I went to law school with this judge and her husband. So refreshing. This was the right decision. If more judges penalized insurers for this type of inexcusable conduct, there would be fewer people having to sue their carrier for bad faith. Bravo Judge Pavlack!
Years ago, I felt like I had my moment of justice with an insurance adjuster for my car. When I was young, I had bought a two year old 280ZX. I picked it up on a Friday evening after work. On Monday morning, the first day to drive it to work...I hit a deer. Those cars are low and have a long sloping hood so the car just swept the deer's feet out from under him (Huge Buck), I watched him slide up the hood, then pass over me as I looked through the glass T-Tops, and finally land behind me. He jumps up, makes about two steps and is hit by a big truck going the other direction. I've owned this car all of 4 days. I get an appointment with the adjuster, the car is still completely drivable, only one headlight trim ring broken and the hood has been pushed down to where you can see the imprint of the valve cover, alternator, etc. The adjuster comes out with is camera and clipboard. He takes a few pictures, makes some notes, and without even looking up at me says "I don't believe you hit a deer, it looks like someone jumped all over it. I was stunned for just a second at being called a liar, then walked to the front of the car, pulled a huge clump of dear hair out from around the big round ZX emblem on the hood, then proceeded to sprinkle them all over his clipboard he was still writing on. Again, he never looked at me, but my claim was approved . lol
@@ThereIsNoOtherHandleLikeMine haha same kind of thing happened to me a few years ago with geico, minus the BS. The adjuster inspected the grille and saw the deer hair and it was an instant "approved" :)
When my house was burglarized I filed a claim. The insurance company asked me to permit it to see my credit cards and credit report. I asked why and was informed it was standard. I asked for documentation explaining why they required my personal information. They implied that if I did not comply they would not pay off. I went to see the agent who sold me the policy and informed him that I was buying a full page ad in the local paper asking people who felt they were abused by the company to join me in a class action suit. He asked me to calm down and give him some time to work it out. 2 days later my claim was paid in full.
Darned right! You were getting ready to hit them where it would hurt the worst. In their wallet! Being a Business Owner, I have to deal with Insurance Companies (due to the Nature of the Work, I am required to carry a $ 1,000,000 E&O Insurance [ plus Major and Minor Medical, Unemployment, etc.] on each employee). And I am constantly at odds with them when an employee gets hurt on the job! I finally found a great company (Lloyds of London) to deal with. It costs a little more per employee (about $700 per month per employee) But it's worth it as I've already had to file a health claim (Snake Bite Claim with photo's of the bite area) and they had no problems paying it. It's one less worry I now have to deal with, and a major relief as I have close to 50 Employees spread out over 2 States (North Carolina and South Carolina)
@@3PercentNeanderhal I later discovered I would not be allowed to place such an ad. Of course that was 35 years ago. Things have changed a bit since then.
I think the theory is that you might be engaging in insurance fraud because you personal finances have deteriorated. BTW, why don't you want the Insurer to see your credit report?
@@icecold9511 I agree and the only way to change the behavior of insurance companies like those described is for it to cost them more to scam people because of huge jury awards than it would cost them to honor the contracts they enter into!
They are playing the percentages. If they denied a thousand $ 13,000 claims, then they save $ 13 million. If one out of the thousand hits them with a 1.3 million verdict, they are still up $ 11.7 million.
so basically they take a risk that they will collect more than they will pay out and deny enough claims that in the whole even the legit claims will not add up to enough that they do not make it up in profit. I say " a risk " but said risk is an illegal risk. They should be a company that the money you and all other ppl pay into pays out when something happens that is on the plan they paid for. In short insurance can be akin to gambling with your property. With you betting it will get damaged and the insurance company betting it won't be.
@@yumri4 It's called gambling and the house always wins. This is just the cost of doing business. This is why these insurance companies have a crap-ton of lawyers to defend them...
@@Sight-Beyond-Sight thus why i am against health insurance and am for a single pair system. As the insurance industry is basically a gambling thing your health shouldn't be in it. Sure put your car and house there but not your health.
