Court Reverses $20 Million Jury Award to Ex-State Farm Agents
National News • January 25, 2007
The Missouri Court of Appeals on Tuesday threw out a $20 million jury award to five former State Farm Insurance agents who claimed they were improperly terminated for criticizing the company's ...
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Subject: State Harm
Posted On: January 26, 2007, 3:56 pm CST
Posted By: OmniSure
Comment:
This is SCARY
Every State Farm Agent can be terminated at the will of the company for anything, even trying to fight for their customers?
Wow! If I were a consumer purchasing insuance, I would rather be with an insurance agent that has the ability, without fear of losing his hard faught livelyhood, to help me when I might have been wronged by my insurance comapany, which, as we all know, State Farm is certainly capable of being accused of AND paying settlement of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS FOR.
Perhaps it would be better for the insurance consumer to buy their insurance through and INDEPENDENT AGENT that is not under COMPLETE CONTROL and THREAT of his employer, like the CAPTIVE agents of State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, etc.
Also, if I were an agent, I would shudder at the possiblity of being TERMINATED at will, with no cause and LOOSE EVERYTHING I've worked for just for NOT AGREEING with my BOSS. As an independent, if I don't agree with an insurance company and I'm not satisfied with the outcome of our disagreement, I OWN THE BOOK OF BUSINESS AND CAN MOVE IT FROM COMPANY A (the bad guys) to COMPANY B (the good guys that want my customers business)
This is an example of how CAPTIVE agents and companies are bad for the consumer and bad for the agents that offer their livelyhood so vulnerably.
Subject: State Harm
Every State Farm Agent can be terminated at the will of the company for anything, even trying to fight for their customers?
Wow! If I were a consumer purchasing insuance, I would rather be with an insurance agent that has the ability, without fear of losing his hard faught livelyhood, to help me when I might have been wronged by my insurance comapany, which, as we all know, State Farm is certainly capable of being accused of AND paying settlement of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS FOR.
Perhaps it would be better for the insurance consumer to buy their insurance through and INDEPENDENT AGENT that is not under COMPLETE CONTROL and THREAT of his employer, like the CAPTIVE agents of State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, etc.
Also, if I were an agent, I would shudder at the possiblity of being TERMINATED at will, with no cause and LOOSE EVERYTHING I've worked for just for NOT AGREEING with my BOSS. As an independent, if I don't agree with an insurance company and I'm not satisfied with the outcome of our disagreement, I OWN THE BOOK OF BUSINESS AND CAN MOVE IT FROM COMPANY A (the bad guys) to COMPANY B (the good guys that want my customers business)
This is an example of how CAPTIVE agents and companies are bad for the consumer and bad for the agents that offer their livelyhood so vulnerably.