By now, millions of people have read Matt Fisher’s blog posting entitled “My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer in Court.” Thanks to the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, the post has gone viral and is now garnering attention from various national media outlets. The story offers a troubling reminder of what can happen when consumers lack adequate legal remedies to combat insurance bad faith.
For those who are unfamiliar with the story, here it is in a nutshell: In 2010, Mr. Fisher’s 24-year-old sister, Kaitlynn (known by friends and family as Katie), was killed in a car accident in Baltimore. The other driver, the one an eyewitness said ran the red light, carried the minimum amount of auto coverage allowed under Maryland law. His insurer, Nationwide, did not contest liability and tendered its policy almost immediately after the accident. Katie’s estate then sought to collect the limits of Katie’s underinsured motorist coverage ($75,000) from Progressive. Although Progressive did not dispute coverage, it spent several years and tens of thousands of dollars attempting to prove that the accident was Katie’s fault.
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