The insurance industry is a particularly nasty and dishonest one, and this doesn’t surprise me one bit:
It was a nasty car crash, but not an extraordinary one.
Sherri Berg’s Jeep Grand Cherokee was hit hard by a car as she pulled onto a highway. The vehicle spun four times and struck a pole, but no one was hurt.
What was extraordinary was the epic legal fight that followed, pitting a father-and-son law firm in Chester County against an industry giant, Nationwide Insurance.
Nearly 20 years after the accident, that fight climaxed last month with a court ruling that castigated Nationwide and slammed it with $18 million in punitive damages.
Experts say it was the largest punitive award ever handed down in Pennsylvania in a suit alleging “bad faith” by an insurer.
The judge in the case determined that Nationwide spent more than $3 million to defend a claim over a Jeep it could and should have replaced for $25,000.
He found that the Jeep remained unsafe even after repairs.
Rather than replace it, he said, Nationwide had engaged in an extensive cover-up, hiding crash photos and other relevant information from Berg and her husband.
He said Nationwide followed a written “litigation strategy” that called for it to fight smaller claims tenaciously – even though such a strategy had been denounced by Pennsylvania courts as “unethical and unprofessional.”
And Judge Jeffrey K. Sprecher of Berks County concluded his opinion with a caustic list right out of David Letterman’s “Top Ten” that he said was Nationwide’s message to customers who sued – and to their lawyers:
“Do not mess with us, if you know what is good for you.”
“You cannot run with the big dogs.”
“There is no level playing field to be had in your case.”
“You cannot afford it and what client will pay thousands of dollars to fight this battle?”
“So we can get away with anything we want to.”
“You cannot stop us.”
So Nationwide put a dangerous car back on the road, just to save money. Go read the rest, it’s horrifying.
Big business is far more corrupt and destructive then big government is. Although the capitalist oligarchy would have us all believe otherwise.
Of course they did. So does Allstate, Geico, etc. Blue Cross as well. One doesn’t pay for coverage. One pays for the privilege of being told what they won’t cover. A pernicious evil trade . . . insurance.