Virtually every aspect of insurance involves the public trust. The insurance industry does not disagree. This was a point we made in an amicus brief filed in Jacobsen vs. Allstate Insurance Company, a case pending before the Montana Supreme Court.… Continue Reading
Over the last few weeks, the Friday blog post has addressed the different approaches that can be used by plaintiff’s attorneys when battling evasive discovery tactics used by insurers in bad faith cases. We discussed the fact that, in a bad faith lawsuit, an insured is entitled to a plethora of information that might not … Continue Reading
Miami Herald reporter, Bea Garcia, wrote a very important story, Tackling Contentious Insurance Issues, concerning Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw. It appears the Roundtable meeting I wrote about in Alternative Resolution Roundtable: Appraisal is the Hot Topic and Is There Any Chance that Appraisal Will Stay the Same in Florida?, is going to be an important last meeting … Continue Reading
Allstate Insurance Company lost a bench trial involving the claims practices employed in its Claims Core Process Redesign program first implemented in the 1990’s. The findings by the trial court are significant because the Court indicated that those claims practices violate standards which are routinely violative of unfair trade and claims practices in most of … Continue Reading
Suppose you knew that your insurance company had started a new claims practice program called “Quantum Leap” to increase corporate practices by making certain no claim was overpaid—would you buy that insurance? Would you feel peace of mine if you knew that secret program was in place and had such a claims philosophy?… Continue Reading
State Farm lost its most significant claims case while Ed Rust Jr. was the "owner/manager" of State Farm. Ed Rust Jr. was the person who ultimately decided that thousands of State Farm policyholders would be underpaid or denied benefits in Mississippi. He is the chief corporate leader of State Farm Mutual, the corporation that allows … Continue Reading
David Berardinelli made a presentation at NAPIA‘s Convention on Friday. His topic, “From ‘Good Hands’ to Boxing Gloves: How Allstate Changed Casualty Insurance in America,” was an excellent and updated version of a speech I have seen before. Many of his points are important to understanding why the claims culture has changed so much over … Continue Reading
In today's culture, we too often honor swagger and pithy bluster. Those with ability to ridicule in fifteen seconds often become leaders of opinion. We are "dumbing down" the process of learning from one another when we need hard and thorough reflection of issues.… Continue Reading
