Several months ago I wrote a post about the unique difficulties and problems that arise when trying to settle a car accident claim with Geico Insurance. That Geico post generated a lot of calls and questions and even a woman from Nebraska who asked if I could help her settle her accident case with Geico. After explaining that I am not admitted to the Nebraska bar, I gave her the best advice I could and wished her luck.
So, I began thinking that I would write a similar post about the company that is most notorious for being difficult when settling personal injury claims, Allstate Insurance. If you ask any experienced personal injury attorney, who is the worst insurance company to deal with, a majority would likely respond, Allstate. In fact, Allstate was declared by the American Association for Justice, to be the worst insurance company in America.
Why is Allstate so terrible, you ask?
Allstate is notorious for unnecessarily delaying payments, forcing lawsuits, and making ridiculously low offers. I was recently retained by a client who was dealing directly with an Allstate adjuster for almost three years. He sustained a serious injury to his foot in a car accident that was clearly not his fault. He had twelve thousand dollars in medical bills and was treating with doctors for over a year! After almost three years, Allstate offered him an astonishing $4000. Less than one-third of his total medical bills. After the shock wore off, my client came into my office. I had barely enough time to file a lawsuit and protect the statute of limitations. Of course, Allstate made no effort to remind or inform my client that he only had three years to file a lawsuit, else be barred from ever bringing the suit.
This has been there practice for decades. In fact, Allstate has been in Court over the last several years trying to prevent the release of a book that documents their corrupt claims practice. In the 1990’s Allstate had internal documents showing a pair of “boxing gloves” rather than “good hands”. The purpose of the boxing glove documents was to say that they would give quick and cheap settlements to accident victims who did not retain attorneys, and fight tooth and nail with those victims who had the audacity to hire a personal injury attorney.
During this time, Allstate also established a computerized system for evaluating personal injury claims, called Collossus. Allstate used nationwide values to interpret medical records and injuries and forced adjusters to make the low-ball offers that Collossus “spit out”. Adjusters no longer had any input into the value or merits of a claim. Settlements were controlled by a computer that was manipulated by Allstate Insurance.
Despite their notorious history, I actually do not find Allstate as bad as Geico for making low and insulting offers to injury victims. However, the story told above about my client and his experience in dealing directly with Allstate, demonstrates that you absolutely must hire an experienced car accident attorney if the at-fault driver was insured with Allstate.
My office has a great deal of experience in settling claims with Allstate Insurance and I know how to avoid their games and delay tactics. If you have been injured in any kind of accident or fall and the at-fault party is insured by Allstate Insurance, contact my office right away for a free consultation.