@@yumri4 - Eliminate them both. No govt pay and no insurance pay. Medical savings accounts and co-op pools only. Watch the prices fall. The government option is no better than the insurance. Its just the mafia with the flag on the wall running it. There is no mafia any more because they all work in the courthouse, statehouse, and the fed.
@@KlodFather IF you ever got a medical savings account plan and had to actually use it for something more than just a routine doctor's check up you will see that they are little better than just not having nothing. Having seen how much my grandmothers and my parents medicines were on private insurance then the major drop in medicine prices but also price when they have to go to the doctor's are when they got onto Medicare Medicare is cheaper. Doesn't cover everything and still makes you pay some for the newest stuff like this year or last year out on the market medicines but still better than private insurance from a fortune 500 banking company. I don't know your medical situation but for all of ours Medicare is much cheaper then any of the private plans were. To this thank you for paying your USA taxes.
I groaned when he mentioned Mercury Insurance... which I have. Maybe time to look around again if this is how they treat their customers when it comes to a claim. Of course, Allstate was good to me, until they denied me for coverage in a house I was about to purchase (4 years ago), citing THAT owner's prior water damage claim (which I just discovered mold behind a basedboard in just yesterday) and my theft claim when I lived elsewhere from 3 years prior. I had Allstate for 30+ years and only had one claim in that time. Despite arguing against their denial of coverage for the house I was buying for several weeks, Allstate said no. I went with Mercury. AFTER I went with Mercury, Allstate calls up and said they made a mistake. I told them, too late. I tried to make that case for over a month, despite 30 yrs of coverage with 1 claim. Yeah... should have thought of that earlier, Allstate. And now this behavior from Mercury... gah..
Check your credit union, Tripple A, and also take a look at a company in Ohio who sells insurance in Pennsylvania called Deerfield. Howard Hanna in Pittsburgh were selling them and they treated the ex-wife good. Stay away from progressive. Your independent agents have much to offer.
@@KlodFather yes, by all means, stay away from progressive. they tried to weasel out a claim i filed and it's very difficult to get straight answers from them. i tried to work with them but they just like to make it difficult every step of the way. mercury is also another company you should avoid like plague. rule of the thumb is when premium is cheap, it's cheap for a reason. i have had good experience with triple A.
@@whatever5575 triple A has taken a dive over the years. They used to be very good but are now running like the rest of them. All of them are forcing their claims reps to process high volume with scripts about how this or that is processed. They know little about claims adjusting but much about claims processing. Good luck using a phone to reach anyone...leave a message and pray.
Lobbying in other countries is also called bribery. Let's not pretend that any of our governments are actually representing the will of the people they rule.
Errr. No. What lobbyists do is represent the goals of organizations by ... waiting in lobbies and trying to communicate. Sometimes that means drafting sample legislation. Bribery is a small part of lobbying. For example, an environmental NGO worked to change government policy by trying to present their arguments to politicians in person and drafting proposals. That is typical lobbying. Lobbying sounds worse than it is because the word "lobbying" is used when people want to complain about the behavior but "represent" or "educate" is used when people like the behavior.
@@Lawofimprobability - You are a lobbyist or someone in the process... Part of the problem and not part of the solution. This is what happens when the mob seemingly goes away because they are all working for the government.
This story just made my morning. Justice served and is not even excessive. They put that couple through hell. Good For for the attorney that took this case and seen it through!
This is what is needed to start pushing insurance companies to knock off their knee-jerk claim denials. It's effectively fraud to sell someone a service with no intention of actually providing it, and that's what it boils down to, particularly with many of the cut-rate providers. If they pay no penalties for doing this stuff, they have no incentive to stop.
@@UncleKennysPlace Are you suggesting a certain insurance company will be giving all their customers a rate increase? Why that would be unethical or sleazy or something!
I believe the judge forgot 'abusive and deceitful.' Sounds to me like Mercury Insurance Company needs an audit from thr PA Insurance Commission... insurance companies are licensed in PA.
