Washington Injury Lawyer Blog

You’ve done your part and obtained homeowner’s insurance coverage or renter’s insurance. So if anything ever happens you’re taken care of, right? Well, not necessarily, especially when it comes to personal property issues or questions regarding the condition of your house prior to a fire, flood or other event. Especially if your house was completely devastated by a fire.

While you may have coverage for personal property, it can become a monumental task to reconstruct all of your belongings. Maybe you have some documentation in a safe deposit box, or perhaps a retailer has information that you purchased that ring or television, but for the most part you will have to attempt to remember all of your property. At best, you may be able to remember half of what was actually lost. Think of all of the little items that you’ll forget. Maybe it’s something that was just worth a dollar, but there will be a lot of items worth a dollar, or five dollars that you will not get compensated for.

The solution? It’s easy. Videotape your house and everything in your house. I mean everything. Open drawers, open cabinets, open closets, go in the garage, leave nothing out of the video. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, just enough to help identify items and enough to help you itemize your property. So when you are videotaping, freely talk about what you are looking at, describe it, pick it up if necessary to get a better view. There may be some items that you want to take pictures of as well. If you own guns, they should ideally be in a fireproof safe or other safe location, and in addition to videotaping them, be sure to write down the serial numbers. If you have expensive jewelry, you may want to have it identified and appraised by a jeweler. I would suggest redoing the video every two to three years or when your personal property substantially changes.

All of the information must then be stored off site, at a relative’s house, your office etc. Not a lot of use in compiling all of this information and having it burn up in a fire. Also, as a side note, if you have important documents and/or photos on your home computer, get a back up drive and get that information backed up so it can be stored off site. Enduring a tragedy that takes your house is bad enough, don’t compound it by lack of preparation.

Posted by John Williams | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Insurance , Insurance Bad Faith

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Here's an interesting AP story which I think really shows what motivates Allstate Insurance:

NEW YORK (AP) — Allstate Corp. CEO Thomas J. Wilson received total compensation valued at $10.4 million in 2009, up about 30% from a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing.

The pay raise for Thomas Wilson came as the property and casualty insurer stanched steep investment losses to help post a profit for the full year. Wilson had earned $7 million in the previous year, according to an Associated Press analysis of a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2009, Wilson earned a base salary of $1.1 million, which was an increase of 6 percent. His performance-based compensation was $1.7 million, more than double the $736,261 he got in 2008.

Wilson also got stock and options worth $6.5 million when they were granted, compared with $5.2 million in 2008.

His other perks and compensation totaled $68,072 and consisted of $23,154 for personal use of a company plane and $9,800 in matching contributions to a retirement plan. The remaining $35,118 was for miscellaneous items including life insurance premiums, cell phones, tax preparation, financial planning, security, ground transportation and supplemental long-term disability coverage.

For 2009, Allstate said better risk management in its investment portfolio helped it earn $854 million, or $1.58 per share, compared with a net loss of $1.68 billion, or $3.06 per share, in 2008.

In the final quarter of 2009 alone, Allstate posted a profit of $518 million, or 96 cents per share, a great improvement over its a loss of $1.13 billion, or $2.10 per share, in the period a year earlier.

Allstate's operating income, which excludes investment gains and losses, rose 14 percent to $592 million, or $1.09 per share, versus a profit of $518 million, or 96 cents per share, a year ago.

Posted by John Williams | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car & Truck Accidents , Insurance , Insurance Bad Faith

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So you have comprehensive coverage that provides coverage in the event your car is stolen. Your car is stolen by some juveniles that went on a long joyride until caught by police. During the course of the theft and their joyride, the engine blows and the car is now a total loss. Your insurance company simply pays you for the value of your car, right? Well, no.

Allstate Insurance insured my client for comprehensive coverage, but claimed that the real cause of the engine blowing was her failure to maintain the car. Allstate actually hired an expert to inspect the engine and miraculously come to the same determination. My client’s car did have an oil leak, but she had regular maintenance performed and ensured that the oil level was always correct. After all, the engine never blew when she was driving. In fact, she had her car serviced and the oil changed one month prior to the theft.

The Good Hands people would not budge from their completely unreasonable position, so we were forced to file a lawsuit. Copeland v. Allstate Insurance Co. The lawsuit contained numerous causes of action including bad faith and violations of the Washington Insurance Fair Claims Act. Shortly after filing the lawsuit, Allstate settled my client’s case for roughly 4 times what her actual damages. It is truly unfortunate that lawyers are necessary in order to have an insurance company provide the coverage that their insured has paid premiums for. So much for being in good hands.

Posted by John Williams | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Insurance , Insurance Bad Faith

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Can you imagine being a tenant in an apartment complex, your building catches on fire and burns to the ground with all of your possessions? I can't. And then, when you don't think it can get any worse, Farmers Insurance comes knocking, wanting you to pay them $420,000.00 for the damage to the apartment complex!

This happened to Chris Christoffersen and her daughter Melissa in University Place, Washington. The fire department had ruled the fire accidental and discovered it was caused when the Christoffersen's couch was pushed against the baseboard heater. At first, it was a phone call from Farmers wanting $350,000.00 to repair the complex. And then a bill from a collections agency demanding $420,000.00.

Farmers eventually dropped the matter after being contacted by the KOMO 4 problem solvers, but the arrogance of Farmers is simply amazing. The Washington State Insurance Commissioner stated that Washington Courts have ruled that insurance companies cannot hold tenants responsible for fire damages unless it's expressly written in the lease. But that didn't seem to matter to Farmers.

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Posted In: Insurance Bad Faith

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Approximately 73,000 policy holders in Washington, including the Seattle area, are insured with HealthMarkets which provides insurance to small businesses and the self-employed.

HealthMarkets, based out of Texas, has been accused of bad business practices following an investigation by several state insurance commissioners. HealthMarkets include subsidiaries MEGA Life and Health Insurance of Oklahoma, Mid-West National Life Insurance of Tennessee and Chesapeake Life Insurance of Oklahoma. The investigation revealed that these companies improperly denied claims, delayed refunds and misrepresented coverage.

If you are insured by any of these companies, it is very important that you contact our office or the Washington State Insurance Commissioner's Office for advice and to advise of any problems you may have had with these companies.

Posted by John Williams | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Insurance Bad Faith

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