OK, I've read previous threads. Don't know how recent it is but here's my ongoing GEICO horror story...
I was REAR-ENDED by a woman here in litigious CA. I was legally stopped at a RED LIGHT and she piled into the back of my car. She fled the scene of the accident after getting out and about 20 seconds of verbal exchange. I got her license plate # as she FLED and STOLE MY CA DL in under 2 minutes. I called the sheriff's office and the police and DID EVERYTHING LEGAL REPORTING the accident. I was so dazed that I don't even remember calling my wife from a gas station about 20 ft. Away as my cell phone wouldn't work underneath an overpass.
It was a 10 old car and my commute vehicle but in PERFECT shape with NO accidents and less than 70k miles on it!!! I only had liability insurance on the car and I haven't had an at-fault accident OR ticket in OVER 20 YEARS!!! The driver refused to give any info to the investigating officer who actually went to the site and did an accident reconstruction investigation and whom contacted her.
Turns out the car was owned by a male who DIDN'T report the purchase of the car for his female "friend", he's married LOL. Just bought his "wife" a $650,000 house and immediately quitclaimed on the house. He's been divesting his financial assets ever since the accident. GEICO taught him that trick. The woman has about 250k in CASH from one of her three divorces and also has no visible means of support. Just FYI I WAS a computer security and physical (on-site) security expert with an FBI clearance and worked for numerous banks, etc. I had just completed my MCSE certification less than 2 months before and had several fulltime job offers. However I had a nice client list which paid me well and outside of the weekend panic calls, I had a good life which paid approx. $70-$350 per hour. We were "working poor" for CA LOL and I enjoy spending time with my kids more than computers. I also had over 20 years experience and got ALL of my jobs thru word of mouth and was a working partner in three businesses as well as a part-time employee in an advertising agency in LA and a webmaster as well as a gov. Consultant and a college lecturer. I would work my bu* off and then get to spend time with my kids. I had my whole life in front of me at the age of 35 and was fielding offers in the 100k range. I loved what I did, UNTIL THE ACCIDENT.
GEICO and PROGRESSIVE inspected my car. GEICO found MINIMAL damage at approximately $1000 even though the 5mph bumper and "crush" bracket were totally destroyed!!! And there's a NICE large dent in the metal supporter underneath!!! The impact shock was strong enough to BREAK my luggage rack mount as well as BREAK the chromed headrest support when my head smacked into it from the accident!!! GEICO is calling FOUR medical experts including Laura Liptai (do a Google search, she was one of the expert witnesses for the DEFENSE in HI in a drunk police officer (got 20 years) who ran a red light and KILLED a 19 yo girl. She stated that the girl wasn't wearing her seatbelt and that she was speeding at about 50mph. This IN SPITE of the records that she had already reviewed that stated the FIREMAN had to CUT OFF HER SEATBELT and the AUTOPSY photos showing the bruises FROM THE SEATBELT as well as several other witnesses. I mourn for the girl and her parents loss and having to go up against such a heartless person. I guess it's OK to slander the dead if your a medical "expert".in doing research on Liptai I've found ALL of her work has been for the insurance industry. I've also found from an insurance legal report that these experts make a MEDIAN of $466,000 doing IME's and being witnesses for the defense in accident cases. This is PART TIME $!!! I know the four alleged experts in my case are receiving about $10k for less than an hour apiece. The IME doctor has already received over $2500 for examining me (total joke) and he somehow FORGOT to send my surgeon a copy of the report.
This accident has left me PERMANENTLY disabled. Yes, I had some back problems before and some headaches, who doesn't by the age of 35? But My right leg is now PARALYZED and I can't use my right foot at all. I DRAG it around behind me. My R leg has withered over 3cm's more than my L leg and I now have THREE crushed discs in my neck which I NEVER had before.
Due to the prior back injuries, of which I had recovered from and which are OVER 12 years old. And now that this case has gone on for over THREE YEARS. GEICO is claiming I'm now a "narcotics addict" even though I'm a medical CONTRACTS and EVERY doctor has stated how well I handle this immense load. It's basically 14x what you would give a terminal stomach cancer patient for the pain. Somehow they also forget to mention that I was NEVER on ANY of these painkillers BEFORE the accident and the fact that after my first back problem I tapered off of Class III drugs without a problem and I've tried EVERY non-opiate based drug available with HORRIBLE effects due to my drug sensitivity. The accident is also my fault, and GEICO isattempting to Motion in Limine that basically all I can say to a jury is my NAME because they can't locate the driver again and she's FLED and REFUSES to appear at trial!!! And that might bring up sympathy. Knowing this judge he'll probably allow it. I faced him before and had to EXPLAIN to him what a Writ of Mandamus was and the fact it COULD be heard if the defense didn't show up (they didn't). So he continued it out for 3 months and we served them again. An attorney showed up who said she had "no knowledge of the case as she had been handed it yesterday" and she WON, simply based on the fact she was an attorney. I had won the original case, they appealed and won because of a 2nd degree of relation which we weren't told about. The STUPID thing is that judge found that the other driver was negligent and had gone through the red light but I hadn't proven the vehicles had touched, even though I had 2 eyewitness reports as well as 2 bodyshop estimates. He was a judge pro-tem and an insurance defense attorney at times he stated. Should have recused him then but the evidence was So overwhelming in our favor. I KNEW I was in trouble when the judge started calling the defense attorney by his first name. FYI Don't try an Ex Parte Motion or tell the judge the law UNLESS you're an attorney because it just ticks them off even more.
