Michigan Personal Injury Blog

While our Michigan Supreme Court allows insurance companies like State Farm and Allstate to unreasonably deny and delay paying claims without any real penalties whatsoever, other states do not worship the insurance industry like Michigan does and do not put up with such conduct.

Check out the recent developments regarding State Farm and Allstate practices in other states:

On January 8, 2008 in Missouri, State Farm was forced to pay $8 million in punitive damages after its refusal to pay a $10,000 claim made by their insured when her car was stolen. Not only did they not pay, they tried to have their own insured prosecuted and fought this claim for over 10 years. The courts were appalled by State Farm's actions and penalized it severely for the way it treated its insured who it had gladly taken premiums from before the insured had the nerve to make a claim.

In Florida, Allstate can no longer write automobile insurance policies and is presently being fined $25,000.00 per day because it refuses to turn over documents that establish Allstate's business practice of delaying claims endlessly, paying less on claims and forcing their own insureds to retain an attorney and fight them in court if they don't accept Allstate's nominal settlement offers.

Unfortuantely, Michigan will not penalize an insurance company for wrongful conduct. In fact, our Michigan Supreme Court justices (Clifford Taylor, Maura Corrigan, Robert Young and Stephen Markman) embrace this type of conduct and have systematically made it easier for companies like State Farm and Allstate to wrongfully refuse to pay benefits and delay paying benefits for no valid reasons whatsoever. Since former Governor Engler put these 4 Justices on the bench, over 90% of their decisions have favored the insurance industry at the expense of insureds and victims of injury.

The only way to keep State Farm and Allstate from engaging in this type of conduct is through INSURANCE REFORM and/or to make sure you do not reelect Justices Taylor, Markman, Corrigan or Young when they come up for reelection. Please contact your legislators and urge them to protect consumers and put the brakes on an insurance industry that has run amok in the State of Michigan.

Click here to find your legislator