Holly Roy - Holt, Michigan
MY ALLSTATE HORROR STORY
I was involved in an auto accident three years ago. I was sitting still when an Allstate insured rear ended me, and have since developed Fibromyalgia because of the accident. We were insured by Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan at the time, and I ran a daycare. Not only wouldn't Farm Bureau help, by sending me the forms I needed to make a claim, they wouldn't pay for my wage loss (they told me I didn't make any money because my tax records showed a loss on paper after all of my tax deductions) I went from caring for 12 children down to 3), and had to hire an attorney to make them pay not only lost wages but the medical that I should have been paid under my policy.
I had to hire an attorney and sue Allstate Insurance (the other persons company) because they refused to admit liability and compensate me for the medical problems caused by their insured. I received a call from an Allstate adjuster the morning after the accident asking how I felt and saying that if there was anything they could do just let them know. I told her I wasn't feeling well and at that point all we needed was a car rental while our car was being repaired. (There was almost $8,000 in damages and the frame took almost two weeks to straighten) She told me she was sorry but that was one thing they couldn't do for us, but if there was anything else call them instead of an attorney because most of the time attorneys just confuse things.
YEA, RIGHT! When it came time for mediation (all auto insurance suits in Michigan must go to mediation before they reach court) they refused to pay what the mediators said they should pay, which was the whole $20,000 that the guy was insured for. It took almost another year to get to court and they wound up losing in a jury trial even after they had their insureds show up in court looking like they hadn't had a meal in a year. In Michigan you can't mention insurance companies because no one wants the jury to know who is being sued. The insurance companies have tricked the people making the laws into thinking that if people know an insurance company is involved they will automatically award a larger sum for an award. Like jurors don't have any brains.
We are now awaiting a date for the Michigan Court of Appeals which will probably be sometime in 2000. Another year!! Also, just so you know, in Michigan, if you have the underinsured coverage on your policy, you are probably paying for something that you will never collect on. If you have 100,000/300,000 coverage and the person that hit you only has $20,000 for instance, you can't collect any more than $100,000 TOTAL. You are paying for $100,000 in coverage but in actuality you are getting screwed out of $20,000.. Allstate has to pay interest each and every day on the award we were supposedly given but they don't care. They just keep postponing paying what they should and with the money that the insurance companies rake in every year as compared to what they pay out, it is a given that they will be ahead.
Disability Insurance experience with MADISON NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE from Milwaukee, Wisconsin In 1994 we purchased the Buick involved in the above accident. By coincidence, in 1996 my husband had an accident at work and became disabled from his job. When we purchased the Buick we took out disability insurance because we were told that if anything ever happened and he couldn't work the car payment would be made.
We filed a claim in September of 1996 as we were supposed to. Madison National Life paid the policy for 11 months and then the fun began. We received papers called Physicians Statements. They were to be filled out MONTHLY or the disability insurance would be terminated (even though my husband's orthopedic surgeon put on the papers that all of his restrictions were permanent.) My husband's doctors said that he was totally and permanently disabled from employment but Madison National Life sent him to what's laughingly called an Independent Medical Examination. The exam took all of 10 minutes!
The report that the INSURANCE DOCTOR sent stated that my husband could return to work in six weeks. This from a doctor that had never operated on my husbands knees nor seen his medical records. (My husband had already been off of work for over a year) To make a long story short, we had to hire an attorney to make Madison Nation Life Insurance reimburse us for what they should have paid out to begin with. This process took over a year and we wound up coming to a settlement agreement over the amount due because at that point we had paid the car off.
IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT WHEN YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING A DISABILITY POLICY OF ANY KIND THAT YOU CHECK TO MAKE SURE THAT THE LANGUAGE IN THE POLICY DOESN'T CHANGE AFTER THE FIRST 12 MONTHS OF DISABILITY FROM "BEING DISABLED FROM YOUR CURRENT JOB", to "BEING DISABLED FROM ANY JOB THAT YOU ARE TRAINED, EXPERIENCED OR EDUCATED FOR.
If it does, don't plan on being able to count on your payment being made after 12 months because the odds are you won't collect on it unless you hire an attorney and then it will be iffy. Again, the insurance companies play the odds that the insured will give up and go away if they make it hard enough!
"There is no incentive for insurance companies to do what is right, such as live up to the promises made in their policies. Tort reformers fueled by insurance money think big business and the insurance industry need to be protected against "runaway juries." It's the other way around. Big business and the insurance industry have always been able to take care of themselves. The little people need protection from them. This country was founded on the common law right of the little guy to get into court with his hired gun to fight the oppressor, be it big government or big business. Take that away and we have nothing left. Look around. It's being whittled away, bit by bit, caps on damages here, restrictions on jury trials there. It won't end until we recognize the enemy and join together to take a stand against them. It will take the little people to do this together".
That is our only hope!
Louis G. Fazzi, Esq. Attorney & Counselor At Law