Time Limits for Insurance Denial Cases

It’s extremely important to observe time limits when you are making an insurance claim. If you miss what is called a “limitation period”, you will lose your rights to sue and claim under your policy.

When are these limitation periods?

Very often, insurance policies will contain a provision in which you must sue within a certain date or else lose your right to claim coverage. These deadlines could be mere months and so there is no time to delay.

In many cases, the limitation period may be two years from the date you became eligible for payment under your policy. The British Columbia Insurance Act sets out many of these limitation periods but if you read the law, the time when the limitation period starts to run varies and can be subject to argument by your insurance company. It’s best to immediately telephone legal counsel like our firm if you have a claim under an insurance policy so you can quickly preserve your right to claim under the policy.

If you are faced with a denial from your insurer, very often they will advise you to go through an internal “appeal process”. Unfortunately, these internal reviews are usually unhelpful because (1) the decision-maker is in a conflict of interest by working for the same insurance company that is denying the claim (2) what you disclose during the appeal process could be used against you at a later time and (3) the appeal process could result in delays that place your entire claim in danger due to the expiry of the limitation period.

Instead of an “appeal”, it’s usually more effective for your lawyer to launch a lawsuit instead which will preserve your rights. Once you have filed your lawsuit in court you have satisfied the limitation period and protected your claim.

Rather than wasting your time and putting your case in danger with an inappropriate “appeal”, we recommend that you phone Dyson Law now: