Defendant's Attorney: Grand Rapids, Michigan insurance defense lawyer represented the Defendant.

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan insurance law lawyer represented the Plaintiff who sued on a bad faith breach of insurance contract theory.

Insurance Policyholder Bill of Rights

Sec. 500.3075. (1) An insurer shall provide to a claimant a copy of all applications for insurance, policies of insurance including all endorsements and declarations, and all underwriting files applicable to the policies of insurance on request of the claimant not later than 7 days after the date of the request.

(2) An insurer shall provide to a claimant a copy of all statements made by the claimant, whether written, recorded, or in electronic format, not later than 7 days after a request by the claimant.

(3) An insurer shall provide prompt updates on the status of a claim not later than 7 days after a request by the claimant. An insurer shall provide, without a request from the claimant, written status updates to the claimant every 30 days advising of all of the following:

(a) The status of the claim.

(b) What additional information, if any, is necessary for the insurer to make a claims decision.

(c) When a claims decision can reasonably be expected to be made.

(4) An insurer shall not deny or forfeit a claimant's claim for failure to comply with a policy condition unless the insurer first provides the claimant with written notice that a policy condition has not been met and provides the claimant a reasonable period of time, not less than 30 days, to cure the defect in satisfying the condition.

(5) An insurer shall provide reasonable notice for any examinations under oath taken on a claim and permit attendance of the claimant's attorney at all examinations under oath.

(6) An insurer shall provide a claimant transcripts of all examinations under oath taken on a claim at any time during the pendency of the claim. An insurer shall not interfere with the claimant's efforts to obtain, or prohibit the claimant from obtaining, at the claimant's expense, a transcript of the testimony at the examination under oath from the court reporter or other person who recorded the testimony. An insurer shall not instruct any court reporter or other person to withhold the transcript from the claimant if the claimant pays the court reporter's fee for a copy of the transcript.

(7) An insurer shall provide the claimant all documentation relating to the examination of any scene, artifact, or item not later than 7 days after receiving a request for this information from the claimant, if the examination occurred without the claimant or a representative of the claimant being present at the time of the examination.

(8) An insurer or the insurer's agent, employee, or representative shall not make a statement to a claimant, either directly or indirectly, suggesting or implying that the claimant should, or encouraging the claimant to, not retain, or terminate a contract for services with, legal counsel or other claims professionals, including, but not limited to, public adjusters.

(9) An insurer shall not refuse to grant a request by a claimant for an extension of time to provide information or documents or to meet policy conditions, terms, or requirements, unless the extension of time will result in actual material prejudice to the insurer.

(10) An insurer shall pay a claimant's additional living expenses under a fire policy and pay business interruption and extra expenses under a commercial or business policy during the investigation of a claim under the policy. If an insurer denies a claim under a policy described in this subsection, the insurer shall not terminate the payments described in this subsection before 30 days after the insurer notified the claimant of the denial. If an insurance policy described in this subsection limits coverage based on the amount of time that has elapsed after the date of the loss, the time limit for the expiration of coverage must be tolled until after the insurer has granted the claim for property damage and paid the actual cash value of the property damage.

(11) If an insurer issues a fire insurance policy that provides the replacement cost of damaged property, the insurer shall provide the claimant a reasonable period of time after payment of the actual cash value of the property to complete the repair or replacement without regard to a time limit set forth in the fire insurance policy for the repair and replacement of the property.

Outcome: Settled for an undisclosed sum and dismissed with prejudice.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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