What can I do if a Georgia insurer denies a valid equipment breakdown claim?
Under O.C.G.A. 33-4-6, a policyholder can send the insurer a written demand for payment. If the insurer fails to pay within 60 days and a court later finds the refusal was in bad faith, the insurer can owe a penalty of up to 50 percent of the loss or $5,000, whichever is greater, plus the policyholder's attorney fees.
This statute exists because Georgia law treats a bad-faith claim denial as more than a simple business dispute. "Bad faith" in this context means the insurer refused to pay without a reasonable basis for the denial, not merely that the insurer and policyholder disagreed about coverage. A denial based on a genuine, defensible reading of the policy language is different from a refusal made without justification.
The process has a specific sequence. First, the policyholder submits a written demand that puts the insurer on formal notice of the claim and the amount owed. The 60-day clock starts from that written demand, not from the original date of loss or the date the claim was filed. If the insurer does not pay within that window, the policyholder can pursue the claim in court, where a judge or jury decides both whether the claim was valid and whether the denial was made in bad faith.
Example: a bakery's equipment breakdown claim for a burned-out commercial oven motor is denied. The bakery sends a written demand citing O.C.G.A. 33-4-6 and documenting the repair invoice and the policy's coverage terms. If the insurer still does not pay within 60 days and a court later finds the denial lacked a reasonable basis, the bakery could recover the statutory penalty on top of the original claim amount, plus attorney fees.
This statute applies to insurance claim disputes generally in Georgia, not only to equipment breakdown claims. It works alongside the underlying coverage terms described in what does equipment breakdown insurance cover in Georgia. Understanding what triggers a valid claim in the first place, such as the spoilage scenario in does equipment breakdown insurance cover spoiled food after a cooler fails, helps document a claim before a dispute arises. A coverage review can confirm what a current policy actually documents and requires at claim time. General policy background is available at Georgia equipment breakdown insurance.
