Apparently even when someone agrees to Allstate’s notorious lowballing techniques, the "good hands" insurers can’t get it together to complete the financial fleecing.

Edward and Virginia Johnson were hit head-on by a drunk driver in March of 2000 and suffered life-threatening injuries that hospitalized both of them for over a month.  Their medical bills totaled $320,000, but they agreed to Allstate’s typically low offer of $50,000.

Then Allstate didn’t respond—for six months.  The Missouri state statutory limit for acceptance is 60 days.  So the Johnsons got nothing.  And then they sued Allstate.

They had been awarded around $5 million from the drunk driver who hit them, but agreed not to execute the judgment in agreement for the driver’s portion of his piece of the lawsuit against Allstate.  Their deal might have been a tad complicated, but the outcome wasn’t: Allstate was hit with a massive $16 million verdict that included $5.8 million in compensatory damages (plus 9 percent interest) plus $10.5 million in punitive damages. 

Allstate claimed in court that it had lost the agreement letter from the Johnsons, but the jury didn’t buy it.

Sounds like the "boxing gloves" insurance company got KO’ed.

After reports that Iraq war veterans were enrolled in trials of Chantix without being advised of its potential psychotropic side effects, the Veterans Affairs office has taken heat over its handling of the study and the ensuing outcry.  However, it may just be the start of a long road for the maker of Chantix, drug giant Pfizer.

The first of surely many lawsuits to come has been filed against Pfizer for failure to disclose these potentially harmful side effects. A widow whose husband committed suicide in January is suing Pfizer, claiming that his use of the drug caused behavioral alterations that led to thoughts of suicide, although he had previously experience no such behavior.

Chantix has had a troubled history since it was put on the market in 2006.  Though it initially saw success, reports of psychiatric side effects not immediately disclosed caused sales to taper off. The FDA struck a major blow with its consumer alert suggesting Chantix needed further study, but the death knell was the report of veterans being subjected to treatment for quick cash (one soldier had a gun confrontation with police that resulted in a taser shock).

Now the lawsuits will begin to roll out…