Bad enough to have Allstate as your insuring company when you\’re dealing with damage to your home or vehicle. I can\’t imagine the horror of being in the adversarial position of pursuing a UM claim thru Allstate. It would be enough to cause an insured to sue. Allstate policies should come with warning labels. How anyone, charged with the public interest, could sell Allstate\’s products is beyond me.
However, the question of whether someone is an employee or independent contractor is a question of fact largely depending on whether the \”employer\” has the power of control over how the employee does his job.
Also, we do not know when Allstate promised this lady that they would defend and indemnify her. If it was early on in thier relationship and she relied upon their promise to her detriment, they are on the hook.
For those who want to know, I am one of the attorneys involved in this case. I represent the real victims–the Allstate premium paying UM policyholders. For a good book which discusses the allstate practices and the direct connection between the ethics at Enron and the same ethical standard [or lack thereof] imported from Enron to Allstate go to \”TrialGuides.com\” and see \”From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves.\” These policyholders were stopped dead in a middle turn only lane in the middle of the day when a 5 time DWI driver literally passed out at the wheel, came into the turn only lane, and with his head slumped over the wheel literally rammed the policyholders\’ car at full speed. With busy traffic in all 4 lanes of regular traffic the policyholders could noly \”hang on\” and brace themselves for the impact at about 40 mph. This incident resulted in the other driver\’s 6th DWI conviction. Of course, he had no insurance. The policyholders had minimum limits of $25k/$50k and in New Mexico UM coverage includes coverage for punitive damages. Slammed around the car pretty violently, both were understandably hurt. The policyholders turned to Allstate, their own insurer to stand behind the promise of coverage and protection sold in the UM policy. Allstate\’s response? The claim was assigned to the SIU or Fraud unit for investigation as \”insurance fraud\” on the policyholders\’ part. Ms. Guest, the beneficiary of the $11 million windfall judgment reported, had been with serveral firms who do Allstate work. Because she promised to be aggressive and hardnosed in compliance with Allstate\’s new CCPR \”Good Hands or Boxing Gloves\” litigation protocols, she was assigned the case to \”investigate\” these policyholders. She concluded that the accident was a \”set up,\” she claimed the policyholders should have gotten out of the way or jumped from the vehicle before the impact and because they didn\’t it must be a fraud claim. She investigaged their finances and their medical history back to ages 4 and 5. She issued forged subpoenas to employers even though she had been ordered by the arbitration panel not to do so since the wife\’s employer was threatening to fire her for involving them in litigation. And, this Allstate attorney knew at the time that the policyholders were not making a claim for lost wages or earning capacity. During the course of this attorney\’s \”investigation\” of this claim, she dregged up allegations of spousal abuse, drug addiction since childhood because the husband had been prescribed Ritilan, sexual promisicuity and low moral character because the wife had had 4 children by age 22, and allegations the husband was sucidial [to explain the failure to move out of the way] due to prior military combat service.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that the wife was 8 months pregnant at the time of the crash. Allstate\’s initial offer was $500 take it or litigate was the way the initial adjuster put it. She told the policyholders they couldn\’t possibly have been hurt in this \”minor\” accident which totalled their car. One month before the arbitration Allstate offered $6.5k for both claims. The policyholders wanted $45k for both claims based on the reckless conduct of the UM driver and about $13k of total medical bills from the accident.
At the arbitration, Guest [Allstate\’s lawyer] openly called the wife a \”slut\” for being pregnant at the time and the husband a \”drug addict\” and \”bum\” in front of the policyholders and the arbitration panel. The hearing finally had to be stopped for a break because both policyholdrs broke down in tears. In the end, the policyholders were awarded a total of about $55k including their costs.