Insurance is now generally mandated by law, so I see it as a necessary evil. It is very much gambling. You pay money to them betting that sooner or later they will have to pay out a higher sum. They, betting that your giving them free money. The whole point is this, since lobbists for insurance companies have made insurance requirements ubiquitious, then the state, which enacted the laws, should oversee the claims operations. I realize this is another bureaucracy, and I'm not a bigger is better government person. But, the job of government is to protect its citizens. Not be willing accomplices to the plundering thereof. If they're going to require it, they they should be on the hook to see that it works as intended!
In Staff Builders, Inc. v. Armstrong, 37 Ohio St. 3d 298, syllabus 1 (Ohio 1988), the Supreme Court of Ohio made clear that bad faith is an independent tort: An insurer has a duty to act in good faith in the processing and payment of the claims of its insured. A breach of this duty will give rise to a cause of action in tort against the insurer irrespective of any liability arising from breach of contract. The Court later echoed these concepts in Zoppo v. Homestead Ins. Co., 71 Ohio St. 3d 552, syllabus 1, (Ohio 1994): “An insurer fails to exercise good faith in the processing of a claim of its insured where its refusal to pay the claim is not predicated upon circumstances that furnish reasonable justification therefore.”
I like this! In every state I'm aware of, insurance is required, by law, on vehicles and homes. So the insurance companies have a captive audience, and can thus play fast and loose with claims. There should be accountability. If the law requires it, then the law should oversee it. I have no problems with large punitive damages in cases like these.
Just another argument against the American Rule. It's amazing how few vexatious or frivolous lawsuits we have in Canada compared to what you see just across the border. Jerks and idiots still want to sue over every tiny perceived slight, but it has a chilling effect on BS litigation when your attorney says "yeah, I can file the suit, but there's a good chance we lose on the merits of this case, and then you'll be paying for the other guy's lawyer too." It also tends to encourage the big fish to play nice - trying that bad-faith denial business will just cost you for the effort you spent denying, plus your lawyers to defend your bad faith, plus paying your policy-holder's lawyer for the privilige of getting sued by them.
2019 I got my very own new car. 50 years old, 19 years married, hubby and I shared a car until then. As a teacher, on the first day of school, hubby borrowed my car from where I parked it so he could fill it with gas. On his way back to the high school, he got to a stop sign. Looked left -- traffic --- right -- traffic---- as it starts to clear up, he notes someone on the opposite side of the road come to a stop (hubby was there for a few minutes before this). Hubby takes one more glance right and left and moves across the intersection. he's 2/3rds of the way through when the other guy looks right, looks left, and guns it, accelerating right into the driver's side of my brand new car (we just put the new license plates on the day before). Hubby was okay, but the other guy, while fine, had kids in the car --- they were bruised but he refused to get them seen at a clinic (He was the father of one of my students, so she told me a lot of stuff over the school year). By the time we got home the OTHER guy had filed an incident with OUR insurance. So hubby tried to file it, and they thought it was a new accident because they'd already opened up a file on the accident. Turns out it was the same insurance company for both sides, and they decided to say it was hubby's fault for running the stop sign. (he didn't) we got enough video footage --- not of the crash, but of him stopped at the stop sign for some time --- and raised enough of a stink that they decided to not argue with me. I was flaming mad that my new car was totaled, and we would literally get nothing for it. We were lucky in that the dealership who sold it to us actually told us the truth that the price was "really good" on the car.... they were getting old model year out in preparation for the new model year or something, because even with depreciation (a whole different fight, as it took them two months to decide it was totaled, and they wanted to say it was 5 months old, and I said, NO WAY, it was three months old).... turns out that after the insurance company had us in rental cars for two months and fought with us, they paid the 3-month old value, which was literally $5000 MORE than we had paid for it. So we had a good amount for the down payment on my current garage-ornament since I've been in lockdown since March. Anyway, I thought of that incident while watching this video. Craziest car insurance settlement was when hubby and I were passengers in someone else's car, rear ended by another person, and I had to get rotator cuff surgery because of it. The two insurance companies wouldn't pay out until we involved our own car insurance. (?) We couldn't figure out how our Arizona car insurance was a part of the equation, since we were in Oregon, passengers in another car, and the car we were in was not at fault. But apparently they HAD to pay on it. Who knew?
