When we buy insurance we are putting our faith in strangers’ hands with the trust that we will be taken care of in return for dutifully making our payments. It is a total blow to our feeling of well-being and our lives to be left in the dark when a problem really does come up. Dimple Thomas knew this lesson all too well.
Ms. Thomas, an 86-year-old woman, had been a hotel housekeeper for 27 years and used her life savings to buy a house in Decatur, Georgia where she lived by herself for many years. In November 1992, she had a car accident when making a left turn. A member of the opposite party involved sued Atlanta Casualty Co., Ms. Thomas’ insurance company, and received a $60,000 judgment which Atlanta Casualty refused to pay. The insurance company then proceeded to sue Ms. Thomas, stating that her claim was void as the company had not been notified.
As was later proven in court by Ms. Thomas’ personal injury lawyer, the company had signed a certified letter giving them notice of the accident on March 18, 1996. Ms. Thomas’ lawyer said of the case, “It sort of says it all when an insurance company not only denies coverage to an elderly woman after she had paid her premiums to them for several years, and then goes on to rub salt in the wound by filing suit against her.”
On March 27th of this year, another case of bad faith insurance was brought to attention which involved a major insurance company and a larger group of victims. 10 former Blue Cross members in California claimed on that Monday that Blue Cross had set up a system within the company which sought ways to eliminate coverage for those injured in a serious accident in order to profit the company. The 10 suits had been filed simultaneously in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties against Blue Cross of California and Blue Cross Life & Health. According to the suits, “Blue Cross’ conduct is particularly reprehensible because it was part of a repeated corporate practice and not an isolated occurence.” Blue Cross had managed to escape obligation to these victims on claims that were unjustified or entirely fictitious.
Christie Bewley in Whittier, California had been abandoned by Blue Cross in an act of bad faith when the company discovered that she had ovarian cysts and can no longer afford to obtain a diagnosis due to lack of coverage. Laura Khatchikian in L.A. lost her Blue Cross coverage when she became pregnant with twins, although she had been paying premiums to the company for over a year. Yenny Shu of L.A. was dropped from Blue Cross coverage when, at 46 years of age, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The company claimed grounds for her abandonment in that she had not disclosed an exposure to hepatitis B from when she was a child. Dawn Foiles of Riverside had back surgery to replace a disc before Blue Cross dumped her. Blue Cross denied her coverage because she supposedly had failed to disclose a history of back problems and previous surgery, even though she had listed a herniated disc operation from 1997 on the insurance application in 2003.
According to the suits, each patient had filled out their insurance application form honestly and was accepted for coverage. They had all paid premiums for months before being diagnosed with a serious medical condition that had been undetermined to the patients previously. Blue Cross had authorized their treatment in the beginning, then rescinded their coverage months later so that their medical bills soared out of reach, some even exceeding $100,000. In some cases patients have been unable to receive follow-up treatment since losing coverage.
Don’t let bad faith insurance get the best of you; be prepared. Talk to any of the following experienced personal injury lawyers and bad faith attorneys:
