Hagens Berman

Class Action Lawsuit Accuses Allstate of Unlawfully Denying Insurance Benefits to Thousands of California Claimants - Seite 2

Worse yet, according to attorneys, Allstate does this in bad faith, “disregarding well-established California law both through its unlawful claim denials, as well as by failing to adequately investigate and analyze the nature of the losses covered by the workers’ compensation payments it uses to deny UM/UIM claims, and failing to disclose and/or explain available policy benefits to claimants as required by California law.”

The lawsuit paints a picture that Allstate’s policies directly harm its own customers, unnecessarily delaying UM/UIM benefits it does pay, and forcing insureds to wait years to receive compensation for their injuries – compensation that is often only partial, attorneys allege.

“If you’re down and out after someone hurts you and you have Allstate coverage—whether it’s from your policy or the owner of the car’s policy—you expect Allstate to step up and do right by you,” Nunes said. “No one expects, or should have to endure, Allstate doing them wrong and playing games on how it calculates what its customers are owed.”

The lawsuit’s named plaintiff suffered a head-on collision in 2018 when returning from a worksite with three coworkers. After this horrific tragedy, Allstate refused to pay benefits based on workers compensation payments made to others, which is improper under California case law, a ruling established in a case Allstate lost. They then refused to pay for losses that were not compensated by workers compensation, another improper position under California law. The lawsuit’s plaintiff then spent years in protracted communication with Allstate, receiving denial after denial and changing explanations for the non-payment.

The lawsuit brings claims of breach of contract and bad faith and seeks punitive damages, compensation for the proposed class, and action from the court prohibiting the use of Allstate’s policies that are alleged to be in violation of California laws protecting insureds.

Allstate’s subsidiaries are also named as defendants in the lawsuit and include Allstate Northbrook Indemnity Company, Integon National Insurance Company, Esurance Property and Casualty Insurance Company, National General Premier Insurance Company, Integon Preferred Insurance Company, Encompass Insurance Company, Safe Auto Insurance Company, National General Insurance Company, Allstate Insurance Company, National General Assurance Company, MIC General Insurance Corporation, and Century-National Insurance Company.