the facts or applicable
law for denial of a claim or for the offer of a compromise
settlement.
(15) In negotiations concerning liability insurance claims,
ascribing a percentage of fault to a person seeking to recover from
an insured party, in spite of an obvious absence of fault on the
part of that person.
(16) The unfair claims settlement practices defined in
IC 27-4-1.5.
(b) Notwithstanding section 18 of this chapter, a person that
suffers a pecuniary loss as a result of the commission of a practice
specified in subsection (a) may bring a civil action against the
person that caused the loss for all of the following:
(1) An amount not to exceed two (2) times the actual damages
of the person that suffered the loss.
(2) Costs related to the civil action.
(3) Reasonable attorney's fees.
(c) If a plaintiff in a civil action under subsection (b) obtains a
judgment for an amount described in subsection (b)(1) that exceeds
the amount of the plaintiff's actual damages, the defendant against
which the judgment is entered shall pay the amount that exceeds
the plaintiff's actual damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees
to the clerk of the court where the action is pending.
(d) Upon receiving a payment described in subsection (c), the
clerk of the court shall do all of the following:
(1) Pay to the plaintiff seventy-five percent (75%) of the
payment received under subsection (c).
(2) Pay the remaining twenty-five percent (25%) of the
payment received under subsection (c) to the treasurer of
state who shall deposit the funds in the violent crime victims
compensation fund established by IC 5-2-6.1-40.