I was a claims adjuster for a few years. Our policy was written that if you have your own medical payment coverage, you are not covered by ours. Other states and companies have it where they share the cost between your insurance and the insurance of the car you were in. I'm surprised any auto insurance paid for the surgery. I was taught that typically a rotator cuff injury cannot occur from being rear ended because impact does not occur at the right location. It's sort of like getting bit by a dog in the ankle and saying that caused your broken arm. The at fault insurance company probably said it wasn't related to the crash.
@@icecold9511 There are different types of coverages and claims. Medical payment covers your medical bills when you are in an accident. It doesn't matter if you are at fault or not. The bills are paid as they're submitted. It is for you. Liability coverage is for when you are at fault and you injured someone else. Other than extreme circumstances, it is a one time payment after you have healed and all medical bills are in. It also pays for the damage to the other person's car. Liability insurance of the at fault driver pays back the medical payment insurance of the person not at fault.
@@icecold9511 The medical payment part is contract law. If a passenger in our vehicle was injured by our driver's actions, it would be covered by our liability coverage. If that same passenger had no med pay insurance and our car was hit by someone running a red light, our policy would pay the medical bills and then go after the person responsible for repayment.
Sue them in the court of public opinion. Put up reviews on Google. Write up a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. Put your experience up on Twitter and Facebook.
I'm guessing they didn't pay any atty fees, they had a contingency fee contract with the atty. The atty got that other dough from the fee hearing. Thats my guess, at least.
I’m glad to see someone beat an insurance company, but this sum is chump change to nearly any insurance group. I’d love to see those responsible for this sort of BS (management, not the poor call center folks) face criminal prosecution and jail time.
the medical insurers do the same deny and deny claims .it used to be illegal with big fines if they did that.reagan deregulated and removed many liability claims.he said rates would go down.instead they have climbed 20% a year.
I worked as an auto adjuster at a major car insurance company for several years. One of the first things the regional director told us new recruits was “i don’t ever want you to deny a claim we owe. If we owe it, pay it. We don’t make our money on keeping premiums, we make our money on lending out the premiums between when we collect them and when we pay them.” It was a pretty good company. I also learned, or at least it was the attitude at my office, that if we were going to deny a claim to our insured, the burden of proof was on us. We’d usually consult with counsel if we were looking at denying a claim like this one, and we’d made darn sure we had evidence to back up our position.
I took an insurance law elective in 2L. We were told that this specific scenario is, in some states, the only way to get punitive damages in a contract case -- because bad faith denial of insurance claims "sounds in tort as much as in contracts." It's the kind of case that puts an at-fault driver and their victim on the same side of a lawsuit against the insurer. It's also the kind of "rare" case for which punitive damage awards multipliers can "exceed single digits", because they get away with this kind of crap so often, it takes massive punitive awards to upset the kind of bean-countery that leads to this kind of case.
I have doubts about this couple and lawyer being able to collect. The insurance company will undoubtedly take this up to a higher court claiming an unreasonable penalty. Because of the expense they will tie this up for years more.
Several years ago I had a homeowner's insurance claim with AAA. They tried to get out of paying, when that didn't work they went to dragging their feet and repeatedly lowballing values for various damaged personal items. CA law gives both parties 1 year from the date of the claim to submit/argue the losses. On day 364 at about 11:50PM I submitted my itemized claim with item values and a total demand, which just happened to be much higher than what I'd initially asked for. The next day a supervisor called being very nice & sweet and said that she had just been made aware that my claims adjuster hadn't properly handled my claim and that she'd make sure to get a check out to me for my initial estimated value of looses. "No thanks, I've already submitted my final claim, which I'm sure is what finally prompted your call, you can pay me that amount." She tried to convince me that it wasn't legally binding. "Ok, I'll let the judge decide." Then she 'suggested' that my inflated claim appeared to be insurance fraud. "You had a year to handle this and repeatedly tried to rip me off, it's your fault that you gave me the time and motivation to do my own appraisal and it just happened to be several thousand dollars in my favor; are you writing a check or am I shopping for a lawyer?" The check arrived a few days later. Statute of limitations being way gone; yes, I basically awarded myself punitive damages by way of exaggerated values.
