Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

Deny Claims and Refuse Insurance to Those Who Need It The Most;
DENY DELAY and DEFEND

A recent study by the American Association for Justice (formerly The Association of Trial Lawyers of America) revealed the 10 worst insurance companies in America. To identify the worst companies for consumers, researchers at the American Association for Justice undertook a comprehensive investigation of thousands of court documents, SEC and FBI records, state insurance department investigations and complaints, news accounts from across the country and the testimony and depositions of former insurance agents and adjusters.

The 10 worst companies according to this study were:

1. Allstate
2. Unum
3. AIG
4. State Farm
5. Conseco
6. Wellpoint
7. Farmers
8. UnitedHealth
9. Torchmark
10. Liberty Mutual

Many insurance companies have discovered that they can make more money by simply paying out less. As a senior executive at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the group representing those who were supposed to oversee the insurance industry it was said that “the bottom line was that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims".

One example was Ethel Adams, a 60 year old woman left in a coma and seriously injured after a multi-vehicle crash in Washington state. Her insurance company, Farmers, decided that the other driver had acted intentionally and denied her claim contending that an intentional act is not an accident. Another example is Debra Potter, who for years was an agent for Unum selling Unum’s disability policy until she herself became disabled and had to stop working. All along, Ms. Potter thought she was helping other people protect their future but when her own time of need came, she was told her multiple sclerosis was “self reported" and her claim was denied by Unum, the very company whose policies she sold.

In cases like these and countless others, the name of the game is DENY, DELAY, DEFEND. Do anything, in fact, to avoid paying claims. For companies like Allstate, there are corporate training manuals explaining how to avoid payments, portable refrigerators awarded to adjusters who deny the most claims and pizza parties to shred documents.

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