Shame on Geico! I’ll say it again. Shame on Geico Indemnity Company! Their conduct in the case of Richard Foote v. Geico Indemnity Company shows, at best, a real lack of common sense and basic human dignity and at worst their conduct is malicious, arrogant and heavy handed.
One of the reasons I helped start this blog was to expose the greedy, malicious and heavy handed tactics of many big insurance companies who act in bad faith. These companies are not good corporate citizens, don’t care about the communities they operate in and certainly don’t care about justice. These types of companies are often two faced, hypocritical corporate entities that present themselves to the public with friendly lizards, comfortable cartoon characters and catchy slogans to sell their insurance products.
But the real world of big insurance is a ‘litigation culture’ in which insurance companies delay, deny, confuse, defend, and litigate rather than pay legitimate car accident, homeowners and motor vehicle accident claims. It is a corporate culture which does not care about injured victims or the rights of its insured. Insurance companies are emboldened to their stockholders and emphasize corporate greed and profits over compensating injured victims in legitimate claims.
In the case of RICHARD A. FOOTE, V. GEICO INDEMNITY COMPANY a young man was tragically killed in a Rhode Island car accident when a reckless driver ran a red light and killed him. Sadly the man who died only had $25,000 of underinsured motorist protection. The negligent, at fault driver had a $100,000 liability policy. The man’s underinsured motorist carrier, Geico, refused to unconditionally pony up the paltry sum of $25000. (they also wanted a setoff of $2500 for med pay payments)
“In May 2010, Colin Foote died as a result of injuries sustained when a car struck his motorcycle.” Id. The tortfeasor, Laura Reale, subsequently pled guilty to a felony charge of driving to endanger with death resulting.” Id. The tortfeasor had an automobile liability policy with $1000,000 of liability coverage.
The grieving father of the decedent asserted that the negligent and reckless motorist who killed his son in the RI auto crash did not have enough insurance to properly compensate the family for their family’s loss! Id.
The family of the man killed in the fatal RI accident pursued a wrongful death underinsured motorist claim pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-7-2.1(g) against the decedant’s own underinsured motorist insurance carrier. “The Policy also provides uninsured/underinsured motorist (―UM‖) coverage of $25,000 limit per person and $50,000 per occurrence.” Id. http://www.ripersonalinjurylaw.com/key-provisions-ri-wrongful-death-law/
Geico offered to pay the $25,000 to the grieving family with numerous stipulations which effectively gutted the offer and made it relatively meaningless. Geico was seeking reimbursement (subrogation) of its 25k payment in the event of a settlement or judgment against the tortfeasor. According to the plaintiff, GEICO was requesting “ to receive the first $25,000 of any recovery, assigns all rights to GEICO, requires all monies recovered to be paid directly to GEICO, and further deducts GEICO litigation expenses.” Id.
To add insult to injury, Geico was demanding a setoff of its $2500 med pay payment. In other words, Geico wanted to pay $22,500 rather than the measly $25,000!
http://www.courts.ri.gov/Courts/SuperiorCourt/DecisionsOrders/decisions/11-0040.pdf RICHARD A. FOOTE, as Administrator of the Estate of Colin B. Foote, on behalf of the Estate and on behalf of a class of similarly situated persons V. GEICO INDEMNITY COMPANY
MEMO TO GEICO and their empty suit insurance defense personal injury lawyers: PAY THE MEASLY 25K UNCONDITIONALLY AND WITHOUT RESERVING RIGHTS AND GET LOST!
Do what is right, just and fair and makes sense and stop litigating against this grieving family. At the end of the day, this family at maximum can only recover $125,000 for this terrible loss of a young man’s life. This inadequate sum cannot properly compensate this family for its loss and now the family is forced into litigation to relive this terrible tragedy. On some level, the legalities become irrelevant and doing what is just and fair should take center stage for a moment. This was such a moment. Thankfully, the plaintiff’s retained good Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorneys, who are fighting the good fight, and holding GEICO accountable for its greed.
Dear Geico Indemnity Company, let me dumb this down for you, forget about your legal rights, filling 12b6 and 12b -whatever – motions, just for a few minutes step away from the litigation process. AT THE END OF THE DAY, A young man died in a tragic car wreck who had underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of 25k and the motorist who caused the RI Auto crash did not have enough insurance to cover the loss.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? PAY THE 25k AND GET LOST! Pay the money and run for the hills.
For more information on Richard Foote’s quest for justice and his controversial dui arrest, please see:
David Slepkow is a East Providence Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorney who can be contacted at 401-437-1100. For more information about David Slepkow please see his law firm website here. For more info about RI Car Accidents: www.ricaraccidentlawyers.com