I fell and broke my neck in 1979 on the job and the workers comp company refused to pay for a wheelchair (I’m a quadriplegic, paralyzed) and also refused to allow a lawsuit to be settled as they want it all the money. My attorney’s brought a workers comp specialist and we got the law changed to be able to sue industrial insurance for bad faith, it ended up costing them over $100,000 in a bad faith pay out to me.
Was involved in an accident w/a logging truck that hit my pickup (it turned into me in the right lane from the center lane). Their insurance company want to slap Bondo in the dent & call it ‘fixed’. Filed w/my insurance company (USAA) who specified a new fender. USAA then sued the insurance company of the logging truck to get their money back. Another accident, a gentleman ran a red light, hitting me in right front wheel; totaling the truck (sadly, I had just paid it off a month or two earlier). Again, his insurance company tried to low ball me; so I again filed w/USAA. Even though my pickup had 100,000 miles on it, USAA still valued it @ $10,000; once again I filed w/USAA. Since it was @ the end of the model year, I was able to score a pickup listed @ $27,700 cut down to $21,000 just to move it off the lot. I applied the $10,000 as a nice down payment for the new pickup.
In Michigan, how many claims like this would it take for Mercury's license be revoked, ie Mercury not allowed to sell insurance in the state of Michigan?
I had that insurance company on one of my first cars. I thought they were great because they were cheaper than most. Then my car got totaled. They denied the claim. Said I was uncooperative. When I did try to find an attorney to attempt to sue them, they all said the same thing, it's not worth it. I may win, and get my money, but the cost to do so was very high. And in order to get my attorney costs back, I had to prove "malice", and all they had to do was go "It was a mistake, oops". While I had to prove they were acting in bad faith (as it was explained to me), and never meant to honor the contract. They would just need to show that it was possible they made a mistake. The sad part is the clam, after deductibles and such, would have meant them cutting a check for 1-2k. It was one of my first cars, so it was already old, beat up, and not worth a lot. I am very glad to hear about this judgment. Makes some part of me very happy.
Used to be carmakers only made a certain number of locks per car. For example if they made five different locks for one model, then one in five owners if that model could open your car with their key. I think the modern chip systems eliminated that particular problem (and probably improved manufacturing techniques) but some people's greatest joy in life is an "unpickable" lock and they won't rest until they've figured out how to pick it.
I seriously doubt that they've started using more patterns for the locks. That's exactly why they brought in the chip keys, was so that they would stop being publicly embarrassed by independent mechanics popping every lock on your car just by trying the various different keys on their Ford keyring.
My car was totaled when a pickup truck lost it's load. It was a back road so slow speeds and no injuries but my car was totaled. My insurance company gave a low bid, much less than Kelley Blue Book. I stopped into a local body shop to see if they had any info to help me with how to deal with the insurance company and they told me to look through the paper and internet for cars that are being sold that are comparable to my car. Also goto the bank and get some paperwork to say how much they would loan me for my car if I was looking to purchase it. I took his advice and the insurance company upped it's bid to just a hair under Kelley Blue Book. I went back to the auto body repair shop and shook that man's hand!
You mean my favorite copyright attorney? I've listened to some of his vids, but he can be long-winded and I often can't spare 30-45 minutes to listen to him read a case. He is definitely an interesting personality, however.
You buy the cheapest insurance you can find. You file a claim. The insurance company denies it. Could there be a connection? I have State Farm. I've had FIVE motorcycles stolen from my house in 15 years. Two at the same time. State Farm paid, no problem. One motorcycle was in an accident because the guy was riding it like he stole it. Mercury Insurance was demanding I pay for their loss. State Farm took care of them, too.
