What happened: Delaware court ruled an insurer’s request for documents during its PIP claims window was not a denial.
Who’s involved: Integon Indemnity Corporation and a policyholder claiming lost wages after an auto accident.
What’s at stake: Lost wages, statutory damages, and punitive damages under 21 Del. C. Section 2118B.
Why it matters: Claims teams now have a ruling that requesting paperwork mid-investigation is not a denial - even when the request is hard to fulfill quickly.
Where it stands: Court ruled in the insurer’s favor; remaining motions dismissed.
A dental assistant’s lost wage claim reached court before her auto insurer had even finished reading the paperwork - let alone denied it.
That timing just cost her the case.
The Delaware Superior Court has ruled in favor of Integon Indemnity Corporation, finding the insurer never denied the policyholder’s lost wage claim. The policyholder sued for bad faith, but the court found she brought the action before a denial was ever issued - while the insurer was still within its 30-day statutory window to investigate.
The policyholder was injured in an April 2025 highway accident on I-95 while employed at Barksdale Dental Associates. She filed her lost wages claim on May 22, 2025. On June 9 - day 18 of the 30-day window - the adjuster sent a letter requesting tax documentation, a termination letter, and a chiropractic medical examination. The adjuster noted the employer confirmed the policyholder “requested to be a 1099 employee for the first 6 months of her employment” and that “no taxes were being taken out of her pay.” The claim was “pending.”
The next day, the policyholder filed suit.
Her counsel wrote: “given your conduct up to this point, it is clear that you do not intend to pay the claim as required by Delaware law.”
The adjuster’s deposition revealed suspicions about a “falsifi[ed]” disability note and the policyholder continuing to work for a month post-accident. The day the lawsuit landed, the adjuster referred the claim to special investigations. Integon paid the lost wages on November 21, 2025, while the suit was pending.
Under Delaware’s PIP statute, an insurer has 30 days after receiving a claim to either pay it or explain why it is being denied. The letter, the court found, “lacked any degree of unequivocality necessary to constitute a denial.” It requested documents on day 18. It did not reject the claim.
The policyholder argued the requests were just a stalling tactic - that asking for paperwork that could not realistically be produced within the 30-day window amounted to a denial in all but name. The court disagreed: that “does not convert the Letter into a denial.”
No denial meant no breach. Without a breach, the bad faith and punitive damages claims had nothing to stand on.
For PIP claims handlers, the ruling draws a line: requesting documents during the investigation window is not a denial, even when the request may be hard to fulfill before the clock runs out.
The court dismissed the remaining motions as no longer necessary.
