Posted on 10/29/2011 7:03:01 PM PDT by CedarDave
A Bernalillo County jury’s $12 million judgment this week against Progressive Insurance Co. was “very reasonable,” according to attorneys representing the family who sued.
Lawyer Janet Santillanes said that among the evidence jurors heard during the six-day trial was that Progressive altered its computer records 11 days after a Nov. 4, 2002, accident to make it appear the Vigil family did not have coverage at the time of the single-vehicle crash that was at the center of the case.
The company contended the policy lapsed about 90 minutes before the crash that killed one man and hospitalized five other passengers. Jurors also heard that Colleen Vigil called Progressive twice — two weeks before the crash and the day before — and was assured her policy was valid, with no payment due until Nov. 15, Santillanes said in a telephone interview with the Journal on Thursday.
She said Progressive’s policy is to record all conversations with policyholders, but the recordings of Colleen Vigil’s calls either were lost or never made.
A Bernalillo County District Court jury granted the Vigil family $11.7 million in punitive damages designed to punish Progressive for bad faith, and a few hundred thousand more in compensatory damages and for pain and suffering.
“The jury also heard evidence that Progressive’s profits are $3.8 million a day and (the company) had 11,700,000 policies in effect in 2010,” Santillanes said. “So the amount of damages to a multi-billion dollar corporation for a case that took nine years was very reasonable.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
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hunh. guess redistribution cuts both ways.
He let's everyone he is a PROGRESSIVE
Progressives? $12 million sounds reasonable to me.
Progressive was duckspeak for communists in the early days. Then when that word got too hot, they changed it to liberal. Now they’ve gone back to progressive again.
From what you say about Peter Lewis, it sounds as if the company is suitably named.
Good news.
This is one case where what appears to be a huge excessive verdict is justified.
They are a crappy company, as well. I had a friend and they changed his policy number without telling him. He was sending payments to the old number and they cancelled his policy. They never attempted to contact him by phone, but they did contact the Nevada DMV. DMV revoked his registration and he ended up having to go to court to get it all straightened out.
I seldom finish the month with more than a dollar or two left. If I can contribute ten dollars a month then anyone can. This forum is one of few almost sane harbors in an insane world. Please help pay for our megaphone, put your money where your mouth is.
Respectfully
W.W.SMITH
Isn’t this in the same area where that woman won the McDonald’s coffee spill suit?
How do you think Progressive pays for all the RAT donations?
The article provides the answer.
The judgement should have been a billion.
12 Million for actual damages and the rest punitive.
What is our economy going to do when the only ones left are lawyer, doctors and insurance company sales men all feeding off one another.
Progressive altered its computer records
This statement alone should mean Instant Corporate Death and PRISON for the Executives in Charge. THIS IS FRAUD. If we actually had Equal Protection Under the Laws and a Real JUSTICE System. I for one am sick and damned tired of double standards. I say dissolve company and jail the whole bunch.
Looks like Flo will have to take a salary cut and buy her own white uniforms!
A drunk driver driving with a suspended license lost control of the vehicle at 1:30 a.m. Near the end of the article you discover that in 2005, the first court agreed with Progressive that the policy had expired at midnight, apparently because the premiums on the policy hadn't been paid.
Who calls their insurance company twice in two weeks to find out if their insurance is still in effect? Sounds as if they hadn't paid the premium.
And I wonder if there was evidence that the calls were made, but that there were no Progressive recordings, or whether the (former) policy holder said the calls were made and there were no Progressive recordings.
Remember that the content of this article comes straight from the mouth of the plaintiffs' attorney.
Juries don't always look at facts when granting awards against insurance companies, particularly when somebody's been injured, and when a policy expired only 90 minutes earlier.
And I still hate Progressive. Nothing but a way to donate directly to the Democrat Party by buying insurance. Thanks, Flo.
Technically, a plaintiff's attorney said the jury "heard evidence" that Progressive altered its records. That's different. Progressive may well have altered its records. The plaintiff's attorney may also have brought in some bogus computer 'expert' who introduced that 'evidence,' which was contradicted by other evidence.
I hope they and all their limo-rich pals go out of business.
That begins with Government Electric and Government Motors and ends with Government Banksters and Government Unions. They all have their dirty paws in our pockets while pretending to be private industry.
No matter how much the low rates are..I will NEVER sign with “progressive”.
They are Dem supporters. It’s the principle..
Amen to that. There’s a reason why the company is called ‘PROGRESSIVE”.
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