This Blog is normally devoted to issues surrounding long term disability insurance and other related issues. However, in case you haven’t noticed we have an election just around the corner and I want to try to provide some information to the public about the state of the law in Michigan…
Farmer’s Insurance was recently hit with a $130,000,000.00 jury verdict in a class action law suit filed on behalf of a group of 76,000 Oklahomans. The plaintiff’s were Farmer’s customers in Oklahoma who made claims from June 1994 through mid-2007. The homeowners claim that Farmers, a subsidiary in Los Angeles…
Insurer-AIG has sunk to a whole new level. Iraqi war veteran Andrew White returned from Iraq after spending two years protecting American Soldiers by removing IED’s. His brother was not so fortunate-He was killed in combat. So Andrew decided to take out a life insurance policy naming his parents as…
I hate to pick on Allstate again, but they have really had some big problems lately. The much maligned insurer, Allstate, recently agreed to a 28.5% rate reduction for all of its California residents. Apparently, in order to avoid the potential of having to pay a huge amount in refunds…
Allstate recently settled a bad faith lawsuit where it had been held in contempt of court for refusing to produce documents pursuant to a court order. Allstate began racking up $25,000 in fines per day when it refused to follow the Judge’s order to produce the documents. Apparently, Plaintiff sought…
A Louisiana court recently rejected a long term disability insurer’s attempts to hide behind the protections afforded insurance companies by ERISA. In Gulf Coast Plastic Surgery v Standard Insurance Co. the Court determined that a claim that the insurance agent failed to increase the policy limits despite the doctors request…
Another bad faith verdict against Allstate is upheld by the Missouri Court of Appeals reported the Kansas City Star. This time it looks like it is going to cost Allstate a cool sixteen million dollars. Apparently, Allstate failed to respond to a demand in a case where its insured caused…
At least they weren’t ranked as the worst insurance company for consumers. (That award goes to Allstate.) Long Term Disability Insurer-Unum was ranked second from worst in a recent study cited by the SunHerald.com. Despite agreeing to pay a massive fine and review thousands of its Long Term Disability claims…
A recent Court decision applying the ERISA statute determined that a beneficiaries claim for life insurance benefits must be dismissed. Melissa Amschwand and her husband-Thomas did everything they were told to maintain Tom’s life insurance when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. After he died and his widow applied for…
Colorada recently passed a law banning the use of discretionary clauses in any Long Term Disability insurance policy. This ban also applies to group policies. Colorado’s new law reflects the same policy decision of the Michigan Insurance Commissioner. Banning these discretionary clauses, and requiring that a court review the claim…