On April 4, 2008, the District Court of Appeals, First District, State of Florida upheld the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s suspension of Allstate from writing insurance in the State of Florida. The Office had suspended Allstate weeks before for a refusal to produce the McKinsey documents during an investigation of the company. That suspension resulted in Allstate being cut off from a market comprising 17% of its national sales. The court found Allstate guilty of arbitrary reductions of bodily injury claim payments to its policyholders and beneficiaries by up to 20%. It also determined that Allstate was engaged in ongoing criminal activity by failing to cooperate with the Office of Insurance Regulation’s investigation of a crime, and that this constituted a danger to the public health, safety or welfare of citizens.
I choose not to deal with Allstate and other insurers whose policy is to delay and low ball legitimate claims. I recommend filing suit as soon as the matter has been investigated thoroughly. I’d rather have a jury adjust my client’s claim than a computer program such as Colossus. At the very least, putting the case into litigation takes it out of the Colossus system and into the hands of a human being who can adjust the claim based upon recommendations from defense counsel, observation of the plaintiff in deposition, the track record of plaintiff’s counsel, the venue, and other important factors that may not be considered by the software program designed to underpay claimants.
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