BUY Uninsured & Underinsured Car Insurance!

Today's news had a scary story about how the bad economy is causing drivers to let their car insurance lapse. On my firm's web site, we talk about Wisconsin Car Insurance & Umbrella FAQs.

In light of today's news, I can't impress on you enough the urgent need to have Uninsured Motorist Coverage (“UM”) as well as Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“UIM”) in case you are in a Wisconsin car accident (or car accident elsewhere for that matter). I've seen some horrible car accident injuries and the worst accidents are very frequently caused by someone who has minimal car insurance limits of say $25,000 or $50,000. Often my clients think their agent gave them "full coverage," but that's far from true.

UM and UIM car insurance protects you! Buy it for yourself to protect you from Wisconsin drivers who have no car insurance or little car insurance. I tell friends to carry UM and UIM car insurance limits of at least $250,000. With the increased cost of medical car and horrible changes in Wisconsin law (lobbied for by companies like American Family, State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, Sentry, etc.), limits of $100,000 are not enough. In fact, if your family income is more than $100,000, it certainly makes sense to have an umbrella insurance policy with UM and UIM coverage for $1,000,000 or $2,000,000.

Why so much? If your family is driving to Grandma's for Christmas and an uninsured driver crosses the center line and hits you head on, which I've seen, you can easily have insurance claims that amount to $1,000,000 or $2,000,000. And if such a horrific car accident should happen, don't trust the good hands of your insurer to pay your family fairly because as Allstate Claims Manual shows those represented by personal injury lawyers settle claims for about 3 times more than those who do not have reputable personal injury lawyers.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Insurance Company Tricks

I've blogged on insurance companies discussing their ways, but a new report from the American Association for Justice formalizes and confirms some of what I've said. Check out Tricks of the Trade.

Here's the executive summary (minus the footnotes) of behaviors:

"The U.S. insurance industry has trillions of dollars in assets, enjoys average profits of over $30 billion a year, and pays its CEOs more than any other industry. But insurance companies still engage in dirty tricks and unethical behavior to boost their bottom line even further.

The current economic turmoil affecting the insurance industry onWall Street has only made the outlook bleaker for consumers living on Main Street. Insurance companies are likely to demand huge rate hikes and
refuse more claims than ever.

Some of America’s most well-known insurance companies—the same ones that spend billions on
advertising to earn your trust—have endeavored to deny claims, delay payments, confuse consumers with incomprehensible insurance-speak, and retroactively refuse anyone who may cost them money.

This report describes some of the most egregious ways the insurance industry attempts to make money at the expense of consumers. These are some of the tricks of the trade:

Denying Claims
Some of the nation’s biggest insurance companies—Allstate, AIG, and State Farm among others—have denied valid claims in an attempt to boost their bottom lines. These companies have rewarded employees who successfully denied claims, replaced employees who
would not, and when all else failed, engaged in outright fraud to avoid paying claims.

Delaying Until Death
Many insurance companies routinely delay claims, knowing full well that many policyholders will simply away in safes. Undoubtedly, the most shameful use of delay tactics has been by long-term care insurers, who often take advantage of their policyholders’ age and ill health. In the words of one regulator, "the bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims…They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die."

Confusing Consumers
Insurance contracts are some of the most dense and incomprehensible contracts a consumer is ever likely to see. More than half of all states have enacted "plain English" laws for consumer contracts, yet many Americans still do not fully understand the risks they are subject to. After Hurricane Katrina, insurance companies used obscure "anti-concurrent" clauses to get out of paying claims. Consumers who purchased hurricane insurance and thought they were covered suddenly found the coverage eliminated by an obscure clause they could not hope to understand.

Discriminating by Credit Score
Increasingly, insurance companies are using credit reports to dictate the premiums consumers pay, or whether they can even get insurance in the first place. The practice penalizes the poor, senior citizens with little credit, and those who have suffered financial crisis through no fault of their own. Insurance companies have denied fiscally responsible people who paid their bills in cash, but refused renewals because of a lack of credit history. Others have seen auto rate hikes near 600 percent despite clean driving records after falling on economic troubles.

