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Insurance provides financial and physical protection in a lot of different ways, from home insurance to protect your home, to car insurance for your vehicle, workers’ compensation to protect you at your job, and more.
Insurance defense attorneys have a key role to play in the world of insurance. They work for insurers and their policyholders to defend them from lawsuits and other legal actions.
What Is An Insurance Defense Attorney?
As the name implies, an insurance defense attorney works to protect the overall interests of insurance companies. Primarily, they perform the following roles:
- Protecting policyholders – An insurance defense attorney is often used to represent a policyholder during legal proceedings involving an insurance claim. If a doctor is accused of medical malpractice, for example, an insurance defense attorney will be hired by the doctor’s insurance company to represent and defend them in court.
- Determining when insurance must pay a claim – Insurance defense attorneys also help determine whether or not an insurance company must pay a claim. If a policyholder accuses the insurer of wrongfully denying a claim, the insurer’s attorneys will evaluate the claim and local laws to determine its validity.
- Making sure insurance companies comply with regulations – Insurance defense attorneys have a deep understanding of state insurance regulations, and work on the behalf of insurance companies to make sure that their insurance products comply with all relevant regulations.
What Types Of Claims Does An Insurance Defense Attorney Handle?
At The Checkett Law Firm, we typically represent corporate insurance companies and individual policyholders against claims of negligence, wrongful death, and professional misconduct.
However, insurance defense attorneys can handle a wide variety of other claims. These include, but are not limited to:
- Premises liability
- Products liability
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims
- Property and homeowners claims
- Employment law
- Medical malpractice
- Legal malpractice
- Bad faith claims
Essentially, insurance defense attorneys can work for any kind of insurance company and their policyholders when something goes wrong. There may be dozens of specializations in this field.
Who Does An Insurance Defense Attorney Represent?
Insurance defense attorneys represent both insurers and policyholders. For example, if a driver has GEICO, causes an accident, and is sued by a person injured in the accident, an insurance defense attorney would represent both GEICO and the covered driver in court. In this case, the lawyer is working on behalf of both GEICO and the driver who was covered by a GEICO insurance policy.
In some cases, insurance defense attorneys may only represent the insurer. For example, if a policyholder sues an insurance company due to an unfair denial, insurance defense attorneys may work for the insurance company to defend it against the lawsuit.
Need An Arizona Insurance Defense Attorney?
John Checkett and the team at Checkett Law are experienced insurance defense lawyers in Arizona. We can represent both insurance companies and policyholders in negligence, wrongful death, and professional misconduct claims.
Contact us online or call us at (480) 272-9100 to speak to an attorney at Checkett Law, and learn more about how our team of experienced insurance defense attorneys can help you.
