Auto insurers play hardball in minor-crash claims

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/09/insurance.hardball/index.html
Clips from the long article..

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- If you are injured in a minor car crash, chances are good that you will be in the fight of your life to get the insurance company to pay all the medical costs you incur -- even if the accident was no fault of your own.

~

But after a review of more than 6,000 company documents and court records, interviews with a dozen people nationwide, including former company insiders, and conversations with accident victims, the picture is clear: If you challenge the offer by some insurance companies you will be left with no option but to go to court, where you will be dragged through the wringer.

~

The Indiana nurse was rear-ended by a State Farm employee driving a State Farm car. Damage to her car was minimal but she suffered herniated disc and muscle tears.

Taylor racked up medical bills and lost wages amounting to about $15,000. The company offered her $2,000.

"I was just very insulted," she said.

She sued, but three years later a jury came back with a judgment for her of only $1,500.

The jury didn't believe she could be hurt in an accident in which the vehicle had barely a dent.

Three jurors told CNN photos of the two cars involved in the accident -- enlarged and prominently displayed by the defense -- played a huge role in their decision.

And one said they assumed Taylor had already been compensated by the insurance company and was just trying to get more money.

~
"The profits are good, and as long as the community, the public allows this to occur, the insurance companies will get richer and people ... will not get a fair and reasonable settlement," Mathis said.

...where only a few ultra weathy people at the very top of the food chain will make out

When I buy auto insurance that pays for accidents, I expect it to pay for all the damage. If they don't, then they are ripping off those who bought the insurance in the first place.

This is the little guys against the big guys. But hospitals have a stake in this as well. For people like in the story, how are they going to come up with that kind of money? If the hospitals were REALLY serious about wanting their money, their best bet is going after those with the money. In this case, it should have been the insurance company.

The article says this will continue if WE allow it to continue. The question is, how can we stop it?

once you file one claim your premiums can go up and if you file 2 sometimes you get dropped.

If they can't get it, seems like the morgage companys should be screaming as well! They do have a vested intrest in wither or not a home is insured. And if the insurance is to high, then it might impact wither the homeowner can make morgage payments or might default on their insurance payments.

Just another way to say "Sopranos".

Oh, come The Revolution...

like did she try arbitration, etc. I wonder about her lawyer too because this seems like an open and shut case that she should have been reimbursed 100%.
This comment makes me wonder how clear things were to the jury: "And one said they assumed Taylor had already been compensated by the insurance company and was just trying to get more money."

The tactic by the insurers sucks. They should be there to make people "whole" versus screwing the crap out of them

It seems like after the Jury person made such a statement, this could be forced back into court on the bases that the lady wasn't well represented. How can it be missed that they Jury did not understand that the case was about wither or not HER medical bills and lost wages were getting paid. Not 'extra' money.

I think THAT is the fault of the media bliz against trial lawyers. Making them out to be gold diggers trying to get themselfs and their clients rich off of crap accidents. It makes it all seem like THOSE are the only cases going to court. When it isn't!

If they're good. It seems that the most talented ones go to work for corporations because they like the steady income. I do know of cases that are fraud cases but the huge majority of them aren't. And as far as consumer cases tying up the courts, the corporations are the ones tying up the courts as they are all busy suing each other over patents, etc. But they don't want consumers suing them. They have convinced the American public that suing for your rights is bad.

That has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. The intensity of damage to a vehicle does not reflect damage to the human body. People have walked away with minor injuries from gawd-awful wrecks, and people have been killed in wrecks where the damage to the vehicle was insignificant.

Jeebers.

WTF? These were the JURORS who were DECIDING her compensation,
fer chrissake! And they ASSUMED she had already been compensated?

Does...not...compute. My brain hurts now.

...and it was with State Farm

with Safeco and that was a nightmare. We still haven't settled for my daughters bills.