Can I sue my Insurance Company for failing to notify me that my policy was going to elapse?
For many years, I would pay my policy timely after reception of the "Payment Due" notification from the Insurance Company. I just found out that last year they did not send the notification, so I did not pay the policy last year, and the policy lapse. And they did not mention it to me until I asked about the policy's condition this year after I noticed I did not receive a notification. Now they are saying that if I want a policy again, it will have to be a new one. Is it possible to fight this and make it be a continuation of the original one?
No, it is your responsibilty to make sure that you have insurance, not theirs.
Good Luck on this one....
First of all, your policy "lapsed"...not "elapsed", get it right.
Secondly, you are an adult and you should not have to be babied by your insurance company and reminded of when your bills are due. I'm sure your policy was probably on some sort of payment plan and I'm sure your agent probably explained the terms of your policy, your policy period, and when to expect your bills when you signed the paperwork to purchase the policy. You should have realized at some point that you had not received your "payment due" notice and then contacted the company by phone to make sure things were okay. Sometimes the post office screws up and loses mail, keep that in mind. It is very possible your notice was mailed, but just did not reach you. Also, if you have recently moved or changed addresses, if you haven't notified your company of that information, your bill won't reach you.
I work for an insurance company and that "I did not get my bill" is the oldest and most overused excuse in the book and in about 99% of cases where people say this, we can prove that we did in fact send a bill out, thus showing that we have held up our end of the deal and are not liable for your policy lapsing. I'm sure your company can probably do the same thing.
Sue if you want, but it's most likely a dead end for you. Good luck anyway.
You can sue anyone for anything. If you have grounds on which to win? That should be the question. You sound like you have a good chance but some of the things they will throw your way is. As you had paid the the policy in a timely matter before how did you not notice to pay it now. Also they may say that they are not responsible to notify you that your policy is about to elapse this is done for you out of a courtesy to you so there for they are not responsible that you did not pay. I would go and discuss it with a lawyer. BUT like I said you can sue anyone for anything. I am not sure where you live but try this site it maybe of some help.
http://www.freeadvice.com/
unfortunatly you cannot, this happened to me a long time ago, I purchased an umbrella policy for one million dollars my son had a serious accident with my car when I went to collect the ins. company told me that they cancelled the policy, I never knew it and I had an attorney and he said there is nothing to do. They pulled a fst one on me because they didn't want to pay, ins. companies do this all the time!! they stink!!
First of all since insurance is regulated state by state and we dont know what state this happened in it is difficult to answer this question accurately. That being said, your state's dept. of insurance has certain statutes and regulations that address this type of situation. You would need to look at what your state requires and then see if your situation is a violation of these rules and regulations. I agree with everyone else who states that indeed you can sue anyone for anything. Also, a key component that your missing is what damages did this incident cause? If you are just upset that this happened, justifiably so, and there are no real damages you would be unlikely to win any type of monetary award.
Sure, anyone can sue anyone else for anything. You'll probably lose, and you'll have to pay your lawyer up front.
The insurance companies aren't REQUIRED to "notify" you that your policy will lapse. They're required to ATTEMPT to notify you. Mail gets lost occasionally, but I've been doing this insurance stuff for 20 years, and if I had a nickle for every time someone said, "I never got a bill" after their policy cancelled, I'd be retired by now. In my experience, about 30% of them never DID get a bill, because they moved and didn't notify the insurance company of their new address, so the bill went to the old address. Another 69% got the bill, and didn't pay it, threw it away, the dog ate it, whatever. And that last 1% were living in New Orleans right before Katrina, and the mail got washed away.
After a policy has been lapsed for over a year, you can't make them re-issue it covering the past year. Sometimes if it's less than 30 days lapse, depending on what state you live in, they can reinstate it. But hey, if you didn't have any claims last year and are willing to sign a statement, AND you're willing to pay for last year AND this year, I'd make them that offer. "I didn't need the insurance last year, if I pay you for it anyway will you reinstate the policy?".
Lots of luck.
Answers:
Did you have a loss and now you are trying to put the blame on someone for your mistakes? You can try to sue but, insurance companies do send notice before cancelling so you probably do not have a case. Learn from your mistakes and take responsibility. Pay your bills on time. Don't you have a budget and know when you should pay your bills?
If it was a renewal and you did not pay the premium they would have sent you a reminder notice of premium due. They send the renewal to you with a bill, they are not obligated to notify you any further than that. If no monies are received, they assume you do not want the policy and coverage ends on the expiration date of the policy. If you want the policy, you will have to start over with a new one which will not be a problem as long as no claims took place while the old policy lapsed. I see nothing to fight about, you actually saved money on the year you had no coverage.