If you have paid your premiums, you deserve to be treated fairly and honestly by your insurance company. Sadly, when you make a claim, the promises from the television commercials seem to evaporate. Your own company treats you like an adverse, hostile claimant, even if you did nothing wrong.

What happens when you make a legitimate claim and provide all the information to support it, but your insurance company denies it for reasons that don't make sense? You may be encountering insurance bad faith.

It doesn't matter whether the claim is made under an auto or home policy, umbrella policy, or even life or health insurance, some insurance companies fail to honor their obligations. Insurance bad faith can take many forms:

• Slow or incompetent investigations
• Unreasonable delays in responding to claims
• Duplicative or excessive forms
• Not disclosing all available coverages
• Denying claims based on unclear or illegal policy provisions
• Cancelling coverage for improper reasons
• Falsely claiming that you were at fault

Fortunately, New Mexico law provides serious protections for policyholders, but you may have to go to court to have these protections enforced.

Although the idea of having to sue your own insurance company may seem shocking, some companies will not honor their commitments until an insurance bad faith attorney holds them accountable.