LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION
Bad Faith Insurance Legal News Articles & Interviews
Family of Las Vegas man denied cancer treatment awarded $200M verdict in insurance bad faith lawsuit
May 11, 2022. By LAS Staff Writer.
Las Vegas, NV (April 26, 2022) A jury awarded $40 million in compensatory damages and $160 million in punitive damages to the family of a Las Vegas man who died after being wrongfully denied a specific type of cancer treatment. Sierra Health and Life, a UnitedHealthCare Company, denied Bill Eskew’s claim for proton beam therapy (PBT). Sandy Eskew, the widow and on behalf of Bill Eskew’ estate, brought a lawsuit against Sierra Health and Life. After a 13-day trial, the jury found Sierra Health and Life had breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing also known as “insurance bad faith.”
Read [ Family of Las Vegas man denied cancer treatment awarded $200M verdict in insurance bad faith lawsuit ]
New York Insurance Bill Addresses Bad Faith Insurance Practices
May 26, 2021. By Anne Wallace.
Albany, NY On May 18, New York Senate Bill 6813 (S6813) was referred to the Senate Insurance Committee. If enacted into law, it would add a new Section 2601-a to the New York Insurance law. Proponents of the legislation see an opportunity to address the problem of insurance companies’ bad faith insurance claim practices. Detractors predict the opening of the proverbial floodgates to insurance lawsuits. Similar legislation has died in committee before.
Read [ New York Insurance Bill Addresses Bad Faith Insurance Practices ]
PG&E Executives Sued Personally for California Wildfire Damage
March 22, 2021. By Anne Wallace.
San Francisco, CA On February 24, victims of deadly 2017 and 2018 California wildfires filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to hold former officers and directors of PG&E liable for failing to protect them from the harm that followed from the 2018 Camp Fire and the 2017 North Bay Fires. In addition to devastating personal and property loss, many California homeowners whose homes were burned also found themselves the victims of bad faith insurance denials. Justice John Trotter (Ret.), Trustee of the PG &E Fire Victim Trust v. Lewis Chew seeks to redress these harms in a direct way – by suing those responsible for putting corporate profits and their own financial interest ahead of their fiduciary duty to protect public safety.
Read [ PG&E Executives Sued Personally for California Wildfire Damage ]
California Wildfire Bad Faith Insurance Denial Lawsuits Get New Life
March 1, 2021. By Anne Wallace.
San Francisco, CA In May 2020, the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to State Farm Insurance Co. Leonard and Patricia Fadeeff challenged the insurer’s denial of their claim for damage to their home in the 2015 Valley Fire. Fadeeff v. State Farm continues to be a seminal case in California bad faith insurance denial lawsuits.
Read [ California Wildfire Bad Faith Insurance Denial Lawsuits Get New Life ]
Denied Insurance Coverage for Proton Beam Therapy
February 24, 2021. By Jane Mundy.
Santa Clara, CA Proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) is purportedly a safer and more effective cancer treatment than x-ray or photon-based treatments and less invasive than surgery, but some insurance companies deny coverage, which has led to bad faith insurance lawsuits.
Read [ Denied Insurance Coverage for Proton Beam Therapy ]
Prosthetic Denial Lawsuits Filed against UnitedHealth Group and Anthem under ERISA
September 24, 2018. By Jane Mundy.
Santa Clara, CA: Prosthetics with a variety of microprocessors are the new “wearable technology” and they’re making headlines. Companies have designed the devices with
Read [ Prosthetic Denial Lawsuits Filed against UnitedHealth Group and Anthem under ERISA ]
Amputees Fighting for Insurance Coverage Get Tips from Blue Cross Antitrust Lawsuit
September 20, 2018. By Anne Wallace.
Wilmington, DE As amputees fight for insurance coverage for advanced, microprocessor- assisted prostheses, it can help to look at other insurance lawsuits that describe a similar pattern of claims denials.
