Aggressive Houston Insurance Lawyers

What is bad faith for an insurance company?

Insurance companies don't just sell policies — they make promises. When you pay your premiums month after month, you're buying the guarantee that your insurer will be there when you need them most. Bad faith insurance is what happens when an insurer breaks that promise — not by accident or oversight, but deliberately, with full knowledge that what they’re doing is unfair.

Under Texas law, specifically the Texas Insurance Code Chapter 541, insurers have a legal duty to deal honestly and fairly with policyholders. When they fail to uphold that duty, they can be held liable for bad faith — and in some cases, liable for significantly more than the original claim amount.

Bad faith can take many forms, but the following are the most common violations under Texas law:

Bad faith conduct	What it looks like
Unreasonable claim denial	Rejecting a valid claim without a legitimate reason or investigation
Delaying claim payment	Dragging out the process without a valid reason to avoid paying
Lowball settlement offers	Offering far less than a claim is worth, knowing the policyholder needs money fast
Misrepresentation of policy terms	Telling you that something isn't covered when it actually is
Failure to investigate	Rubber-stamping a denial without a real review of the facts
Pressuring a claimant to accept less	Using aggressive tactics to get you to settle for pennies on the dollar
Refusing to pay court-ordered judgments	Ignoring legal obligations even after a verdict or settlement has been reached

If any of this sounds familiar, you may have a bad faith insurance claim — and you may be entitled to compensation beyond the value of your original claim.

Why insurance company bad faith should make you furious

Here's the part that nobody in the insurance industry wants you to think too hard about: bad faith isn't a bug in the system. For many large insurers, it's how they do business.

Insurance companies employ entire departments of analysts, adjusters, and in-house attorneys whose primary job is to find reasons to pay you less. They study the psychology of claimants under financial and emotional stress. They know that people dealing with traumatic brain injuries, the sudden death of a loved one, or the aftermath of a catastrophic accident are often desperate, overwhelmed, and in no position to fight back. So they make lowball offers. They delay. They deny. And they wait.

The cold reality is that every dollar an insurance company doesn't pay you goes directly to their bottom line. Their business model depends on collecting premiums and minimizing payouts — and when an insurer acts in bad faith, they're not making a mistake. They're making a calculated bet that you won't have the resources or the knowledge to challenge them.

That's exactly why We Fight Giants exists. Our team of Houston personal injury lawyers understands how these companies think — not just from watching from the outside, but from the inside. Mike ”The Insider” Pita spent years working within the insurance industry before switching sides and joining the fight for everyday Texans. He knows the playbook from cover to cover. And now he uses it against them. You deserve every dollar your policy promised. When an insurance company tries to take that from you, you have every right to be furious — and every right to fight back.

Should I get a lawyer for an insurance claim?

The short answer is yes — especially if your claim was denied, delayed, or if the settlement offer you received feels insultingly low. Here's something else to know: the moment you file a claim, the insurance company's team of experienced professionals starts working against you. You should have someone equally experienced working for you.

A lot of people hesitate to hire a lawyer because they assume legal representation is only worth it for "major" cases. But these are some of the everyday tactics a Houston insurance lawyer can protect you from:

Denied claims. If your claim was denied, an attorney can investigate whether that denial was legitimate or a bad faith tactic — and take legal action accordingly.
Underpaid claims. Insurance companies routinely undervalue claims, especially those involving long-term injuries, lost wages, or non-economic damages like pain and suffering.
Bad faith violations. If an insurer violated Texas law in how they handled your claim, you may be entitled to additional statutory damages, attorney's fees, and, in egregious cases, punitive damages on top of the original claim.
Pressure tactics. Adjusters are trained negotiators who do this every single day. Having an attorney levels the playing field and immediately signals to the insurer that you understand your rights.
Filing deadlines. Texas law imposes strict statutes of limitations on both insurance claims and bad faith lawsuits. Missing those deadlines can end your case before it starts.

