Articles Posted in Insurance Claims

by

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Travelers Insurance Co. alleging that it misled injured individuals in car accident cases against Travelers’ insureds.  The case, filed in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County by Sabrina Roppo, alleges that when she was injured in a car accident with a Travelers’ insured. Dhe was advised that the policy of insurance provided to the wrongdoer was $500,000. 

However, it was discovered that there was an additional $1 million umbrella policy that Roppo alleges was not disclosed to her by Travelers. According to the lawsuit, even though the Travelers’ insured paid a premium for the $1 million umbrella coverage, the company chose not to disclose that the umbrella policy was available. 

The lawsuit contends that Roppos suffered additional financial losses because of the misrepresentation. The lawsuit also states that about 500 other individuals injured by Travelers’ insureds were affected by this practice dating back to 1988. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Continue reading

by

Heike Wehrle and Robert Wehrle were severely injured in an auto crash with a drunk driver who had minimal insurance coverage.  The Wehrles had an underinsured motorist insurance policy with Cincinnati Insurance Co. that paid the difference between their $1 million coverage limit and the $200,000 that they received from the at-fault driver. 

The Wehrles sued Cincinnati claiming that they were entitled to the full $1 million of underinsurance rather than $800,000, which was the difference between the $1 million provided by Cincinnati and the $200,000 provided by the insurance company for the tortfeasor drunk driver.

The Wehrles were driving their sport-utility vehicle in Kane County, Ill., in December 2010.  They were hit by a drunk driver, Eric Barth. The Wehrles were severely injured and their medical expenses and damages far exceeded the policy limits of either Barth’s insurance or their own underinsurance policy. 

Continue reading

by

In this auto accident case, the defendant insurance company, Safeway Insurance Co., insured Ruben Delatorre under a policy of insurance with a limit of $40,000. Safeway hired an attorney to represent Delatorre in the personal injury lawsuit brought against Delatorre. However, the lawyer for Delatorre/Safeway never submitted a bill and was never paid. The lawyer apparently abandoned the case, and a default judgment was entered against Delatorre in the amount of $250,000. 

Then the plaintiff in the auto-injury case received an assignment from  Delatorre allowing the personal injury plaintiff to sue Safeway directly for the excess judgment. 

The judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that Safeway breached its duty to defend and was liable for the entire $250,000 judgment.

Continue reading

by

Dorma Lawson, age 59, was driving northbound on Western Avenue in Chicago Heights, Ill., when she stopped to make a left turn into a bank parking lot north of Lincoln Highway. Lawson’s car was then rear-ended by a Kickert school bus. Lawson claimed that she sustained soft tissue injuries to her neck, back and left knee. She had arthroscopic knee surgery, which showed that she did not have a torn meniscus.

Lawson is on disability due to a hip injury alleged to have been caused by this crash. The defendant bus driver, Patricia Savage, age 34, claimed that Lawson made a sudden stop and did not use her left turn signal. This, Savage said, was the cause of the crash. 

The defendants also argued that the impact was very minor. Defendants maintained that Lawson was not injured to the extent that she claimed, and that her disability was unrelated to the crash.

Continue reading

by

On Dec. 26, 2005, Leobardo Ramirez, age 36, was stopped on eastbound Cermak Road at a red light at Wentworth Avenue in Chinatown. He was rear-ended by the defendant, James Spalla, who contended he was going less than 5 mph at impact. 

Ramirez claimed that he suffered permanent discogenic low back pain (not operated on), with referred pain in his lower extremity. Ramirez claimed to have lost ten months of work as a high school janitor. 

The defendant Spalla, age 33, was a Chicago firefighter who had just gotten off his overnight shift at the Chinatown firehouse located on Cermak just west of where the crash took place.

Continue reading

by

The Illinois Appellate Court has ruled in favor of a motorcycle rider who lost a leg in an accident and sought a $1 million judgment against Allstate Insurance Co. This decision might have gone differently for Allstate, but the insurer made several very serious errors in its handling of the case.

This case was reported in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

The accident occurred on June 30, 2006, when the driver, E.H., allegedly drove a truck through a stop sign and smashed into the side of a motorcycle driven by S.K., whose leg later had to be amputated. The truck was owned by a third party, L.S.

Continue reading

by

Several of New York City’s financially strapped hospitals have canceled their malpractice insurance because the insurance costs are simply too high. Executives of these hospitals, most of which are in poor neighborhoods, say their financial circumstances and high premiums make it impractical to pay millions of dollars a year for insurance.

This trend was reported in a recent edition of the New York Times.

In an Illinois medical malpractice action against a county or state owned hospital, if a jury finds in favor of a patient, the award is paid by the state when the hospital is state-owned. When the facility is a county-funded institution, like Stroger Hospital, there is a statute, the Local Governmental and Government Employees Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/1-101, et seq. (Illinois Tort Immunity Act), which essentially allows the possibility of recovery against a Cook County hospital only if the hospital is found to be negligent in the treatment of a patient, but not liable if the hospital chooses not to order tests or it was negligent because it misdiagnosed a patient. Michigan Avenue National Bank v. Cook County, 191 Ill. 2d 493 (2000) is the leading case interpreting the Illinois statute on immunity.

Continue reading

by

In this case the parties fought over the insurance policies arising out of the wrongful death of Daniel Zacha, an employee of S&S Service Co. Mr. Zacha was driving a tractor-trailer owned by Coca-Cola Enterprises back to the S&S garage for repairs; in the process, he caused a head-on crash with the driver of a minivan, which resulted in that driver’s death.

Under the Illinois Vehicle Code, insurance companies are generally required to extend protection under liability policies to persons who are driving insured vehicles with express or implied permission of the owners.

The Illinois Supreme Court explained the statutory requirement of the Illinois Vehicle Code naming it “omnibus coverage,” which means “primary liability is generally placed on the insurer of the owner of an automobile rather than on the insurer of the operator” – unless a statutory exception applies.

Continue reading