FYI in almost EVERY STATE GEICO OWNS THEIR OWN LEGAL FIRM (s) TO DEFEND THESE SCUMBALL CASES!!! They could care less if you file a lawsuit because their lawyers are already bought and paid for!!! Geico is also owned lock, stock, and barrel by the second richest man in america, warren buffet!!! GEICO had revenues of OVER 6.7 BILLION dollars during the last fiscal year. GEICO could have settled this matter for LESS than what their attorney and filing fees are to date over THREE years ago but they'd rather fight it out. They've also violated just about every Constitutional, Civil and Medical Privacy Right there is. They USED to use the LARGEST Legal Services firm in the Western USA. GEICO BUNGLED SERVICE SO BADLY that this firm now has to negotiate a settlement with me or face CRIMINAL charges as well as approx. 9 other defendants. We're already in negotiations with a major medical teaching college due to this. GEICO is going to get SLAMMED with these lawsuits within the next 6 months.
Any REASONABLE person would think they would settle this out but NOT GEICO. Warren Buffet didn't make his money by being generous!!! And yes before this I had read at least 3 books about him and 1 written by him. The Wizard of Omaha may live like you and I but he could care less about us. GEICO makes a FORTUNE by cutting out the middle man and they've already had to settle one lawsuit with a State due to this practice and for writing Ins. WITHOUT a license in that State. There's currently a CLASS ACTION on the 'net signing up people because GEICO HAS MADE IT POLICY TO UNDERESTIMATE EVERY CLAIM EVEN IF YOU'RE THEIR INSURED!!!
I apologize for the rant but we now have to show up at court tomorrow at nine am just so the judge can DELAY this case for another week, month, year, who knows? Also FYI, Judges HATE Pro Per's. Even though I've worked in the past as a paralegal for five years for a famous attorney and have WON a Federal lawsuit in which I had to defeat my OWN attorney and force him to give back the $ AND got an apology from the defendants plus an award, I get NO respect from this judge or ANY other except at the Federal court level IF you pull the right judge. Our judge has been rated the worst judge in our county by a woman's attorney group recently because he DOESN'T PAY ATTENTION. I actually watched another attorney explain Supreme Court Caselaw and findings as well as the rules regarding evidence after a trial. There's a well known rumor going around the county that the judge has Alzheimers. If it's gotten down to me, and I heard it from the head of a local non-profit, then something's wrong with the guy. I don't know what.
The driver has a history of driving without a license or a FALSE license with fraudulent information and has used at least FIVE different aliases to obtain CA DL's.
Up until about 15 minutes ago my jury trial was supposed to start TOMORROW. The Judge is SO biased torwards the insurance company that he has allowed them OVER ELEVEN Continuances WITHOUT good cause. This ONE GEICO attorney is so busy defending lawsuits he currently has over EIGHT about to go to trial. I'm betting my wife that this will be continued until 2005. We've been WAITING to MOVE until this is over. GEICO or the Judge could give a darn!!! Oh, Did I mention that I'm the ONLY Pro Per to EVER get this far in front of this judge??? Or that two of my direct family are Deputy District Attorneys in the largest county in CA? Or that my first cousin is a partner at the largest law firm in America??? Or that I can call 2 Federal judges and at least one retired Federal judge on a first name basis? I'm also a minority. NONE of the above people can figure out what this judge is thinking but there's no profit in it for any local attorney unless I settle immediately and they get their 5k.insurance basically gets the rest. I'd get about 2-3k for PERMANENT DISABILITY which all three of my surgeons and doctors state is directly related to the accident as is my paralysis, crushed discs, daily migraine headaches (having one now), and inability to feed or take care of myself!!! Yup, I was sitting there, the woman had just sold her MERCEDES because she's too lazy to work and only had SECONDARY insurance on the car. GEICO so far has employed another law firm to help them as I guess their approx. 14 lawyers and 30 other employees can't handle my crippled form and lack of standing in the courts. So I'm up against EIGHTEEN attorneys right now, about FOUR of which appear at EVERY hearing, the Judge is hostile and has overruled Constitutional Rights and Federal law which were in his tentative rulings written by his own law clerk!!! I've literally lost EVERY motion I've filed, even when I'm right. GEICO has continued to subpoena ALL of my medical and educational records dating back over THIRTY YEARS AFTER the Judge CLOSED Disovery over TWO YEARS AGO.
In closing, I JUST WANT A JURY TRIAL AND HAVE BEEN DEMANDING ONE FOR OVER THREE YEARS NOW!!! The judge isn't honest imho, GEICO isn't honest and never will be as long as there are attorneys in the world who will work for them, and there IS NO SUCH THING as an IME or impartial expert witness. Check out the Hawaii case. Blaming a DEAD 19 yo female for the accident when the off duty PO was DRUNK and had 2x the legal limit and RAN a red light at 50 mph just isn't right, yet they fought that case and it took over three years for the family to get ANY settlement. The cop eventually got 20 years. Serves him right. NO parent should have to bury their child. Part of his published defense is that he was an "experienced drinker with a resilient liver" LOL.
So before you starting hating me I also have an uncle who used to own three insurance agencies in NY. He now works out here. I KNOW about insurance. I've caught my own insurance company trying to cancel me because I got a ticket which they NEVER should have known about. I called them on it and their employee who called just shut up when I asked where they got the data as it should never have gone to Sacramento. I got a letter a week later stating that I wouldn't be cancelled.:-)
And FYI it's ABSOLUTE FACT that Ins. Company's DO pay for radar detectors for police agencies. Here in CA the Highway Patrol got an insurance grant for the purchase of such radar guns specifically and the next town over was GIVEN two of the new laser guns by an ins. Company. It's also true that every Ins. Company pays DMV employees here in CA to furnish them with your confidential info!!! Published LA times report back in the 80's. At the Santa Monica DMV office they found OVER 70% of the DMV employees were incorrectly or illegally using their computers and job status to collect everything from insurance data to celebrity addresses and SELLING the info to anyone who was willing to pay for it.
Everytime I see that darn Gecko it makes my stomach turn. It's called "Branding" and begins at birth or when you watch TV. GEICO is hiding behind a computer animated talking figure. Humanizing an animal is one of the oldest tricks to evoke empathy or sympathy or humor in Hollywood.
One of my college acquaintances is an adjustor for one of the largest ins. Companies that has the word Farm as part their name. They provide him with a car and he does ALL of his adjustments at bodyshops which kick back to him if the work gets done there. He has it down to a science now after three years. He waits to call them until around Dinner or Lunch time when he has a check for them. They buy him a nice lunch out of it. He goes on at least 3 drinking vacations per year where about 10 adjusters are invited out to a Lake and they go boating, drinking and water skiing all at the bodyshop's expense. He's gotten SO lazy that he told me now if it's near the end of the week he just calls the shops up and asks them what they think the damage is and writes the report from their estimate. For each thousand they kick back to him about $50-$100 and if there's a deductible he pockets about $50 as the bodyshops usually cover the deductible. This is first hand knowledge. He doesn't even go in on Thursdays anymore. Just calls in that he's at a shop and sleeps until about eleven and then starts calling the shops. Fridays he writes the checks, has about three dinners and gets pretty loaded before he drives home. He's been a borderline alcoholic since college and FAILED the math test to become an adjuster the first time. This is right before he was stupid enough to take a loaded single action revolver and shoot himself in the stomach when he tried to spin it around his finger. He survived. But think about it. He actually had to cock the revolver and could SEE the bullet in there before he spun it around his finger. How much stupider can you get?
End of rant and that's my 2 cents. These are all of my own opinions and nobody elses and the stated info can be found easily by anyone who's reading this.
BTW in my area less than 40% of ALL residents carry ins. When I grew up in CA, because of the area over 80% carried insurance but as soon as you got out of that mildly well-off area the percentages dropped down to less than 20% within 10 miles.
All the best people and keep up the good fight. Personally I'm suffering through this to show my children that there are some things worth fighting for. If I don't fight for what I believe in and tell them too, then I'm a hypocrite. I'll suffer through the jury trial whenever we get one and I WON'T SETTLE EVER. I want my day in court. GEICO is SO SCARED of little old me that they've now easily gone over 120k. GEICO's attorneys DON'T CARE, especially about a Pro Per, because they get paid no matter what. They're slaves to the machine, aka Warren Buffet. Last time I checked he has no problem firing people.
I hope NONE of you ever gets in my situation. It makes you angry, suicidal and bitter all at once sometimes... LOL, almost.
And I LIKE my NEW ins. Agent. He's HONEST and actually treats us like human beings!!! State Farm (not my company) has to be the absolute best I've ever dealt with even in an adversarial situation and they eventually pay up and don't try to rip you off in my experience. However it DID take over 4 months for a small claim where I was PARKED. They said their "investigation" concluded it was my fault. Standard insurance company trick. EVERY claim seems to start out with them having done an "investigation" and that it's your fault and please pay them now. There's NEVER an "investigation" at first unless somebody dies. Even then it's usually about 3-6 months down the road according to my friends who are adjustors.
Again just my bitter, but true, two cents.
Va
San Fernisco, California
U.S.A.
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