McKinsey & Co. scandal Allstate State Farm

Media Cites Trial Guides' From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves in Questioning McKinsey & Co.

In an article about McKinsey & Co.'s impact on business and society published in "In These Times" the media continues to cite Trial Guides' From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves.

"The McKinsey-designed insurance strategy was major news through the 2000s. This was thanks to numerous lawsuits by both private attorneys and state officials like Foti, who went to war with Allstate and State Farm on behalf of consumers railroaded by the companies after not just auto collisions and fires, but natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes.

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Judge Rules Allstate Guilty of Abuse of Litigation Process

Judge Rules Allstate Guilty of Abuse of Litigation Process

A New Mexico Judge has found Allstate Insurance Company guilty of malicious abuse of process. The finding was in, Martinez et. al. v. Allstate Insurance Company, No. D-0101-CV-200400963 filed in the First Judicial District Court (County of Santa Fe) in New Mexico. During the bench ruling The Honorable Barbara J. Vigil stated:

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If you are a lawyer interested in bringing abuse of process claims against Allstate or other insurers for the intentional denial, delay or requirement to litigate claims, read From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves. The book gives you an outline of how insurers profit by improperly forcing claimants to file litigation to get fair compensation.

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New! Good Hands to Boxing Gloves Webinar CLE

Introducing a webinar CLE recording "Good Hands to Boxing Gloves: Allstate, McKinsey and the Enron Business Model" featuring speakers David Berardinelli & Amy Bach.

From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is the most talked about legal text in the last generation. It's received feature stories on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, as well as in BusinessWeek and Money.

Now get the background about why settlement offers are down. Why insurers spend more to defend claims than to resolve them, and drag litigation out as long as possible. It's time that every lawyer understand the "Deny-Defend-Delay" strategy being used by insurers.

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Trial Guides Book Cited as One Reason Allstate Released the McKinsey Documents

Trial Guides Book Cited as One Reason Allstate Released the McKinsey Documents

In a story titled "AIG chief didn't always defend sanctity of contracts" released April 12, 2008, the New Orleans Times—Picayune cites Trial Guides' book From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves as a reason Allstate Insurance released the McKinsey Documents on its web site a week earlier.
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Florida Court Suspends Allstate in Florida

Florida Court Suspends Allstate in Florida

Late Friday, April 4, 2008, the District Court of Appeals, First District, State of Florida upheld the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s suspension of Allstate from writing insurance in the State of Florida. The Office had suspended Allstate earlier this year for a refusal to produce the McKinsey Documents during an investigation of Allstate. That investigation, started as a result of the media surrounding Trial Guides book From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves, and J. Robert Hunter’s reference to it. These resulted in Allstate being cut off from a market comprising 17% of its national sales.
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Allstate Insurance Bad Faith McKinsey & Co.

Allstate Forced to Cut Premiums 15.9%

Why are Allstate's rates so high that it requires a forced reduction by California's Insurance Commissioner? Because under Allstate's claims handling process implemented in the early 1990s, Allstate's claims payments have dropped to approximately 50% of the level they were at in 1992. At the same time, Allstate has requested over 700 rate increases throughout the country. The system implemented by Allstate to help cut claims so deeply, was developed by the same consultant used by State Farm, Liberty Mutual, USAA, and others. If you deal with insurance claims, you deal with these issues.
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Allstate Suspended by Florida Insurance Commissioner

Allstate Suspended by Florida Insurance Commissioner

This week, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that he is suspending Allstate Insurance companies from writing new insurance in Florida. McCarty's choice follows Allstate's refusal to comply with subpoenas served October 16 by the Office of Insurance Regulation.

The subpoenas seek disclosure of the McKinsey Documents, in which McKinsey & Co. instructed Allstate how to systematically underpay claims starting in the mid 1990s. The content of the documents is so explosive that Allstate has already ignored a $25,000 per day fine in Missouri for its ongoing failure to provide the McKinsey Documents in that state.

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Scientist calls Allstate documents scientifically bogus - Dr. Michael Freeman Testifies about Allstate MIST Defense

Scientist calls Allstate documents scientifically bogus - Dr. Michael Freeman Testifies about Allstate MIST Defense

Scientist calls Allstate documents scientifically bogus - Lexington Herald-Leader

"An epidemiologist testified Tuesday that assumptions in an Allstate claims handling manual about how much force passengers endure in low-speed wrecks have no scientific basis.

“These numbers are impossible, and they are just made up,” said Michael Freeman, an epidemiologist at Oregon Health and Science University testifying in the second day of a $1.425 billion civil trial in Fayette Circuit Court challenging Allstate Insurance Co.’s claims handling practices."

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Bloomberg Details Widespread Insurance Claim Denials and Delays

Bloomberg Details Widespread Insurance Claim Denials and Delays

The following article is published in Bloomberg Markets [Since removed from the internet] It provides one of the most comprehensive public media stories covering the serious problems in the insurance industry in America caused by programs of defense, delay and denial of claims.

The Insurance Hoax

By David Dietz and Darrell Preston

Julie Tunnell remembers standing in her debris-strewn driveway when the tall man in blue jeans approached. Her northern San Diego tudor-style home had been incinerated a week earlier in the largest wildfire in California history. The blaze in October and November 2003 swept across an area 19 times the size of Manhattan, destroying 2,232 homes and killing 15 people. Now came another blow.

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From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves

PBS NOW Discusses Insurance Claim Denials Citing From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves

The following is a post by PBS regarding its investigation into insurance claim denials and underpayments in the United States [since removed from the internet]. The story cites Trial Guides' book From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves. It is accompanied by a video "Home Insurance 9-1-1" [which has also since been removed from the internet]:

In the fall of 2003, one of the largest recorded wildfires in California's history destroyed over 2,200 houses and killed fifteen people. Soon after, many who'd lost their homes had a rude awakening: their insurance did not nearly cover their losses as expected.

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Lawyer Ken Allen Obtains a $20.8 Million Verdict Against Allstate Using From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves

Lawyer Ken Allen Obtains a $20.8 Million Verdict Against Allstate Using From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves

We recently received the following lawyer success story using the information in From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves - How Allstate Changed Casualty Insurance in America.

“David Berardinelli's book From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves is an essential tool for any trial lawyer handling bad faith claims against Allstate. The book details how Allstate redesigned its claims handling process to offer policyholders a very simple choice: accept less than fair value for your claims or face a battery of lawyers and years of costly litigation.

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