We are experienced Illinois attorneys who can help you with an accidental death benefits lawsuit when the insurance company doesn’t pay out a policy. To speak with an attorney for free, call us any time at 312-346-5320. We cover all of Illinois.

We have written a lot about life insurance lawsuits in Illinois. Those are cases where someone dies and there is a life insurance policy on them that doesn’t get paid out for some reason.

Accidental death insurance is a different type of benefit than life insurance. As the name implies, it pays out for accidental death. It also can pay out for accidental injuries such as a loss of a limb. It overlaps slightly with life insurance, but only provides a benefit for stuff like being killed in a car accident, being murdered, a plane crash, etc. People like it because you are typically automatically accepted for it if you apply for it unlike life insurance which often requires a medical exam and screening.

Much like life insurance, we see insurance companies denying these policies without good cause and acting in bad faith. They will look for any non-accidental factor that contributed to a death and hope that you will accept the denial and go away.

The key thing to know is that quite often these denials are b.s. When you purchase and accidental death and dismemberment policy (AD&D) the beneficiary shouldn’t have to deal with a nonsense denial. What the lawyers we recommend typically do is immediately file a lawsuit to force the insurance company to provide a valid reason for the denial. Often doing so results in them just paying out the policy benefits. Some of the ways they deny you wrongly include:

• Saying that the policy had lapsed when they didn’t give notice this will happen.
• Alleging there is a misrepresentation in the application for benefits.
• Saying the death was caused by an illness, not an injury
• Putting a requirement in place that isn’t clearly defined or interpreting something vague in their own favor.

It’s important to know that these policies often have filing deadlines, so acting without delay is important. You should also know that the attorneys who take on these cases work on a contingency basis which means that there is no fee to you unless they are successful with the lawsuit.

The bottom line is that you should not accept a denial in the payout of accidental death and dismemberment benefits without talking to an attorney first. If you would like a free, confidential consultation, we would be happy to speak with you any time.