A lawsuit was then filed against both Allstate and Guest for bad faith conduct in their handling of this claim. Guest demanded that Allstate defend her and at first they did. Then Allstate decided not to defend her. However, Guest was offered 4-5 chances to be released from the suit without payment of any money so long as Allstate remained liable for what she\’d done for them. She refused. Instead, she hired her own local lawyer, a State Farm defense lawyer who promptly sued Allstate and the policyholders\’ attorneys for supposedly putting her out of the practice of law. Later she admitted she left the practice of law because she only represented Allstate and she had refused to sign a confidentiality agreement Allstate was asking all its defense lawyers to sign at the time. The policyholders\’ attorneys were dismissed from the case on the grounds they had probable cause to sue Guest based on her actions in performing the contract for Allstate. The trial proceeded against Allstate only on the breach of their promise to defend her.
The underlying bad faith case is on appeal and will decide whether defense counsel acting as investigators of a UM claim have any duty or liability to the policyholder to act in good faith and give equal consideration to the interests of the policyholder as does the principal-Allstate.
I\’ve very interested in obtaining a copy of the book \”From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves\”, but the list price of $295 is out of my price range. Are you aware of any way to obtain a discount on it?
Thanks for your post. It really lets agents know just how ugly insurance companies will get for the all mightly dollar, even toward their own clients. Don\’t get me wrong I don\’t want to see uncovered or fraudulent claims paid. But when the facts are so clear, it\’s just unbelieveable what happens.
I served on a jury where the opposing counsel tried to paint the victim, who was rearended on an expressway, as a slut. He even tried to belittle her doctor. It didn\’t work. After the trial, I asked the victim\’s attorney which insurance company the opposing attorney represented and I was not surprised to find out it was state farm. You\’d think they were doing this to protect against a large settlement. Think again, the whole thing was under $7000. Frankly, I wish the victim\’s attorney had asked for more and I told them both so.
WOW !
Well, the lawsuit makes sense now. The article made it sound entirely different.
Seems to me that Allstate should have not contested anything unless they could show collusion between their UM insured and the drunk.
Good luck on the appeal.
In fact, if a home-based business is your way of putting food on the table, you\’ve got to be more disciplined than ever. Here are s
ome tried and true tips that can help you. Full Article…
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It\’s better to know the whole story than to just take the word of people claiming things they know nothing about.
Bad enough to have Allstate as your insuring company when you\’re dealing with damage to your home or vehicle. I can\’t imagine the horror of being in the adversarial position of pursuing a UM claim thru Allstate. It would be enough to cause an insured to sue. Allstate policies should come with warning labels. How anyone, charged with the public interest, could sell Allstate\’s products is beyond me.
Certainly, in house counsel are employees.
However, the question of whether someone is an employee or independent contractor is a question of fact largely depending on whether the \”employer\” has the power of control over how the employee does his job.
Also, we do not know when Allstate promised this lady that they would defend and indemnify her. If it was early on in thier relationship and she relied upon their promise to her detriment, they are on the hook.
Kinda makes sense to wait until we find out about the rest of the case, doesn\’t it?
For those who want to know, I am one of the attorneys involved in this case. I represent the real victims–the Allstate premium paying UM policyholders. For a good book which discusses the allstate practices and the direct connection between the ethics at Enron and the same ethical standard [or lack thereof] imported from Enron to Allstate go to \”TrialGuides.com\” and see \”From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves.\” These policyholders were stopped dead in a middle turn only lane in the middle of the day when a 5 time DWI driver literally passed out at the wheel, came into the turn only lane, and with his head slumped over the wheel literally rammed the policyholders\’ car at full speed. With busy traffic in all 4 lanes of regular traffic the policyholders could noly \”hang on\” and brace themselves for the impact at about 40 mph. This incident resulted in the other driver\’s 6th DWI conviction. Of course, he had no insurance. The policyholders had minimum limits of $25k/$50k and in New Mexico UM coverage includes coverage for punitive damages. Slammed around the car pretty violently, both were understandably hurt. The policyholders turned to Allstate, their own insurer to stand behind the promise of coverage and protection sold in the UM policy. Allstate\’s response? The claim was assigned to