Seattle, Washington Personal Injury Law News & Commentary Blog
Headlines and new stories in Seattle and Western Washington are filled with stories of people who are injured or killed in ‘accidents' resulting from the negligence of irresponsible individuals, corporations and governmental entities that are not acting in the interest of public safety.
Seattle attorney Chris Davis and Davis Law Group have published thousands of blog articles on topics relating to victims' rights and our civil justice system. These articles address cases and issues in personal injury law, such as motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, defective products, medical malpractice and accidents of all types. These articles focus awareness on the causes, consequences, and prevention of negligent and intentional acts by corporate interests, government entities and individuals.
Why we write blogs about accidents in Washington State
Just like newspapers, our blog reports news. We then go a step further--we provide legal analysis of actual events, based upon the news reports, in order to provide our readers real world insights into their legal rights and legal options. It is our intention to help to preserve the legal rights of accident victims by educating our readers as to what their rights may actually be, what laws may apply, how frequent similar accidents occur, who may be legally at fault, time limits (statute of limitations) for taking action and so on. It is our hope that by doing so, fewer people will lose their rights due to lack of information and more wrongdoers will be held accountable.
On November 29, 2011 a class action lawsuit against Farmers Insurance was settled. The suit alleges lack of medical bill payments for those in car accidents.
Founded in 1922, State Farm provides auto insurance and more. It is the number one insurance company in the United States. 'Like a good neighbor, State Farm..'
Founded in 1931, All State remains a popular insurance option for drivers in the United States. The insurance company offers 13 different lines of insurance.
There are so many car insurance companies out there, how did you decide on yours? Do commercials, tag lines or flashy advertisements influence you at all?
Seattle lawyer Chris Davis, Attorney at Law (Davis Law Group) - offers advice for your Frequently Asked Questions concerning your accident or injury claim.
Some insurance companies use fraudulent tactics to trick accident victims into believing that the company was representing their interests in settling the claim
Earning the worst reputation among disability insurer’s because of its deny and delay strategy towards claims, Unum are is also constantly investigated because of their involvement in scandalous controversies.
Headquarters: Chattanooga, TN
Profits: $679 million
Assets: $52.4 billion
Repeatedly denied a disabled woman with multiple sclerosis for three years, despite physician’s testimonies, and only agreed to pay the claim when she hired an attorney.
Company has a history of denying claims and a CEO was forced out because of the repeated controversy surrounding claims-handling policies. (But he still left with $17 million in severance and pension benefits)
In 2005 Unum settled with insurance commissioners from 48 states over their claims-handling practices and agreed to reopen more than 200,000 cases and pay $15 million.
While being investigated in California, the investigation found that Unum systematically violated state insurance regulations and fraudulently denied claims using phony medical reports, policy misrepresentations, and biased investigations.
Admitted to only reviewing 10 percent of the eligible cases for reopening under the terms of their legal settlement reached three years earlier.
Denied the claim of a 43-year-old man who had a quintuple bypass and despite the doctor’s orders to stop working, Unum told him he was not disabled and could still work. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals later described it as defying medical science.
The world’s biggest insurer has been involved in scandals concerning claims-handling abuse for both individual and business clients. They have also been charged with multi-billion dollar corporate fraud, earning them the nickname “the new Enron” and the number three spot on the Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in American according to the American Association for Justice.
State Farm earns the number four worst insurance company in America according to the American Association for Justice because of their reputation for abandoning natural disaster victims.
The abusive tactics like exploiting the elderly and denying valid claims has earned Conseco the number 5 spot on the Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America according to the American Association for Justice.
With its cut-throat strategy of consistently abandoning policyholders like pregnant women and chronically ill clients, WellPoint has earned the number six spot on the Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America.
Farmers is the seventh worst Insurance Company in America according to the American Association for Justice because it is one of the most poorly ranked in homeowner’s satisfaction surveys and their employees are given incentives to meet the lowest payment goals and they've been involved numerous controversies.
According to the American Association for Justice, UnitedHealth is the eighth worst insurance company because of its strategy of delaying claims to the point of endangering patients' lives. They also used a partnership with AARP to jack up premiums so that senior policyholders believed they were well taken care of when they were paying more for no difference in services.
According to the American Association for Justice, Torchmark earns the number nine spot because of their terrible treatment of policyholders and employees, including charging minorities more than whites.
The Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America as listed by the American Association for Justice. Liberty Mutual lands the 10th spot because of its continued abuse of their policyholders as well as involvement in a bid-rigging scandal.
In Seattle, that will change this month when homeowners with a sidewalk damaged enough to be a tripping hazard find an informational flier attached to their door telling them it's their responsibility — not the city's — to repair it.
The purpose of this technical report is to analyze the latest trends in pedestrian fatalities and police-reported motor vehicle crashes involving a pedestrian in the United States since 1997.
Their final list of the top ten worst insurance companies covers homeowners and auto insurers, health insurers, life insurers, and disability insurers.
Alyssa Olsen is not only battling CVID (common variable immune deficiency), a genetic disorder that leaves her extra vulnerable to bacteria and viruses, she is also battling an insurance coverage dispute with Regence Blue Shield Washington.
Olsen was given two to three years to live, unless she underwent a bone-marrow transplant that could save her life.
The transplant costs $400,000 but Regence denied the treatment because there isn’t proof of a high rate of success.
Olsen appealed twice to Regence and was denied both times, so she filed an appeal and through friends, contacted the media. 36 hours after the story aired on KOMO 4 News, Dr. Joseph Gifford, Regence’s Medical Director, invited Olsen to his office.
