Florida Couple Awarded $14.5M in Geico Uninsured Motorist Lawsuit

November 17, 2015

  • November 17, 2015 at 1:30 pm
    Jack Kanauph says:
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    I wish this story explained how they got to the $14 million figure. Did they have UM and a large Umbrella? Did they have $1 million UM stacked with 14 cars?

    • November 23, 2015 at 10:15 am
      Jane says:
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      Maybe punitive damages/bad faith?

  • November 17, 2015 at 2:00 pm
    Another Geico claimant says:
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    I hope the verdict sticks! I’m willing to bet a large portion of the verdict was for “Bad Faith” on Geico. This speaks to their reputation of not paying claims! I’ve experienced it twice with Geico when struck by their insureds, once T-boned and once struck in the rear. The first was finally paid after a lawsuit but this last one wasn’t worth the time or aggrevation to fight it! This verdict makes me very happy!

  • November 17, 2015 at 2:12 pm
    Old Lawyer says:
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    @Jack – the award is probably mostly punitive damages for the insurer’s refusal to handle the claim properly, as I read the article which could certainly provide a little more detail.

  • November 17, 2015 at 2:20 pm
    wayne smith says:
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    I am shocked, just shocked, that a driver by the name of Miguel Gonzalez was uninsured. Ssshh, we’re not supposed to point out illegal immigrant crime.

    • November 17, 2015 at 2:39 pm
      Crain says:
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      How do you know he was an illegal immigrant? I did not read that in the story. There are many non-immigrant legal citizens who are uninsured or underinsured.

      I wish that the article was more detailed. Like Jack, I would like to know how they arrived at $14.5 million.

      • November 17, 2015 at 3:16 pm
        Agent says:
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        Crain, I have seen a lot of GEICO policies over the years and they almost always have low limits, particularly on U/M/UIM. That is what you get by buying from the lizard.

        • November 18, 2015 at 11:45 am
          confused says:
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          is it any better if you buy insurance from the non-fictional Flo from progressive? how can a buyer ENSURE that one company will INSURE them better than another?

          • November 18, 2015 at 2:38 pm
            Non-fictional? says:
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            No wonder you’re confused!

          • November 19, 2015 at 10:54 am
            confused says:
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            exactly! thank you! agent tried convincing me a few times that Flo was a non-fictional character. he kept denying her fictional status and told me i was an idiot for saying she wasn’t real. additionally, agent recently gave someone grief for “misspelling” INSURE when the poster correctly used the word ENSURE instead. my last post was entirely sarcastic, but i see how that tone wasn’t clear to anyone outside our original conversations.

          • November 19, 2015 at 4:41 pm
            Bill says:
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            Use an independent agent that insists on selling only quality products with minimum limits standards.

          • November 21, 2015 at 9:59 am
            John M says:
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            “..how can a buyer ENSURE that one company will INSURE them better than another?”

            Well, confused, let me offer ONE idea: Buy something as important as your insurance from a PROFESSIONAL INSURANCE AGENT and not an order taker. Geez, find a reputable agent, or better yet, ask your friends and business associates. I doubt you would be surprised to find a few names rising to the top.

          • December 30, 2015 at 4:17 pm
            katie says:
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            Buy from an Independent agent !

        • November 23, 2015 at 1:14 pm
          confused says:
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          no…that’s what you get for selecting low UM/UIM limits

          • November 24, 2015 at 2:11 pm
            TX Agent says:
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            I didn’t know that GEICO offered UM/UIM limits of $14,500,000.

    • November 19, 2015 at 4:47 pm
      Bill says:
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      How about let’s restrict this forum to insurance and the issue at hand. There are plenty of other forums for political discussions. All this back-and-forth accomplishes is giving readers the impression that our industry is rife with bias (on all sides) and unprofessional conduct.

      • November 20, 2015 at 3:58 pm
        Rosenblatt says:
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        Good luck with that, Bill. I’m not being facetious – I sincerely hope you get better results than when I recently tried a few different techniques to accomplish something similar. Irregardless, count me in – I’m game to try again!

      • November 20, 2015 at 5:32 pm
        Agent says:
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        Dream on Bill. The radicals on the left will attack anything no matter what the subject was and before long, it disintegrates into politics without a sign of what the original topic was. The two most vicious topics have been Healthcare/Obamacare, Global Warming/Climate Change. Any other topic quickly morphed into those two no matter how the blog starts out. The insults are so vicious, I have decided not to even reply to them and it drives them absolutely nuts. I have seen up to 6 nasty insults on one reply for me not replying to them.

        • November 23, 2015 at 11:55 am
          confused says:
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          do you even see the hypocrisy in your reply? you lobbed the first attack against those ‘radicals on the left’ as part of your explanation as to why we can’t keep the conversation about insurance due to those people on the left always attacking you. I give you a 9.25 out of 10 on your mental gymnastics.

        • November 24, 2015 at 1:28 pm
          Michael says:
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          Unbelievable, Agent. YOU are the one who turns everything into something political, left vs. right, progressive, blah, blah, blah. You have no idea who you are.

  • November 17, 2015 at 4:54 pm
    Mr. Lawrence says:
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    LOL.

    Mr. Smith, I’m afraid you just painted yourself. You’ll get to vote for Trump soon enough.

    • November 18, 2015 at 12:53 pm
      Agent says:
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      Hey Lawrence, perhaps you should read some polls out recently that has the majority approving of Trump’s position on illegal aliens. The terrible incident in Paris underscores why we should be not letting anyone in illegally. There is absolutely no way to vette these people, particularly the Muslims coming from Syria and I suspect most from South America and Mexico.

      • November 18, 2015 at 1:51 pm
        Milner says:
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        Agent, you’re right. We should have never let Timothy McVey’s family into this country.

        • November 18, 2015 at 2:06 pm
          confused says:
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          Don’t forget about Ted Kaczynski, Eric Robert Rudolph and Wade Michael Page just to name three more.

          “If you think Muslims aren’t condemning ISIS, it’s not because Muslims aren’t condemning ISIS. It’s because you’re not listening to Muslims.”

          “I think it is important not only to the American public but for the world and the Islamic world to point out this is not a true form of Islam. This is an aberrant form that should not represent most of the civilized Islamic world.”

          “Islam is just a religion and like every religion in the world it depends on what you bring to it. If you’re a violent person, your Islam, your Judaism, your Christianity, your Hinduism is gonna be violent. There are marauding Buddhist monks in Myanmar slaughtering women and children. Does Buddhism promote violence? Of course not. People are violent or peaceful and that depends on their politics, their social world, the ways that they see their communities.”

        • November 18, 2015 at 2:33 pm
          Agent says:
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          Was that workplace violence like Major Hassan who famously said Alluah Akbar as he gunned down innocent unarmed soldiers at Ft Hood? For every McVey, there are 100 Muslims bent on destroying any infidel or Jew in the name of their cult/religion. You people had better wake up. These people are playing for keeps and they will probably hit the US again in the next few weeks.

          • November 18, 2015 at 4:09 pm
            Clark Ladisi says:
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            There are a lot of radical skinheads born in the US bent on the same. Agent, I served in the US Army alongside many men who are Muslim who took the same oath as I did – defending idiots like you in the name of this great country. You need to tone down your rhetoric. It’s not Muslims who pose the threat, it’s people like you who are divisive and polarizing in their flip remarks who pose the real threat, because those are the sound bites that galvanize the extremists. For the record, I’m not being flip in referring to you as an idiot – you’re an idiot.

          • November 18, 2015 at 4:33 pm
            Rosenblatt says:
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            Well said Clark. I sincerely thank you, and everyone else, for your service.

            Agent – your logic is quite flawed here. Just because someone yells God Is Great in Arabic does not make them a Muslim.

            One of my best friends is 5-years deep in the Seminary and he says “L’chaim” all the time when making a toast — that doesn’t make him Jewish, correct? Don’t you agree that he should still be considered a Christian even though he said a Hebrew phrase?

            I really like the line confused posted above: “I think it is important not only to the American public but for the world and the Islamic world to point out this is not a true form of Islam. This is an aberrant form that should not represent most of the civilized Islamic world.”

          • November 20, 2015 at 8:37 am
            KY jw says:
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            Completely agree Clark! My husband met many Muslims while in the army and has no problem with the religion. It’s the psychos that cause death and destruction, and they come in every color and religion.

      • November 18, 2015 at 2:50 pm
        Ron says:
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        Let’s ask the true indigenous people of this land if they were given the opportunity to approve of the refugees that came here from Europe only to slaughter them, force their religious beliefs upon them, then let them keep only 2% of the land.

        Who exactly are the terrorists again?

      • November 18, 2015 at 5:42 pm
        rk1033 says:
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        Have you read the Bible, Torah and/or Quran? Cover to cover, take a look at each and see what they are about – you will be amazed at how wrong you are for thinking that @Agent.

        Also, you mention Paris, take a look at where each terrorist is born.

        Get out of your box and explore the world my friend. You’re missing out on being happy in life and too worried about fearing something you are uninformed/misinformed and worse unwilling to learn about from real academic sources you can find at your local library, university, etc. The television and folks like Donald Trup are worse than wikipedia – it should not be your (only) source of information.

        • November 19, 2015 at 11:29 am
          Agent says:
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          I am sure glad they blew up the Muslim mastermind of this attack. They won’t have to put him up in prison for 50 or so years. The only way Europe or any other country admitting these people is to round them up and send them back to where they came from.

          • November 19, 2015 at 11:56 am
            Rosenblatt says:
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            what does the text on the Statue of Liberty say again? “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”? Sounds like America was made for these refugees!

  • November 17, 2015 at 7:39 pm
    judy schatz, RN,BSN (@JSchaetzer) says:
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    14.5 mil? that’s crazy. Welcome to Florida. Lizard tears are huge today.

    • November 18, 2015 at 10:19 am
      Agent says:
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      We just thought they had Tort Reform in Florida.

  • November 18, 2015 at 2:59 pm
    T D Jackson says:
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    Not enough answers. Who was the approximate cause comes to mind? Was the claim denied and bad faith entered in? Did the jury understand that liability, damages, who made impact with the injured party and why, should be the basis of a verdict in a MVA? Look for an appeal to be filed.

  • November 19, 2015 at 10:58 am
    MJ says:
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    If I was a carrier I would pull out of the state of FL .. bad and/or illegal drivers and enough vermin lawyers to fill a football stadium (most of any state) every other commercial in FL is for a law firm…

    Never have produced a screw that anyone can use.. a pin they never produced.

    • November 19, 2015 at 11:43 am
      Mickey Dee says:
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      MJ,
      How dare you group Floridians into a class of bad and illegal drivers and vermin lawyers. Not all Floridians are bad drivers or illegal or lawyers. Some of us are good drivers, here legally and are insurance agents! How racist you are!

      • November 20, 2015 at 1:12 pm
        MJ says:
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        Mickey,

        I ran an MGA for years that was in 15 states including FL .. I reviewed thousands of pages of loss data and legal documents.. when it comes to writing auto insurance FL is a cesspool… just the way it is.

    • November 19, 2015 at 11:57 am
      Agent says:
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      I think if I were a GEICO customer, I would be wondering if I were with the right carrier and would be taking quotes on my Auto business, hopefully with an Independent Agent who can offer more than one company.

      By the way, the majority of articles we see on IJ involving fraud with Agents, Doctors, Lawyers, Chiropractors, Accident schemes originate in Florida.

      • November 20, 2015 at 1:20 pm
        MJ says:
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        of course they originate in FL.

        the bigger law firms paid off legislators about 10-15 years ago and got the law changed so they can advertise.. all down hill from there..

        When I took over the MGA task #1 was get the F out of Florida.. not worth it.

        I wanted to non-renew the whole state over night if I could.

        • November 20, 2015 at 5:24 pm
          Agent says:
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          I agree that lawyers should not be allowed to advertise and show their fake accidents and proclaim how much they can get for their injured clients. Some buy accident reports from the Police Dept and contact the client in only a day or so promising them the world.

        • November 23, 2015 at 1:48 pm
          SWFL Agent says:
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          Yes, MJ. The crooks get run out of NY & NJ and then setup shop in Fla. But that’s the price we pay for good weather.

          • November 30, 2015 at 6:13 pm
            Agent says:
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            I have a feeling that many of the crooks are indigenous to Florida.

        • November 23, 2015 at 3:01 pm
          But, but... says:
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          Then it would be forever known as “Lorida”……….

      • November 24, 2015 at 4:23 pm
        InsGuy says:
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        Actually most stem from the fraud-riddled PIP system in Florida.

  • November 23, 2015 at 2:19 pm
    DC says:
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    Not enough info, I have limits on my UM/UIM coverage.

  • November 23, 2015 at 2:36 pm
    DougJ says:
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    What happened to GEICO everyone????……..

  • November 23, 2015 at 5:52 pm
    Always Amazed says:
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    GEICO is horrible. We have a client who was rear ended by someone who had GEICO. Our insured had medical bills and GEICO refused to pay them. So, we had to file with Erie and Erie paid the 5K in medical that the insured had on their policy. Now they will have to try to subrogate.

    • November 23, 2015 at 6:10 pm
      Agent says:
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      Always, I can’t tell you how many times we have filed complaints with the TDI for unfair claims practices on a number of carriers. GEICO is one of many including Allstate, Farmers Group and occasionally State Farm. I think they teach adjustors to deny, deny, deny until someone makes you pay.

  • November 30, 2015 at 10:27 am
    KentU says:
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    I have the same question as TX Agent in regards to the UM/UIM limits. I realize that GEICO is being penalized so much for turning down a claim that they should have paid. I also remind myself that in Texas if a carrier has the opportunity to settle a claim within the limits of a policy and refuses to do so then, the court may ignore the policy limits and make the sky the limit. This is a BIG reason why carriers will settle.

  • February 22, 2017 at 11:03 pm
    Be-Rad says:
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    I think I saw Mr Zucker golfing last weekend.

  • May 26, 2017 at 4:32 pm
    Richard Boyd says:
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    What is the purpose of insurance?
    Would this have happened with pay at the pump no fault?
    How much of the insurance premium should be dedicated to crash reduction?



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