the SIU or Fraud unit for investigation as \”insurance fraud\” on the policyholders\’ part. Ms. Guest, the beneficiary of the $11 million windfall judgment reported, had been with serveral firms who do Allstate work. Because she promised to be aggressive and hardnosed in compliance with Allstate\’s new CCPR \”Good Hands or Boxing Gloves\” litigation protocols, she was assigned the case to \”investigate\” these policyholders. She concluded that the accident was a \”set up,\” she claimed the policyholders should have gotten out of the way or jumped from the vehicle before the impact and because they didn\’t it must be a fraud claim. She investigaged their finances and their medical history back to ages 4 and 5. She issued forged subpoenas to employers even though she had been ordered by the arbitration panel not to do so since the wife\’s employer was threatening to fire her for involving them in litigation. And, this Allstate attorney knew at the time that the policyholders were not making a claim for lost wages or earning capacity. During the course of this attorney\’s \”investigation\” of this claim, she dregged up allegations of spousal abuse, drug addiction since childhood because the husband had been prescribed Ritilan, sexual promisicuity and low moral character because the wife had had 4 children by age 22, and allegations the husband was sucidial [to explain the failure to move out of the way] due to prior military combat service.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that the wife was 8 months pregnant at the time of the crash. Allstate\’s initial offer was $500 take it or litigate was the way the initial adjuster put it. She told the policyholders they couldn\’t possibly have been hurt in this \”minor\” accident which totalled their car. One month before the arbitration Allstate offered $6.5k for both claims. The policyholders wanted $45k for both claims based on the reckless conduct of the UM driver and about $13k of total medical bills from the accident.
At the arbitration, Guest [Allstate\’s lawyer] openly called the wife a \”slut\” for being pregnant at the time and the husband a \”drug addict\” and \”bum\” in front of the policyholders and the arbitration panel. The hearing finally had to be stopped for a break because both policyholdrs broke down in tears. In the end, the policyholders were awarded a total of about $55k including their costs.
A lawsuit was then filed against both Allstate and Guest for bad faith conduct in their handling of this claim. Guest demanded that Allstate defend her and at first they did. Then Allstate decided not to defend her. However, Guest was offered 4-5 chances to be released from the suit without payment of any money so long as Allstate remained liable for what she\’d done for them. She refused. Instead, she hired her own local lawyer, a State Farm defense lawyer who promptly sued Allstate and the policyholders\’ attorneys for supposedly putting her out of the practice of law. Later she admitted she left the practice of law because she only represented Allstate and she had refused to sign a confidentiality agreement Allstate was asking all its defense lawyers to sign at the time. The policyholders\’ attorneys were dismissed from the case on the grounds they had probable cause to sue Guest based on her actions in performing the contract for Allstate. The trial proceeded against Allstate only on the breach of their promise to defend her.
The underlying bad faith case is on appeal and will decide whether defense counsel acting as investigators of a UM claim have any duty or liability to the policyholder to act in good faith and give equal consideration to the interests of the policyholder as does the principal-Allstate.
djblaw,
I\’ve very interested in obtaining a copy of the book \”From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves\”, but the list price of $295 is out of my price range. Are you aware of any way to obtain a discount on it?
Thanks for your post. It really lets agents know just how ugly insurance companies will get for the all mightly dollar, even toward their own clients. Don\’t get me wrong I don\’t want to see uncovered or fraudulent claims paid. But when the facts are so clear, it\’s just unbelieveable what happens.
I served on a jury where the opposing counsel tried to paint the victim, who was rearended on an expressway, as a slut. He even tried to belittle her doctor. It didn\’t work. After the trial, I asked the victim\’s attorney which insurance company the opposing attorney represented and I was not surprised to find out it was state farm. You\’d think they were doing this to protect against a large settlement. Think again, the whole thing was under $7000. Frankly, I wish the victim\’s attorney had asked for more and I told them both so.
WOW !
Well, the lawsuit makes sense now. The article made it sound entirely different.
Seems to me that Allstate should have not contested anything unless they could show collusion between their UM insured and the drunk.
Good luck on the appeal.
Allstate is almost as bad as Farmers
In fact, if a home-based business is your way of putting food on the table, you\’ve got to be more disciplined than ever. Here are s
ome tried and true tips that can help you. Full Article…