“Can an insurance company really do that?” is a question I am regularly asked. With some exceptions (such as employer provided disability plans) insurers are regulated by state, not federal law. In Oregon, our starting point for assessing an insurer’s practices is Oregon’s Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act found at ORS 746.230. To help you…
I am a personal injury attorney and an insurance attorney practicing in the Portland metro area. But what does that really mean? As a personal injury attorney in Portland, I help people who are injured due to the fault of another obtain fair compensation for injuries. A key is fault. Injuries that are not the…
To say that by having Richard Rizk adjudicate an insurance claim was a serendipitous event is an understatement. My wife, a registered nurse, was seriously injured. Three attorneys, upon separate accounts over several years, failed to achieve monetary compensation. One attorney, who knows Richard from law school, recommended his firm. What three attorneys could not…
Thu November 13, 2008, 3:52 pm You have submitted a property loss claim or uninsured motorist claim [1] to your insurance company. So it can better understand the loss, your insurer asks to provide information and complete some forms describing your damage. You dutifully do so. Then, an overly legal letter arrives from your insurer. It requires…
On October 23, 2008 the Supreme Court of Oregon decided a case which will likely require many insurance companies to pay for diminished value of a vehicle caused by an accident. In the decision, Gonzales v. Farmers Insurance, Oregon’s highest Court stated: “We hold that “repair,” as used in the policy at issue in this case,…
Ski Friends: When I am not working to resolve insurance claims, I snow ski. From 2005 to 2008 I was President of Cascade Ski Club. In that capacity, I helped resolve a longstanding property dispute with a local Government Camp ski / ride resort. With the money from that settlement, Cascade Ski Club has paid off…
What do cavemen, geckos, snoopy or a ditzy young girl have to do with insurance?Nothing! Insurance companies distract consumers with a barrage of entertaining yet often irrelevant information. No wonder few consumers know the truth about insurance. In this article, I hope to shed some light on insurance and how to distinguish good insurers from…