Did You Know: Insurance Companies

Did you know that in North Carolina, if a case has to go to court, most of the time, the insurance company is never even mentioned?

Hi, I’m North Carolina attorney David Daggett.

In North Carolina, when there’s a case that’s being handled by an insurance company, and that case is not concluded or it’s denied, then the injured party has no choice but to take that case to court. The insurance company can hide behind their insured, let’s say Mr. Smith, and that they don’t have to take any responsibility in the courtroom at all. The case is filed simply against Mr. Smith, and the court and the jury never know or are never told that insurance is involved in any way, shape, or form.

That can really create some difficult situations for injured people in North Carolina. An insurance company can afford to take a very hard line, or even treat people unfairly because they know that the jury will never find out that insurance was involved, and further, any discussions or anything that is going on with the insurance company before that, no matter how harsh, is not admissible or allowed to be told in court at all. The court and the jury only hears that the case is against Mr. Smith who may be a very nice person and have nothing to do with denying the claim or treating the injured party unfairly.

That’s just one of the nuances in the North Carolina court system that many people don’t know or don’t understand, and it creates a miss-impression of what actually occurs when a case has to go to court.