Bad Faith Insurance FAQs

Yes — and these are precisely the cases where bad faith is most devastating and most important. When a family member suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, amputation, severe burn, or other catastrophic harm, the financial stakes are enormous — often involving millions of dollars in lifetime medical care, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering. Insurance companies know this and sometimes use delay and denial tactics precisely to exploit the financial pressure on injured families. Bad faith law is an essential weapon in these cases. Haug Barron Law Group specializes in catastrophic injury and wrongful death litigation and has the resources, expertise, and trial record to hold insurers fully accountable.

An excess verdict occurs when a jury awards damages against a defendant that exceed the defendant’s insurance policy limits. Under Georgia law, as established in Southern General Insurance Co. v. Holt, 262 Ga. 267 (1992), if an insurer refuses to settle a claim within policy limits when a reasonable insurer would have settled — exposing its insured to personal liability above the policy limit — the insurer can be held responsible for the full excess verdict. This bad faith doctrine is one of the most powerful tools in serious injury and wrongful death litigation. At Haug Barron Law Group, we routinely use statutory demand letters and documented settlement opportunities to create the evidentiary record needed to pursue excess verdict bad faith claims.

In a successful Georgia bad faith claim under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6, you can recover: (1) the full amount of the original loss the insurer improperly denied or delayed; (2) a 25% bad faith penalty on that amount; (3) all reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs. In extreme cases involving intentional misconduct, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1 allows for punitive damages (up to $250,000, or uncapped if there was specific intent to harm).

For first-party claims (your own insurer — health, UM/UIM, property), you can sue your insurer directly for bad faith without first establishing liability against a third party. For third-party bad faith claims (the at-fault driver’s insurer), the analysis is more complex — typically the underlying tort claim must be resolved first, or you must establish that the insurer’s failure to settle within policy limits exposed its insured to a judgment in excess of coverage. Our attorneys at Haug Barron Law Group can assess your specific situation and determine the right litigation strategy.

Absolutely. Your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) carrier owes you the same good faith duties as any other insurer. Under O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11 and the general bad faith framework, when your UM/UIM carrier denies or delays payment on a valid claim — particularly in a serious injury or wrongful death case — it may be acting in bad faith. Georgia requires UM/UIM carriers to offer at least $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident (or an amount equal to your liability limits if you carry higher limits), and the carrier must investigate and evaluate UM/UIM claims in good faith.

Yes — the 60-day demand letter is mandatory. Under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6, before you can sue an insurer for bad faith penalties, you must send a written demand giving the insurer at least 60 days to pay the claim. If you file suit without first sending this letter, you forfeit your right to the 25% bad faith penalty and attorney’s fees — even if the insurer’s conduct was clearly wrongful. This letter must be drafted carefully and sent to the correct party in the correct form. Our attorneys handle this step with precision.

Georgia’s statute of limitations for a first-party bad faith insurance claim under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6 is generally six years for claims arising out of written contracts (the insurance policy). However, the underlying personal injury or wrongful death claim has its own deadline — typically two years from the date of injury or death under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. There are also critical procedural deadlines: the 60-day statutory demand letter must be sent before filing a bad faith lawsuit. Do not wait — contact our firm immediately to protect your rights.

A lowball settlement offer is one of the most common signs of potential bad faith. If the insurer’s offer bears no reasonable relationship to the documented value of your injuries — your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and future care needs — that offer may reflect a bad faith evaluation of your claim. Georgia law requires insurers to evaluate claims fairly and in good faith. An offer designed to take advantage of a claimant’s financial distress rather than to reflect the actual value of the claim can constitute bad faith. We recommend contacting Haug Barron Law Group at (844) 428-4529 before accepting any settlement offer in a serious injury case.

Yes, in certain circumstances. If the at-fault driver’s insurer had an opportunity to settle your wrongful death claim within policy limits — and refused to do so without a reasonable basis — you may have a bad faith claim against the insurer under the Holt doctrine (Southern General Ins. Co. v. Holt, 262 Ga. 267). This is known as a ‘failure to settle’ bad faith claim, and it can expose the insurer to liability far exceeding the original policy limits — including the full amount of any trial verdict. At Haug Barron Law Group, we have obtained a $30 million wrongful death verdict in DeKalb County State Court and know exactly how to leverage bad faith law in Georgia wrongful death cases.

Insurance bad faith in Georgia occurs when an insurance company refuses to honor a valid claim without a reasonable basis, or unreasonably delays payment. Under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6, an insurer that acts in bad faith owes the policyholder a 25% penalty on the claim value, plus attorney’s fees. Georgia courts — including the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia — have interpreted bad faith broadly to protect policyholders. Bad faith can take the form of outright denial, unreasonable delay, inadequate investigation, lowball offers, or misrepresentation of policy terms.