Allstate - Injury Law Blog

Deny, Delay, Defend - How Insurance Companies handle claims

whistleblower@labovick.com (Brian F. LaBovick, Esq.) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:43:58 -0500

Have you paid your Insurance premium lately? If so, your premiums are helping the Insurance Industry account for over $1 trillion in annual premiums and amass over $3.8 trillion in assets, which happens to be more than the GDPs of all but two countries in the world, the United States and Japan. Despite this overwhelming success, the Insurance still try and do anything to avoid paying claims for their clients.

The consumer rights organization, American Association of Justice, released the comprehensive report, The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America: How They Raise Premiums, Deny Claims, and Refuse Insurance to Those Who Need It Most." This report highlights 10 of the worst insurance companies for consumers based criteria such as, SEC and FBI records, testimony from former insurance agents and adjusters, court documents and more.

The report ends with making a call for "Pro-Consumer Insurance Reforms" and making a suggestion for the following three points:

1. Require Insurers to Work in Good Faith

2. Require Prior Approval of Rate Increases

3. Establish an Insurance Consumer Advocate

The remainder of the top 10 list of worst insurance companies for consumers is rounded out by the following:

UNUM, - Disability Insurance, Life insurance, supplemental and accident insurance
AIG, - Auto insurance, life insurance, accident and health insurance, property and casualty
State Farm, - Auto, life, health, home owners insurance and health insurance
Conseco, - Health Insurance, Life Insurance and Annuities
WellPoint, - Health benefits Company
Farmers Insurance - Auto, Life and Homeowners Insurance
UnitedHealth, - Health care Insurance
Torchmark, - Holding Company offering life and supplemental health insurance
Liberty Mutual - Auto, Life, Homeowners and Commercial Insurance.

Over the past 16 years, I have handled thousands of Personal Injury cases against several of the companies on this list and a host of others. I can attest firsthand that some companies are better than others at handling claims for their Insured and helping the needs of the injured.

I find it no surprise that Allstate made the top of the list, nor am I not surprised by the findings of the report: The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America". I do find it strange however, that the insurance companies are so quick to harm and work against the interest of their own insured clients.

]]>A few comments from bloggers around the country on this AAJ report include:

Randy David, blogger for Gotcha Covered, wrote the post Is Allstate the Worst Insurer in America? He added to the discussion that "the designation is not surprising, given the ongoing war between the insurer and trial lawyers over auto insurance accident claims."

David Gottlieb, blogger for No Fault Paradise, wrote the post, Top Ten Insurance worst Insurance Companies for Consumers. He has some pretty interesting comments on his blog regarding the post. Great discussions on the subject of the insurance industry and how premiums are increasing at an alarming rate faster than the incurred losses for the Insurance carriers.

John Day, blogger for Day on Torts, wrote the post, Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America and listed the top 10 Insurance companies that were in the AAJ report.

I look forward to see how the Insurance Companies and the public respond to this AAJ report on their industry that outlines how consistently they put profits over their policyholders.

After reading the AAJ report, I would love to hear from consumers on how they feel their insurance company is treating them. Has the report made you think differently about your provider?

I welcome comments...

Allstate Insurance Sales Halted in Florida

whistleblower@labovick.com (Brian F. LaBovick, Esq.) — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:36:33 -0500

There is only one word that I think of that can describe how I feel about Allstate Insurance Company: Outrage. In light of recent events, Allstate Insurance Company is not putting the best interest of their clients first or their 1,100 Agents in Florida.

Judge Paul Hawkes wrote the following scathing remarks for a unanimous three-judge panel: “Allstate’s willful, indeed potentially criminal, failure to comply with its disclosure obligations has prevented OIR from adequately investigating its reasoned belief that Allstate is systematically defrauding its policyholders”.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty is not backing down on his request for Allstate Floridian to allow his office free access to its records to end the statewide shutdown.

“The timeline is in their hands,” McCarty said. “Clearly they have indicated a willingness to provide further documents. It’s unfortunate that it takes a succession of court cases . . . to get their attention.”

One can only hope that Allstate lives up to their corporate slogan "you're in good hands with Allstate" and they are not found guilty of systematically defrauding unsuspecting policy holders. Let’s not forget that corporate giants have been known to believe in the philosophy that greed is good; at any cost. Insurance companies that are found defrauding hardworking policy holders that faithfully pay their monthly, quarterly and annual premiums, should be punished to the full extent of the law.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Judge Paul Hawkes deserve a round of applause for holding Allstate accountable. One can only hope that a whistleblower with integrity will come forward and shed some light on Allstate's internal practices and policies.

Click here to read more on this subject from Florida Today.com

Allstate makes controversial "McKinsey" documents public on website

Juliet@LaBovick.com (LaBovick Law) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:58:27 -0500

The Allstate Corporation, one of the the nation's largest publicly held insurance companies, recently released approximately 150,000 pages of documents pertaining its review claim practices from the 1990s. Although, some media have regarded the documents as coming up short, according to a recent Times Picayune article.

On the opposite side of the argument, the release of the documents by Allstate can be viewed as Allstate's way of showing that they have nothing to hide. Undoubtedly, the Mckinsey documents issue will not go away for awhile, in light of the looming release of the new tell all book for the public by New Mexico attorney David Berardinelli, called "From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves: The Dark Side of Insurance."

An Allstate spokesperson, Rich Halberg, downplays the significance of the documents in a recent Allstate press release, "When aired in the unbiased setting of a court of law, allegations about the documents have been shown to be without merit. Most recently, some of the documents were seen and explained in context to a jury during a two-week trial in Kentucky (Hager v. Allstate)."

The Hager v. Allstate case involved a rear-end automobile accident case that occurred in 1997. The Plaintiff, a 60 year old accident victim, sued Allstate for not paying claims related to the personal injury in the car accident and for allegedly violating Kentucky's Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act. The outcome of the two week trial was for the Defendant, Allstate. According to several published reports, the jury came back with this verdict after deliberating for a short while. One can only wonder if the Jury took the Plaintiff seriously for asking for $1.425 Billion for what is typically referred to as a soft tissue injury.

Click here to view the extensive site of the Allstate "Claim Review" documents. The site shares comprehensive information on Casualty Review, Homeowners Review, Auto Physical Damage Review and Field work Information.

We encourage the public to read the documents and let us know your opinion of the documents.