I wonder if the Insurance Company will appeal this to the higher courts as it is known that Many insurance companies have donated massive amounts of money in order get the write candidate into the supreme court.
Hey, Steve! Thanks for your informative videos! Question 1: What enforcements are in effect to make the insurance company actually pay the court-ordered amount? Quotation 2: If they do pay, can they stretch the payments out over the next several thousand years? Thank you! Have a great week! :)
Not sure this will get to you Steve on an old post...but I'm curious. I travel almost 100% of the time with work. Not a huge number of miles but for extended times. Assuming I ever have to sue my insurance company do I do it in the state the event occurs in or my home state where the policy is held? And yes there are notes in my file that indicate my work and extensive time spent away from home just in case.
Those damages for attorney's fees were a fraction calculation of the amount of the award. The cliamant would not have had to pay $186k if they lost the case. Another great Lehto video notwithstanding.
I doubt that the attorney fees were calculated that way. Generally, courts have methods to determine reasonable rates. None of which are based entirely upon the result.
I'm so glad I live in Canada where a civil lawsuit usually results in the winner getting costs (the loser has to pay the winner's legal fees used to conduct the lawsuit). So, if you have a good case, a lawyer will not hesitate to take your case, knowing that winning basically guarantees the legal fees.
How did they find a lawyer to take in the insurance company?? When my parents house burned down the insurance company refused to pay and didn’t follow anything in the contract. They spoke to a half dozen lawyers who all told them they were due compensation (as per the coverage) but it wasn’t worth the case as they would never win against the insurance company.
Had water damage to my house from an overflowing condensate pan on the ac, discovered and reported on 26 July 2020. State farm sent a demo company to demo my bathroom, laundry room and a hallway, then said they were not going to cover it due to reasons not in my policy.
The states in which I practice, Massachusetts and Connecticut, both have unfair insurance practices statutes modeled on the ABA model statute, as well as unfair trade practices statutes, and in both states attorneys fees and punitive damages are part of the statute. I had assumed, until now, that most states had enacted these statutes
My friend had his car stolen here in the UK, he was moving house at the time and someone broke the window and hotwired it, insurance refused to pay out because the key was left in the car,,,,,,,, his spare was in one of his bags of stuff locked in the boot!
Few years back now, saw a video where not only were hackers able to open cars without leaving any physical signs. They were able to start, move and steer the car by gaining access to the sophisticated electronic control systems.
*Insurance companies increase profits when **_they DON'T PAY_** claims - they aren't ALL bad, but the incentive is there. Notice that the top tier of Fortune 500 companies are insurance companies* !
What if someone from Pennsylvania (with full insurance) drives to Michigan, and their car gets stolen there. Do they have the same "bad faith" protection that they would have back home?
About time that I see a victory for the good guys. It is disheartening to see these corporate behemoths getting away with murder! Hooray for the little guy!
I think it was Texas that had a large number of payday loan chain owners in the legislature and - unsurprisingly - very few restraints against that industry.
Isn't there a potential risk to the insurance agent (independent) getting you into a contract with a company that has a record of bad faith? My sister (Canada/ON) settled with her agent for getting her into an insurance policy that was suppose to cover water damage to a house but did not (6 figure damage).
Not sure how other countries handle it, but that agent probably got punished because Canadian insurance agents are licensed and pretty heavily regulated. An agent friend of mine described it as "equally difficult as passing the bar exam or qualifying for a medical license, but you get four months of school instead of seven years". We don't just let any old weasel in a suit sell you lies about your coverage.
I doubt there was any deductible in this case because they didn't pay by contract or policy language, they paid by court order which has no deductible.
New Insurance company name: Flagrant, Deceitful and Outrageous Yeah, some might use a lawfirm name...but...both are funny. Good info on "bad faith"...didn't know Texas allowed that, it appears it does. Lehto's Law teaching again... NICE!
The sad part is that it will be the policy holders that will pay this claim. The owners of corporations are not held liable for these types of actions. The laws need to be changed so that the people in charge must bear the burden of lawsuits. Then, and only then, will things change.
