Last week, Fayette Circuit Judge Thomas Clark overruled a Kentucky woman’s request to represent a class of plaintiffs in an action against the nation’s second largest insurer, Allstate Insurance. The complaint alleged that the company had employed practices designed to punish injury victims who pursued claims for their injuries.
Lawyers for Geneva Hager have accused Allstate of illegally employing various schemes and delay tactics to bully injury victims of car accidents into accepting lowball offers for their pain and suffering.
Judge Clark ruled that the circumstances of Hager’s case are too unique for her to represent a class of plaintiffs.
The ruling did not address the merits of Hager’s lawsuit, and he left open the possibility that another accident victim could lead a class-action lawsuit challenging Allstate’s handling of minor impact soft tissue injury claims.
Insurance companies have a duty to handle each personal injury claim in a prompt and efficient manner that compensates injured individuals. Unfortunately, many insurance companies are dragging their feet and refusing to evaluate claims in an effort to keep money in their own pockets. Allegations of bad faith against insurance carriers are becoming all too pervasive and it is going to take a large class action case to remind carriers that they need to live up to their words when they advertise “you’re in good hands.”
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