These aren’t exceptions to the rule; they’re how insurance companies operate in everyday cases. At We Fight Giants, we handle bad faith cases on a contingency fee basis — meaning you pay nothing unless we win for you. There is no financial risk in getting the representation you deserve. If an insurance company has treated you unfairly, we’re ready to take the fight off your hands.

Is it wise to sue your insurance company?

Yes — when the facts support it, taking your insurance company to court is absolutely the right move. In many bad faith cases, it's the only thing that actually produces results and gets injured parties the compensation they deserve.

Here's something the insurance industry doesn't advertise: insurers are far more motivated to resolve claims fairly when they know a serious litigation team is standing behind you. Most bad faith cases don't have to go all the way to trial. The moment we get involved and make clear that we are fully prepared to take your case before a jury, insurers frequently reverse their denials, dramatically increase their offers, and get serious about resolution. That shift happens because they know we will follow through.

At Thiessen Law Firm, we are not paperwork-and-plea-deal lawyers. We are trial-tested attorneys who have gone up against some of the most formidable opponents in Harris County and across Texas — and won. When insurance company counsel sees Mark Thiessen’s name on a filing, they know they're dealing with a firm that will take your case all the way to a verdict if that's what justice requires.

How insurance companies in Houston use bad faith tactics

Knowing what to look for is half the battle. The massive national carriers that operate throughout use a predictable set of tactics designed to minimize payouts.

Here's a closer look at how bad faith plays out in practice:

Delay disguised as due diligence

Insurers sometimes stretch out the claims process under the guise of thorough investigation, requesting document after document and rescheduling evaluations indefinitely. The strategy is simple: run out the clock until financial pressure drives you to accept whatever they offer just to pay your bills.

The lowball opening offer

Making an unreasonably low first settlement offer is one of the most common bad faith tactics in the business. Many claimants — especially those who are injured, grieving, or facing mounting bills — accept these first offers without realizing they've walked away from tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars they were rightfully owed.

Disputing injury severity

Insurers routinely challenge the extent of injuries, especially in cases involving traumatic brain injuries, catastrophic injuries, or chronic pain that doesn't show definitively on imaging. They retain their own physicians to conduct independent medical examinations — exams that are rarely as independent as the name suggests — designed to produce reports that minimize your documented injuries.

Misrepresenting what your policy covers

When other tactics fail, insurers point to the fine print — often misinterpreting or outright misrepresenting policy exclusions to justify denial. Without an attorney who knows how to read and litigate insurance policy language, you may never realize you've been deceived.

Rushing a settlement before you understand your damages

This is especially dangerous in cases involving serious or ongoing injuries. An insurer may aggressively push for early resolution before the full scope of your medical treatment, long-term prognosis, or income loss is known — because once you sign a release, you cannot return for additional compensation, no matter how your condition deteriorates.

What to look for in a bad faith insurance attorney in Houston

Not every personal injury attorney has the specific skill set required to win a bad faith insurance case. Here's what genuinely separates a top-tier bad faith lawyer from a firm that will take your case, settle it quickly for less than it's worth, and call it a win.

Insider knowledge of how the industry operates. The attorneys who win bad faith cases understand how insurers think, budget, and strategize — not just from the policyholder's perspective, but from inside the machine. Our team’s years of working within major insurance companies give We Fight Giants an advantage most firms simply cannot replicate.
A track record of going to trial. Settling is easy. Winning at trial is hard. You need an attorney who is willing and able to take your case all the way — because insurers know the difference between someone who bluffs and someone who actually shows up.
Deep knowledge of the Texas Insurance Code. Bad faith claims are governed by specific statutes, and building a winning case requires mastery of those laws and how they've been interpreted by Texas courts.
Demonstrated results against large opponents. Look beyond testimonials. You want an attorney with actual verdicts and settlements against major insurers, not just a list of practice areas on a website.
Accessibility and genuine communication. You should never be left wondering what's happening with your case. The right attorney makes themselves available and treats you like a person, not a file number.