Abandoning the Sick
Health insurers looking to cut costs have taken to canceling retroactively, or rescinding, the policies of people whose conditions have become expensive to treat. Some insurance companies have even offered bonuses to employees who meet "cancellation goals." Rescission targets patients in the midst of treatment when they are at their most vulnerable—even cancer patients in the midst of chemotherapy have been targeted.

Canceling for a Call
Many people are rightly reluctant to make small claims on their home insurance for fear their insurance company will raise their premiums. But few realize that insurance companies often refuse to renew a policy because the policyholder did as little as inquire about the possibility of making a claim. Many times an insurance company will count an inquiry over the phone
as the same as a claim, and then they will do everything in their power to drop the policyholder."


Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Accident insurers put on the boxing gloves

I saw this from the American Association for Justice and it says what you need to know about Allstate and car accident insurers listed as the worst insurers, like Farmers, Liberty Mutual and State Farm. I might add Progressive, American Family and Sentry Insurance. Car accident insurance companies really want:

~ Premiums not claims
~ To deter valid lawsuits
~ The public to think lawsuits are bogus
~ You to feel guilty for making legitimate claims
~ You to say "I'm not the kind of person who files a lawsuit"
~ Jurors to think plaintiffs are dishonest
~ Your rights minimized and theirs preserved
~ Verdicts for damages to be less than fair
~ Caps on damages
~ And judges who won't hold them accountable.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Allstate's Obstructing Justice

Allstate guarding profits scheme is the title of an article in the Miami Herald today. Seems pretty consistent with what I've said about insurance companies before. Some highlights: "Allstate is facing contempt charges in Missouri -- with a $25,000-a-day fine -- and now it can't sell new auto policies in Florida, in part, because it wants to protect a report written by a corporate consultant." "According to an attorney who has seen the report from consultant McKinsey & Co., it advises Allstate on how to improve profitability: pay less on claims and take a longer time to pay those claims."

No Surprise. CNN exposed Allstate. Sentry Insurance sued an 81-year-old woman for failing to shovel snow. State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate and USAA have been accused of trying to take advantage of Katrina Hurricane victims. And American Family Insurance has extreme profits, denies claims, is pro-tort reform, and pays "when pigs fly.".

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Insurance Companies again

Ex-Insurance Company Commissioner, Herb Denenberg, writes in his August 01, 2007 column, his opinion that Allstate Insurance Company has plead guilty to a six-count indictment alleging it is the leading insurer when it comes to anti-consumer insurance practices.

I wrote before on how CNN exposed Allstate and I've never been a fan of Allstate. I wrote too about how Sentry Insurance sued an 81-year-old woman for failing to shovel snow, State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate and USAA being accused of trying to take advantage of Katrina Hurricane victims, and about American Family Insurance. Personally, and this is strictly opinion, I think too that Progressive Insurance has become overly aggressive in fighting legitimate claims. Whatever the case, whether it's Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Progressive, Sentry, USAA, or another insurance company, this is all consistent with my long held opinion about what insurance companies want:

~ Your premiums but not your claims
~ You not to file lawsuits against them that are valid
~ Voters to think they constantly fight bogus lawsuits
~ Everyone to hate lawyers so they never hire one to get justice
~ People to feel guilty for making legitimate claims
~ You to have guilt so you tell your attorney "I'm not the kind of person who files a lawsuit"
~ Jurors to think a person who files a lawsuit is a sham or dishonest
~ Juries minds made up before evidence is heard
~ Your legal rights minimized or removed
~ Their legal rights maximized and preserved
~ Wrongdoing on their part to go unchecked
~ People to feel juries give money away in a lottery jackpot justice system
~ Verdicts for damages to be far less then what is fair
~ Caps on damages to minimize how much justice a person can get
~ And judges who will avoid holding them accountable

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney