Posted On: June 19, 2007, 5:16 pm CDT

Posted By: Melanie

TO THE UNTOUCHABLES. Edward B. Rust, Jr., will be happy to tell
you that he is the Chief Executive Officer of State Farm Mutual Insurance
Company. He has deep family ties to State Farm, as his father and grand father
have both served in that capacity. He will also tell you that he is an educated
man who has been to law school and is a past practicing attorney. In addition,
he was the chairman of the Coalition for Excellence in Education and a member of
George W. Bush's transition advisory team on education. So with all of that
education why will he not deal with his company's inbred greed. Does he not
know that we are in the 21st century where anyone can look on the internet and
see the billions of dollars that are being spent to protect their empire from
the consumer?
> > > > > > > > > In Utah, the company was fine $25 million in punitive
damages, in part for the "systematic destruction of documents and systematic
manipulation of individual claim files to conceal claim mishandling". An Idaho
appeals court fined the company $9.5 million in punitive damages for making use
of "a completely bogus" outside bill review company that helped lower the cost
of medical bills. In October of 1999, an Illinois jury rendered a $456 million
judgement against State Farm and an additional $730 million in punitive damages
for the insurer's breach of contract with auto policy holders by relying on
generic replacement parts. Rust was adamant in his insistence that fraud had
not been committed. A class action law suit in the name of State Farm policy
holders was filed in 2003 for breach of contract and statutory consumer fraud in
which $1.1 billion was awarded to plaintiffs. When a company is misleading the
public, should that not be considered fraud? A consumer would go to prison for
that type of behavior.
> > > > > > > > > > > > State Farm will let you know that, in several
states, fraud and abuse is pushing up the cost of auto insurance. A court in
late 2001 reached an unfriendly consumer decision that could have the effect of
reaching deep into the pockets of the consumer. Sharply higher jury awards in
vehicular liability cases are putting additional upward pressure on auto
insurance rates. The average jury award in auto liability cases rose from
$187,000 to $269,000 in 2000, an increase of 44%. I question if any of the
lawsuits would be necessary if the company would just fairly pay their claims.
The company represents on their web-site that consumer protection is one of
their most important goals, but do they really think that courts would be
awarding multiple millions of dollars in bad faith claims if that were their
emphasis?
> > > > > > > > > > > > State Farm's ratings are based on their financial
strength. State Farm states that their high ratings are also based on strong
claims paying ability. With this ability, why is it necessary for their policy
holders to allege that the claims department was directed, in evaluating their
cases, to take them to trial instead of settling within the limits of the
policy? This practice exposed policyholders to judgments above the limits of
their policies, when the company was attempting to make an effort to win smaller
decisions. Two former in-house attornies for State Farm contend that they were
often called upon by the insurer to represent its' policy holders and were
forced to commit "unlawful and unethical activities, including requiring the two
to stay silent about the rights of the policyholders".
> > > > > > > > State Farm seems to have reckless indifference for the truth
for the purpose of corporate and personal economic gain. State Farm should know
that continued scrutiny of their claims paying practices will continue
especially with the advent of new claims that are surfacing from lawsuits
revolving around Hurricane Katrina.
> > > > > > > > A message to Mr. Rust, and any employee of the company that
is acting in bad faith for its policy holders. Its time to stop!!!> > .
Melanie