Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
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 decided to file a lawsuit against insurance company 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.
