South Dakota has a law on its books regarding unfair or deceptive practices in dealing with the insured. This law sets forth the standards to which insurance carriers are held when dealing with their policyholders or their representatives.

In South Dakota, an insurer’s violation of good faith and fair dealing is considered a “tort.” In law, a tort is a civil wrong committed against someone that results in harm or injury and for which the wrongdoer can be held liable.

While these cases may seem straightforward to you, they are often complex. Insurers will commonly deny that they did anything wrong. Large insurance companies also have teams of lawyers whose sole job is to defend their best interests.

To fight back, you will need a law firm that understands the applicable laws, has litigation experience in court, and is not afraid to stand up against these large corporate interests. At Zephier & LaFleur, we are known for protecting the underdog in fights such as these. Our team is well-versed in laws such as South Dakota’s Unfair Claims Practices Act that outline bad faith treatment by insurers.

Our team has decades of experience in successfully representing our clients in legal actions taken against insurance companies.

The following types of damages may be recovered in a bad faith insurance lawsuit:

• Benefits under breach of contract; these are the benefits you were due per the terms of your contract that were withheld plus interest.
• Consequential economic losses (those additional losses suffered as a consequence of the bad faith conduct), including emotional distress and attorney’s fees.
• Punitive damages in cases where insurers acted with oppression, malice, or fraud.

Your potential damages in any case will depend on the circumstances. Our Rapid City attorneys can advise you on this based on the specifics of your case.

Insurers can act in many ways that could be considered to be bad faith, such as:

• Unreasonably delaying the investigation of a claim
• Improperly valuing a claim
• Biased investigation of a claim
• Unreasonably delaying payment of the benefits owed the policyholder
• Unreasonably interpreting policy language to the detriment of the policyholder
• Unreasonably denying a claim
• Engaging in deceptive, coercive, or abusive practices
• Failing to accept a reasonable settlement offer from the insured

Any unreasonable non-compliance by the insurer in meeting the terms of the policy may be considered a breach of good faith for which it could be held accountable.