Mark Thiessen’s team at Thiessen Law Firm embodies every one of these qualities. We don't pursue volume. We pursue justice one giant at a time, and we fight them with everything we’ve got.

What not to say to an insurance claim adjuster

The moment you pick up the phone with an insurance claim adjuster on the other end, the evaluation of your claim has already begun. Every word you say is noted, interpreted, and potentially used against you to minimize your payout. Before you speak with any adjuster — whether it's your own insurer or the at-fault party's carrier — make sure you avoid saying any of the following statements:

What not to say	Why it’s dangerous
"I'm feeling okay" or "I'm not that hurt"	Early minimization of your condition can be cited later to dispute the severity of your injuries
"I shouldn’t have done [blank]..."	Any statement suggesting shared fault can reduce or eliminate your recovery under Texas comparative negligence law
"I haven't hired a lawyer yet"	Signals to the adjuster that you may not know your rights, making you a prime target for pressure tactics
"I really need to get this resolved"	Communicates financial desperation and gives adjusters the leverage to push inadequate settlements
"Here's exactly what happened…"	Giving a detailed recorded statement without counsel can lock you into a version of events that may be used against you if the facts develop differently
Any mention of pre-existing medical conditions	Insurers routinely use prior medical history to argue that your current injuries are unrelated to the accident in question

The smartest move you can make after an accident is to say as little as possible until you've spoken with an attorney. You have no legal obligation to provide a recorded statement to the opposing party's insurer. Anything you say to your own insurer should be reviewed with counsel first. Our team at We Fight Giants is available around the clock — call us before you call them.

How Thiessen Law Firm’s insurance bad faith attorneys protect your rights

When Thiessen Law Firm takes on your bad faith insurance case, you get a team that approaches every claim the same way we approach a courtroom: with total preparation, strategic aggression, and zero tolerance for being pushed around.

We conduct a complete investigation of your claim and the insurer's conduct.

We dig into the full timeline of how your claim was handled — documenting every delay tactic, every denial, every misleading communication, and every lowball offer. If the insurer violated Texas law, we find it, we prove it, and we make sure they answer for it.

We deploy expert resources to build the strongest possible case.

From medical specialists who can document and project the full scope of your injuries to financial analysts who can quantify every category of your damages, we build the kind of case that insurers and juries both take seriously. Whether you're dealing with a wrongful death claim, catastrophic injuries, or complex ongoing medical treatment following a serious accident, we make sure nothing is left off the table.

We negotiate with real trial leverage behind every demand.

We don't bluff. When we sit across from an insurer's legal team, they know we are fully prepared to take your case before a jury. That credibility — the knowledge that we actually go to trial and actually win — is the most powerful negotiating tool in existence.

We pursue every remedy Texas law makes available.

A successful bad faith claim in Texas can entitle you to recovery of your original claim, additional statutory damages, attorney's fees, and in cases of egregious conduct, punitive damages designed to hold the insurer accountable beyond just your loss. We pursue all of it.

We communicate with you every step of the way.

From the day you hire us to the day your case resolves, you will have direct access to our team. You will always know where your case stands and what's coming next.

Need a lawyer for an insurance claim in Houston? Thiessen Law Firm is ready to fight the giants.

Insurance companies make a calculated bet every time they delay a claim, deny a payout, or offer less than a case is worth. That bet is that you'll give up. They're counting on the complexity, the financial pressure, and the emotional exhaustion of fighting a billion-dollar company to wear you down until you accept whatever they put on the table. We built We Fight Giants to call their bluff.

Our Houston insurance lawyers are ready to step in, take over the fight, and make sure the insurance company faces real consequences for how they've treated you. Whether your claim was denied outright, delayed into desperation, or lowballed into irrelevance, we know how to find the facts that matter and turn them into the outcome you deserve.

Don't let the giants win. Call Thiessen Law Firm at (346) 999-5673 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation.