North Dakota has let policyholders sue their insurer in tort for bad faith since 1979, and the clock is unusually generous — six years, with most policy clauses that try to shorten it struck down by statute. Your own legal fees can be part of the damages, which is rare. What you do not get is a penalty rate of interest, a fee-shifting statute, or any right to sue under the unfair-practices code — and punitive damages sit behind a gate you must persuade the judge to open.
Three listing slots on this page are available to attorneys licensed in North Dakota who handle disputes against insurers. Listings are paid advertising sold at a flat monthly rate. They are shown in the order they were purchased. We do not rank, score, endorse or recommend any attorney, and we have not assessed the quality of anyone’s work.
Telephone only, 9am—12pm and 1pm—4pm on weekdays. It matches you with full-price lawyers, not discounted ones, and the staff cannot give legal advice. If you cannot pay, the same page points to Legal Services of North Dakota on 800-634-5263. North Dakota certifies no legal specialists in any field. Rule 7.4 of the state Rules of Professional Conduct lets a lawyer advertise a certification granted by the ABA or another state’s bar, but there is no North Dakota board that approves one — so judge a firm on its reported bad-faith results, not on a badge.
Worth checking before you spend money on a lawyer. Two different measures exist, and they are not interchangeable — one is a real payment record, the other is a complaint count.
Health insurers selling on the federal marketplace must report how many claims they received and how many they refused. The figures are public and free to inspect.
The spread is the point. Two insurers selling comparable cover in the same state can refuse wildly different shares of what they are billed for. Look your own up before you assume your refusal was routine.
Source: CMS Transparency in Coverage public use files, plan year 2023 experience. Self-reported by insurers and not audited. Covers federal-marketplace plans only — not employer cover, and not state-run marketplaces. Post-service claims only.
There is no free public figure showing what share of home or auto claims any named insurer pays. Insurers do report it to regulators, but in most states that filing is confidential. Any table you see online quoting payout percentages for property insurers is either a paid commercial product or an estimate.
What is public is the complaint index — how many confirmed complaints a company generates against its share of the market. 1.00 is average. 3.00 means three times the complaints its size would predict.
Complaint indexes are published by state insurance departments and compiled by the NAIC. Figures move with both the company’s complaints and the wider market’s.
Thinner than in most states. North Dakota never adopted the NAIC claim-handling regulation, so Title 45 of the Administrative Code sets no fixed day-counts for acknowledging, investigating or deciding an ordinary claim. All § 26.1-04-03(9) demands is reasonable promptness on communications, prompt investigation, and a decision within a reasonable time after proof of loss has been completed. Two hard numbers do exist. Auto no-fault benefits are overdue if unpaid 30 days after the insurer receives reasonable proof of the loss, and overdue payments then carry interest at the judgment rate (§ 26.1-41-09(2), § 28-20-34). And on a signed, notarised written request the insurer must send you your own loss and claim information within 20 days (N.D. Admin. Code § 45-05-04-01) — at up to 50 cents a page, but it is your file.
You are not allowed to ask for punitive damages in your complaint. § 32-03.2-11(1) states flatly that upon commencement of the action, the complaint may not seek exemplary damages. You sue for the money first. Then, once discovery has produced something, you file a motion to amend the pleadings, backed by affidavits or deposition testimony, and the judge grants permission only if the evidence would support a finding of oppression, fraud or malice. It means the insurer sees the punitive claim coming a long way off, and you must earn it in discovery before a jury ever hears the word.
A complaint to the North Dakota Insurance & Securities Department costs nothing, creates a written record, and sometimes moves a stalled claim on its own. It is not a substitute for legal advice and it does not pause any deadline — but there is rarely a reason not to do it first.
This page is information, not legal advice. Insurance law differs by state and changes often. Nothing here creates a lawyer–client relationship, and no page can tell you whether your own claim is worth pursuing. If a deadline may be close, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state now rather than later — several of the deadlines described here start running on the date of the loss, not the date your claim was refused.
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