LifeWatch Services v. Highmark is actually an antitrust lawsuit dealing with telemetry cardiac monitors. Nonetheless, a recent opinion in the Third Circuit, describes a pattern of denials that amputees seeking coverage for “smart prostheses” will find strikingly familiar. The heart monitors, like the microprocessor-powered feet and legs are rejected as “not medically necessary” or “investigational.” The denials, sometimes in exactly the same language, are consistent across the Blue Cross Blue Shield network of insurers. Why is this so?
LifeWatch offers two strategic thoughts for amputees fighting for insurance coverage:
Read [ Amputees Fighting for Insurance Coverage Get Tips from Blue Cross Antitrust Lawsuit ]
LifeWatch Services v. Highmark is actually an antitrust lawsuit dealing with telemetry cardiac monitors. Nonetheless, a recent opinion in the Third Circuit, describes a pattern of denials that amputees seeking coverage for “smart prostheses” will find strikingly familiar. The heart monitors, like the microprocessor-powered feet and legs are rejected as “not medically necessary” or “investigational.” The denials, sometimes in exactly the same language, are consistent across the Blue Cross Blue Shield network of insurers. Why is this so?
LifeWatch offers two strategic thoughts for amputees fighting for insurance coverage:
Dentist Claims Injury, Unum Claims Sickness to Deny
September 13, 2018. By Jane Mundy.
San Diego, CA: A dental surgeon has filed a bad faith lawsuit against Unum, or First Unum after the giant insurer denied his long term disability benefits claiming his injury is a sickness. The Unum lawsuit claims that Unum denied the dentist his rightful benefits to protect their own interests.
Read [ Dentist Claims Injury, Unum Claims Sickness to Deny ]
Amputees’ Fight for Insurance Coverage Focuses on ‘Medical Necessity’ of Microprocessor Prosthetics
September 4, 2018. By Anne Wallace.
Washington, DC Lucky to live, unlucky to lose a foot or a leg, survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing soon found themselves facing the harsh truth of inadequate insurance coverage for their prosthetic care. Years on, the good news is that microprocessor-enhanced artificial limbs have gotten better. The bad news is that insurance companies like Anthem and United Healthcare still balk at paying for them. Insurance lawsuits since then have taken particular aim at the internal review standards insurers use to determine whether a medical treatment or device is “medically necessary.” The standards do not line up with what amputees need most and what these modern devices can really do. Cost cutting vs. good health – it’s the match of the century.
Read [ Amputees’ Fight for Insurance Coverage Focuses on ‘Medical Necessity’ of Microprocessor Prosthetics ]
Fear of Falling
Lawsuits Brewing over Insurance Denials for “Smart” Prostheses
August 21, 2018. By Anne Wallace.
Los Angeles, CA In California and other states, amputees are denied insurance coverage for modern prostheses. These legs and ankles are hugely better than the old titanium alloy stilts because of their microprocessors. Lt. Dan was glad to stand with his bride, but imagine running up the stairs or dancing at a Gump-ish wedding. Nonetheless, Anthem, United Healthcare and other insurers plead shock, confusion, and a general lack of evidence when asked to pay for the more modern prosthetics. The ensuing insurance lawsuits have taken aim at the insurers’ claims that the advanced prostheses are not medically necessary or still experimental.
