By law, your insurance company is obligated negotiate the claims of their clients and third party claimants fairly and in good faith. This means they must honestly investigate, process, and issue decisions on insurance claims. If your insurance company imposes discriminatory or unreasonable expectations on you, or denies your claim without just cause, they could be guilty of bad faith practices.
Allstate has been ranked as the worst insurance company in America by researchers at the American Association for Justice (AAJ). The AAJ painstakingly poured over thousands of court records, state insurance inquiries, news stories from across the nation, SEC and FBI documents, and sworn testimony of past insurance adjusters and agents to come up with the list of least customer-oriented companies. The list includes insurers from a variety of specialties from home and auto to life, health, and disability.
Allstate soared to the top of the list due to its reputation for placing a higher value on profits than policyholders. A statement from Allstate CEO Thomas Wilson leaves no doubt that their “obligation is to earn a return for…shareholders.” Adjusters were instructed by their supervisors to lie to policyholders and agents were told to use unscrupulous tactics in order to turn a profit for shareholders.
Because insurance companies only make money when they don’t have to pay out claims, top-grossing firms, such as Allstate, routinely deny legitimate claims, or settle for far less than the actual value of the claim. This company doesn’t just support the “deny, delay, and defend” motto, they actually celebrate it. Allstate puts together corporate training manuals that teach adjusters how to evade payments, it supplies pizzas for document-shredding parties, and rewards deny-happy adjusters with mini fridges.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has reported that more complaints filed against Allstate than have been filed against almost all of its major competitors. For increasing premiums and changing policy terms without notifying customers in Maryland, Allstate was slapped with the largest fine in state history. In Texas, the company agreed to pay over $70 million in penalties when industry regulators learned that Allstate had been overcharging homeowners across the state. Allstate was one of several companies that unfairly denied property insurance claims by policy holders of the Gulf Coast when they lost everything after Hurricane Katrina.
And the list of bad faith practices goes on. Like all other insurance providers, Allstate must abide by the applicable bad faith insurance laws of each state, and when they don’t, they can, and should, be held legally responsible.
Contact Pueblo Personal Injury Lawyer
If you or someone you love is injured in an accident, you need experienced Pueblo personal injury lawyer on your side. Insurance companies don’t always play fair and you need someone on your side who can fight for your rights to compensation. Call Pueblo attorneys at Smith & Smith, today for a FREE CONSULTATION – (719) 544-0062.