Regence told Olsen that coverage of her transplant was approved for $200,000, but that leaves Olsen with $200,000 left to pay for her procedure, scheduled for November 10.
Family, friends and strangers have donated $13,000 to Olsen.
We hope for a rapid recovery for Alyssa and that she continues to receive an outpouring of support from her community.
According to the Health Affairs Journal, about half of all bankruptcies filed in the U.S. are due to medical expenses.
If you have coverage disputes with your insurance company, you should speak with an experienced Seattle insurance dispute lawyer.
Description: The Insurance Commissioner’s Office has the responsibility of regulating the insurance business in Washington under authority granted by the insurance laws of this state.
Description: Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR) is a national coalition of public interest organizations that support effective insurance industry reforms to control skyrocketing insurance rates, reduced insurance coverage, arbitrary policy cancellations, mismanagement and other insurance industry abuses.
Description: FBIC (Fight Bad-faith Insurance Companies) is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization which specializes in uncovering today's alleged fraudulent multi-billion dollar bad-faith non-payment of claims rip-offs by the powerful Insurance Industry.
Description: The average cost of automobile insurance declined by 1.3 percent in 2005, according to a September 2007 report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). See more interesting car insurance facts.
This time last year, Washington State citizens passed Referendum 67, the pro-consumer insurance legislation. If you recall, the insurance industry spent approximately $12 Million dollars to defeat this law. Fortunately, the voters passed the measure by an extremely wide margin (57% to 43%).
Referendum 67 is now called the Washington Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA). IFCA created a process for consumers who feel their insurance companies have not promptly and fairly settled a valid claim. The Act requires insurance companies to act "reasonably" when settling claims, or risk having to pay a policyholder triple damages if the company ends up losing the case in court.
So far, about 900 people have notified the Washington State Insurance Commissioner's office that they plan to sue their insurance companies under IFCA. Under the Act, a policyholder is required to give the insurance company 20 days prior notice of the intent to sue. This is supposed to give the carrier one last chance to resolve the claim.
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says, "If that's one of the outcomes of Referendum 67, that is very positive from the standpoint of consumers – that they're dealing with better-trained adjusters who are going to make the determination on their particular claim."
Although the insurance industry fought the passage of IFCA by saying the law would raise insurance rates and create more lawsuits, Kreidler says these claims don't appear to have come true.
The Insurance Commissioner's office is tracking the numbers and types of cases and will do some random follow-ups in the coming year. For now, Commissioner Kreidler says he's pleased with the Insurance Fair Conduct Act for giving consumers more clout with their insurance companies.
In my own practice, IFCA has helped tremendously, especially in the smaller claims where it was not cost-effective to litigate against the insurance company. In those cases, it would cost much more to litigate than what the claim was worth (usually those claims which are valued at $30,000 and under).
The American Association for Justice (AAJ) recently issued a report describing ways the insurance industry attempts to make money at the expense of consumers and policyholders. AAJ reports on these "tricks of the trade" - the ways insurers try to cheat consumers:
1. Denying Legitimate Claims - many companies utilize a policy of actually denying legitimate claims. Many people accept the denial, saving the industry millions. Still others hire an attorney, causing more expense and delay.
2. Delaying the Claim until Death - many carriers routinely delay claims, especially long-term disability carriers. Many states have laws in place that extinguish certain damages when the claimant dies. So by delaying the claim until an older and ill person dies, the company can save a lot.
3. Confusing Consumers - have you ever had to decipher a standard insurance contract? If yes, then you know how incredibly complex, dense and incomprehensible these policies can be. After Hurrican Katrina, many policyholders thought they were covered for this loss only to find out that the insurance companies relied on a rarely used and obscure clause to deny coverage.
4. Discriminating by Credit Score - many companies now use credit scores to determine the amount of the premium the policyholder must pay. The practice penalizes the poor and elderly who have little credit. Some consumers have seen their auto insurance increase for an accident that was someone else's fault.
5. Canceling Coverage for a Small Claim - many people refuse to file a small claim after they have heard that the insurance company has dropped others from coverage for doing so. Sometimes a company will drop an insured based solely on a telephone call inquiring over whether a claim even exists.
The report describes several examples of how insurance companies will engage in unscrupulous tactics to take advantage of people and pay out as little money as possible.
Insurance companies: give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
We represent a very nice lady who was very seriously injured. The lady who hit her pleaded guilty to causing the accident.
This major insurance company begged us not to sue... "send us your demand... send us your medical records...we want to settle."
We sent them everything..
we waited
and waited
and waited
and then filed suit.
What's the first thing the insurance company did? Filed its own suit against the driver of our client's vehicle (our client was a passenger.) Purely 100% frivolous. Their lady pleaded guilty!
This is an example of what insurance company's due to muck up the system.
Delay
Delay
Delay..
then blame someone else.
Next time this insurance company says "we want to settle...don't sue..." they won't even get a return phone call.
First a devastating fire robbed a local family of nearly everything. Then a big insurance company tried to take the rest and more, hitting the family with a bill of $420,000. Last October Chris Christoffersen and her daughter Melissa awoke to devastation. The apartment complex they lived in was engulfed in flames.
"I watched everything from throughout my life - gone. Gone in just a few seconds," she said. Things were looking up until the family got a phone call from Farmers Insurance, which insures the apartment complex. Farmers wanted $350,000 to repair the four units damaged in the fire!
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