Read [ Lawsuits Brewing over Insurance Denials for “Smart” Prostheses ]
- Anthem Denials of Emergency Room CT Scans and MRIs; Patients Sent to Clinics By Anne Wallace (Aug-6-18)
- Sen. McCaskill Probes Anthem Emergency Room Coverage Denials By Anne Wallace (Jul-28-18)
- Anthem Refuses to Cover Emergency Room Care After the Fact By Anne Wallace (Jul-18-18)
- Home Warranty Lawsuit Goes to the New Jersey Supreme Court By Gordon Gibb (Dec-14-17)
- Canadian Couple’s Fight against Home Warranty Insurance a Full Time Job By Gordon Gibb (Nov-8-17)
- Long-Suffering Homeowners Hoping to Pursue Home Warranty Lawsuit By Gordon Gibb (Oct-8-17)
- R. Rex Parris Law Firm settles insurance bad faith case for $15,000,000 (Oct-8-16)
- Consumers Hit with Massive Universal Life Premiums Join Class Action By Gordon Gibb (Sep-25-16)
- Legacy of the California EDD: Quick to Deny, Slow to Appeal By Gordon Gibb (Apr-13-16)
- California Unemployment Appeal Not the End of the Road By Heidi Turner (Apr-1-16)
- Denied California Unemployment Insurance? Call in the Experts… By Gordon Gibb (Mar-25-16)
- California Workers Denied Unemployment Benefits Entitled to Appeal By Heidi Turner (Mar-16-16)
- Did Your Insurer Deal with You in Bad Faith? By Brenda Craig (Feb-20-16)
- Anthem Blue Cross Faces Hepatitis C Claims By Heidi Turner (Dec-10-15)
- Florida Couple Recovers $14.5 in Bad Faith Case Against Geico By The National Trial Lawyers (Nov-14-15)
- Tracy Morgan Accident Results in Bad Faith Insurance Lawsuit By Heidi Turner (Oct-28-15)
- Smart Strategies for Maximizing Insurance Claims in Road Accidents By Brenda Craig (Sep-21-15)
- Persistence Pays Off for Chapel Hill Extended Warranty Plaintiffs By Gordon Gibb (Feb-17-15)
- Home Warranty Insurance and the Manufactured Home By Gordon Gibb (Nov-23-14)
- Home Warranty Complaints Top Popular Online Resource By Gordon Gibb (Oct-28-14)
- New Jersey Sues Home Warranty Insurance Provider By Gordon Gibb (Sep-19-14)
- Plaintiff’s Home Warranty Insurance Win Overturned by State Supreme Court By Gordon Gibb (Aug-24-14)
- Lawsuits and Consumer Reporters Fight Home Warranty Companies By Heidi Turner (Jul-24-14)
- Hillside Home Appears to Be Sloping Downward, Owners Sue Contractor, Insurer By Gordon Gibb (Jun-29-14)
- Cautionary Tale for Life Insurance Customers By Brenda Craig (Jun-21-14)
- Home Warranty Options Sometimes Limited, but Not Impossible By Gordon Gibb (May-19-14)
- Customer Says She Unknowingly Paid for Home Warranty Insurance By Heidi Turner (Apr-1-14)
- Plaintiffs Seeking $22 Million in Home Warranty Insurance Lawsuit By Gordon Gibb (Mar-3-14)
- Consumers with Home Warranties Find Repairs Hard to Come By By Heidi Turner (Feb-4-14)
- Plaintiff to State Supreme Court Over Home Cladding Issue By Gordon Gibb (Jan-9-14)
- Home Warranties Leaving Policyholders Out of Pocket By Heidi Turner (Dec-27-13)
- Bizarre Tale of Attempted Murder, Mayhem, Bankruptcy and Bad Faith Insurance By Gordon Gibb (Nov-30-13)
- Canadian Sues, While US Disco Diva Says “I Will Survive” in Court By Gordon Gibb (Oct-22-13)
- When It Comes to Home Warranty Companies, Not All Are Created Equal By Heidi Turner (Sep-27-13)
- With Home Warranties, Getting to Home Base Not Necessarily a Home Run By Gordon Gibb (Aug-25-13)
- Increased Disability with Diabetes - Will This Affect Disability Insurance Claims? By Lucy Campbell (Jul-26-13)
- A Home Warranty Insurance Story with a Twist By Gordon Gibb (Jul-3-13)
- When an Extended Home Warranty Extends Nothing but Frustration By Gordon Gibb (Jun-3-13)
- Do Consumers Need Home Warranty Insurance? By Heidi Turner (May-3-13)
- A Tale of Two Home Warranty Insurance Claims By Gordon Gibb (Apr-9-13)