It's possible to sue for denied insurance claims

It's certainly frustrating to have your insurance company deny a claim that appears to be perfectly legitimate. But can you sue your insurance provider for denying your claims?

Under certain circumstances, it may indeed be possible to file — and ultimately prevail in — a lawsuit against your insurer. Let's examine how this works.

Your insurance company must honor and uphold its obligations to you. They have a duty to act in good faith, avoid unfair trade practices and abide by all terms of the policy.

Likewise, they may not:

• Refuse to pay claims if the liability is reasonably clear
• Delay their investigation of the claim or not properly investigate it
• Fail to deny or approve claims within specified or reasonable timeframes
• Fail to defend policyholders in lawsuits over liability when one or more claims potentially are covered under the policies
• Deny claims without properly explaining why they were denied
• Deny claims because of misstatements on applications once the period of contestability has lapsed

Insurance companies sometimes try to delay or deny legitimate, covered claims by policyholders in order to drive up profits and keep costs down. They roll the dice and figure that a percentage of their claimants will accept the denial and let the matter end there. But you don't have to accept a denial.

Those who believe their claims were wrongly denied can attempt to work it out with their insurance companies on their own. If they fail to satisfactorily resolve the matter, it will likely be necessary to file suit against the insurer in order to get the needed relief.

Source: FindLaw, "Can I Sue an Insurance Company for Denying My Claim?," accessed June 08, 2026