Personal Injury

Insurance companies are supposed to be there when you need them. You pay premiums for years, and the understanding — the whole point of insurance — is that if something bad happens, the carrier steps up and makes you whole. That's not charity. That's the bargain.

The law calls it a duty of good faith and fair dealing. Every insurance company in Missouri owes it to every person they insure. It means they have to investigate claims honestly, evaluate them fairly, and pay what's owed without dragging their feet or inventing reasons to deny.

But here's what I see every week in this practice: insurers who lowball injured people hoping they'll take pennies on the dollar because they're scared or in pain. Claims dragged out for months past any reasonable timeline. Legitimate medical bills questioned as "unrelated." Denial letters that cite policy language the adjuster knows doesn't actually apply. It's not an accident. For some carriers, delay and denial are the business model.

If that's happening to you, I know the reflex is to get angry. Don't. Anger doesn't move insurance companies. Evidence does, written demands do, and the real possibility of a bad-faith lawsuit does. When an insurer crosses the line, Missouri law lets us pursue damages beyond the policy limits — sometimes substantially beyond — because the carrier's conduct itself becomes the wrong.

So before you sign anything, before you give a recorded statement, before you accept "this is our final offer" — call Ott Law. We'll tell you straight whether the insurer's position is reasonable or whether they're betting you won't push back. If they're wrong about you, we'll make sure they find out.