Description

It’s the story the insurance industry doesn’t want you to know. Now, for the first time, the story covered in the legal edition of From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is available to the public. Find out for yourself why insurance companies are improperly denying and delaying claims, then defending their behavior at trial. The book takes you from the ideas arising from the masterminds behind the Enron business model, through their impact on the insurance industry, and the resulting claim denials in everything from minor auto accidents to Hurricane Katrina claims.

Author David Berardinelli is the trial lawyer who diligently worked to become the first to obtain the McKinsey Documents unprotected. In this book, he discusses how these documents teach insurers to profit by denying or delaying claim payments. Learn how Allstate changed from dealing with policyholders with "Good Hands" to "Boxing Gloves" Discover how this has led to the highest profits in insurance company history during years with our country’s largest natural disasters.

Media Coverage

11/07/2007 — Louisiana Attorney General bases anti trust lawsuit against Allstate, State Farm, McKinsey and others on information revealed in From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves Read Story

11/06/2007 — See Allstate director’s response to From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves author’s charge of putting profits ahead of policyholders—and the facts that discredit Allstate’s answers. Watch Part 1 | Part 2

09/28/2007 — Houston Chronicle praises David Berardinelli Read Story

08/22/2007 — New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune interviews David Berardinelli Read Story

08/17/2007 — PBS’ series NOW features David Berardinelli Read Story, Watch Video

08/03/2007 — Bloomberg.com interviews David Berardinelli Read Story

03/15/2007 — CNN Money Magazine features David Berardinelli Read Story

05/01/2006 — Business Week interviews David Berardinelli Read Story

Reviews

1. This book delves deep into the dark heart of the profit-boosting strategies that ‘efficiency’ consulting firm McKinsey & Company cooked up with Allstate, and the dramatic negative impact they have had on policyholders. McKinsey specializes in redesigning product delivery systems for Fortune 100 companies to maximize profits. It created a plan for Allstate’s claims operations known as the Claims Core Process Redesign or CCPR. According to the authors, ‘Since its implementation in 1995, CCPR has been the most controversial, and profitable, claim handling system in insurance industry history. To date, CCPR has generated between $15 to $25 billion in excess profits for Allstate’s stockholders. It has also generated a national firestorm of bad faith litigation.’
    
   This estimate is based on Allstate’s annual statements showing an increase in surplus from $4.5 billion in 1992 before CCPR to a staggering $21.8 billion in 2004 with an additional $14 billion distributed in that time as shareholder dividends. Allstate has consistently refused to state how much extra profit CCPR generated. However, in 2004 Allstate claims its net income rose to a record $3.1 billion, despite four hurricanes in the southeastern United States, due to what it calls ‘Superior Claim Management.’
   —United Policyholders

2. Allstate Corp., fresh from fending off criticism about its response to policyholders affected by Hurricane Katrina, faces another potential storm, this one from an author [David J. Berardinelli] who claims the insurer is forcing policyholders to accept prompt but lower payouts or risk time-consuming and expensive litigation… The book [tells how and why] the nation’s second-largest home and auto insurer treats some policyholders with ‘Boxing Gloves’ during their time of financial and personal duress, rather than the reassuringly familiar ‘Good Hands’ highlighted in its advertising.
   —Chicago Tribune, "Author throws punch at Allstate," May 3, 2006

3. In great detail, the slides show how [Allstate] shareholders could profit from the new way of handling claims, according to Berardinelli’s notes. Based on public financial reports, Berardinelli estimates that Allstate has made at least $15 billion from CCPR by fighting minor claims, which make up the bulk of payouts.
   —Lexington Herald-Leader, "Allstate accused of cheating claimants," July 9, 2006

4. It’s a story Allstate doesn’t want told.
   —BusinessWeek, "In Tough Hands With Allstate," May 1, 2006

5. My reaction to reading an advance copy of From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is WOW!
   —Eugene R. Anderson, whom Business Week called "The Dean of Policyholder’s Attorneys"

6. Through many years of intense litigation against Allstate, Mr. Berardinelli has captured the essence of Allstate’s, and for that matter, the entire insurance claims industry’s business practices.
   —Lawrence A. Anderson, president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association

7. This book is phenomenal in bringing the wrongdoings of a major company to light. It is about time that the truth be told!
   —Shannon Kmatz, former Allstate adjuster

8. Through extraordinary effort, David Berardinelli has accomplished what insurance consumer advocates have been pursuing for a decade. He has uncovered the new corporate blueprint sweeping America that focuses industry on profit over customers. More importantly, he has exposed these principles, masquerading as trade secrets, as the smoking guns behind corporate malfeasance in the mold of Enron.
   —Robert J. Hommel, Esq., Scottsdale, Arizona