On July 29 I was in a car accident. I was a passenger in the front seat of a Chevy Corsica. We were hit by an uninsured motorist driving a large Chevy Blazer truck. The person who ran into us was supposedly correcting a misbehaving child in the front passenger seat of the truck. The driver claims that they did not see us stopped at a stop light. This person plowed into the back of the car I was riding in.
My neck started to hurt more and more over a period of several weeks, so I decided to see a doctor. I called Allstate (a.k.a. the lying, cheating rip-off scam artists) to let them know that my neck was hurting and that over the past several weeks it had continued to hurt more.
I went to a doctor that Allstate recommended. The doctor was concerned because I could hardly move my neck. The doctor sent me to the hospital for an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), which is like a high quality X-ray machine that provides remarkably clear and detailed pictures of internal organs and tissues. The radiologist found that I had a spinal cord lesion and straightening of the neck as a result of being hit from behind in the car accident. Besides sustaining a spinal cord lesion and straightening of the natural curve in the neck, I now have pressure on a nerve in my neck. I basically suffered a severe whiplash effect, as the doctor stated.
I went through months of physical therapy, traction and doctor visits. Personal injury protection insurance (PIP) covered most of the bills, but the doctors were still not satisfied with my progress after I stopped physical therapy, so they continued my treatment. Eventually the PIP ran out.
The insurance company tried to get me to settle the claim and refused to pay for any more medical treatment. I told them that the doctor still had not released me from his care and that I did not feel like settling the claim while I was still under a doctor's care. Allstate then refused to pay for any more medical treatment and hired an attorney named Mr. Rory Leid III, a partner in a law firm called Cole, Lether, Wathen, & Leid, P.C.
In 1998 I ruptured discs in my lower back, which has prevented me from lifting anything heavy for the last several years. These ruptured discs in my lower back were not caused by the car accident, but they have worsened since the accident, as a second MRI shows. Whether or not these discs have worsened because of the accident, I do not know, but the condition still exists.
In August I went to another doctor for a second opinion since the neck pain had not receded. My lower back also started to become weaker, and I was having extreme pain running down the back side of my legs. The different doctor checked me out and decided to put me on temporary disability. That doctor then sent me back for more physical therapy for my neck and some physical therapy for my lower back. My back and leg pain still continued to get worse. My neck was still stiff with impaired movement.
The doctor then decided to send me to an orthopedic doctor. The orthopedic doctor ordered the second MRI, which showed my neck had not worsened but my lower back had. I had no money to pay for the treatment of my neck or lower back, so I have had to have the Department of Social Health Services pay for my medical services. Of course, this did not come without a fight either. The orthopedic doctor stated that my back was in very bad shape for a 38 year old and compared it to a 60 year old's.
I have asked Allstate Insurance to settle my claim since the statutory time is running out. Allstate now has hired an attorney and disagrees with its own doctor, the second opinion doctor, the orthopedic doctor and me. Allstate stated in its attorney's letter to me that it disagrees with my allegations and assertions regarding its investigation and adjustment of my claim.
Under Washington State law (RCW 48.18.1470 (c)), Allstate and all insurance companies are required by law in the State of Washington to investigate any loss or claim under any policy or engage in negotiations looking toward a possible settlement of any such loss or claim. Instead, Allstate has hired an attorney to represent it even though I have not hired an attorney. Allstate also claims that I am forced to arbitrate without the right to sue them or an attorney under the uninsured motorist policy, even though I am not a policy holder; I was just a passenger in a car.
This is why I am writing this letter, in hopes of letting everyone who might have insurance through Allstate, or is considering using Allstate, know what this company is all about. If you are an Allstate customer, you might go through the same pains that I am going through now.
This is a rip-off company that does not even want to pay for the medical bills and has stuck the State of Washington with the bill, not alone paying for any kind of personal injury. For your own well-being, please boycott Allstate Insurance and, of course, their lying attorney, who claims on Allstate's behalf that Allstate and his firm have not received the claim information, medical bills, medical information and release I sent them over and over.
This attorney did not even pay me for the photocopies I sent him with the photocopied receipt, although he claimed in his last letter that he would send me a check for them.
Avoid doing business with Allstate. Boycott Allstate.
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