Nationwide Hit with Bad Faith Lawsuit

Nationwide Insurance Co. of America has been hit with a proposed class action bad faith lawsuit that alleges it routinely fails to cover payments for personal injury claims.

Maryland resident Trisha L. Jordan is leading the bad faith lawsuit because of an injury she sustained in an October 2009 car accident. Maryland state law required that she submit a personal injury claim within 30 days of the accident, a requirement she obeyed. However, Nationwide never paid for either her medical payments or the interest that accrued.

Maryland law requires that an insurance company pay a valid claim “periodically as claims for benefits arise within 30 days after the insurer receives satisfactory proof of claim” or else it will incur a penalty and be required to pay simple interest at a 1.5 percent per month rate.

Jordan’s class action lawsuit against Nationwide seeks to include any policyholders who submitted valid policy claims to the insurer but never received payment dating back to August 2009.

The lawsuit claims that there was no time frame says Nationwide's insurance contracts do not give a time frame for making claims or payments, and alleges that the company has regularly breached its contract terms by delaying payments to policyholders.

“In addition to violating the statutory requirement of payment for covered personal injury protection claims within 30 days, Nationwide routinely ignored its obligations to pay the statutory interest owed in such cases,” the lawsuit reads, according to Law360. “Nationwide has delayed payment of covered personal injury protection benefits to Ms. Jordan without reasonable justification.”

If you or a loved one has been victimized by an insurance company that has acted in bad faith, call Sokolove Law today to learn more about possibly pursuing a bad faith lawsuit. For legal help, call (800) 581-6358.

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