Archive for August, 2011

It’s the end of summer vacation. Most families have spent the past few months taking road trips to visit family, bonding with friends and enjoying the precious little time we get with warm weather in the Midwest.

It’s a time when kids are getting ready for school, and when parents drop their children off at college for the first time.

It’s also a good time for adults to plan their fiscal budgets for the end of the year. With the holiday season just a few months away, families are already saving up so this Christmas can be a special one for the kids.

There are some things that no one should save on, though. Take car insurance, for instance. Many companies advertise about having the lowest car insurance rates in America. Whether they claim to be able to save you $400, or 15% with a 15-minute phone call, there seem to be a lot of opportunities to save some money.

However, insurance is one thing you should think about upgrading, not downgrading.

Despite their television commercials that suggest insurance companies exist to save you money, these corporations will fight you tooth and nail on the smallest of claims, as well as omit crucial information that could lead you to buy the best valued auto insurance policy.

That is why Hausmann-McNally S.C., wants to help you make the most cost-effective decision when it comes to purchasing your auto insurance. First off, a little background on the business model of insurance companies.

Insurance companies make their money off of the lower liability policies, which are their highest-profit product. The vast majority of claims paid out are in the lower-limit threshold, so insurance companies charge a lot of money for basic packages, but barely anything to upgrade a policy.

According to computer quotes on the companies own websites, for instance, for a 58 year old unmarried Milwaukee man, the cost of upgrading from the most basic $50,000-$100,000 package to a $100,000-$300,000 package from Progressive Direct Insurance goes from $63.85 a month to $66.85, exactly three dollars.

For that same man, the cost of upgrading a $100,000-$300,000 Allstate policy to a high-end $250,000-$500,000 package costs an extra $12 a month.

If the 58 year old John Doe lived in Illinois or Ohio, the costs of the upgrades were a similarly affordable $6 and 9$ respectively.

These price increases run true for all demographics. Whether it’s an extra three dollars a month to upgrade her Progressive policy for a 46 year old married woman in Ohio, or a 21-year-old man spending an extra five bucks to bump up his policy from Progressive in Illinois.

The experienced personal injury lawyers at Hausmann-McNally recommend that you take a look at your current policy and see if it is worth your while to upgrade your policy. Too many times we have seen our clients’ recoveries stifled by their low-end insurance coverages. You can prevent this.

Make sure your policy has coverage for underinsured/uninsured drivers, above your state’s minimum liability coverage. That way, if you are injured by another vehicle, which does not have insurance or doesn’t have enough coverage, you will have a greater chance to be fully compensated. In fact, for drivers in pretty much any state, the cost to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra underinsured/uninsured motorist protections is a relatively modest increase in premiums per month.

Not opting for extra underinsured/uninsured drivers insurance is a very risky move. According to one study, 16 percent of drivers out on the road are uninsured. With there being millions upon millions of underinsured/uninsured drivers out on the road, there is a chance that you get in an accident not at all your fault, but still be stuck with the bill.

Insurance companies, in some states, do not automatically include all of these coverage types in your policy, so it is highly recommend that you thoroughly review your policies to make sure that you have adequate uninsured and underinsured coverages.

Here at Hausmann-McNally, we do not have a preferred insurance company. With the right coverage, nearly all insurance companies will suffice. But to recap, look a little closer at your policy and decide whether it is worth the extra few dollars more a month to give you and your family the desirable financial security you will need in case of a serious accident.

Hausmann-McNally S.C. takes a look at the business strategies of one of the country’s biggest insurance companies

There are many excellent reasons to engage a personal injury attorney after you have been injured in an accident, the main reason being you will find yourself dealing with insurance companies, their adjustors and vehicle damage appraisers and their tactics which you will scarcely be able to believe.

Here is a prime example.

With profits nearing $5 billion and a law staff that could rival an Attorney General’s office, Allstate insurance is a formidable opponent to claimant and consumer interests. The company uses hardball tactics to try and force victims to accept its lowball offers.

The company’s motive for doing this is obvious: it cares more about its bottom-line than its customers and people injured by its policyholders.

Insurance is essential to any economy, ensuring that no single accident or personal disaster could financially ruin an individual’s life. An important and often times forgotten concept of insurance is that it is not only to protect the insured, but to compensate the injured victim. Compensation and restitution to injured victims and protection of the assets of insured policyholders are the only justifications for the existence of insurance companies. They do not exist solely for the benefit of their stockholders and profit generation, but to provide a very vital and crucial service in the functioning of the American economy. Again, that is to protect its insured from economic losses and to compensate its victims for economic losses.

The business model of insurance companies is that of group sharing of risk. Basically, the risk is low that you will get in a serious car accident or have your house burn down, but the potential financial costs of those incidents are devastating.

It’s for that reason we pool our money together through insurance companies so that everyone will assume a little bit of that risk. The insurance companies are licensed to conduct business under the assumption that they will treat their customers and the victims of its policyholders fairly and quickly.

The insurance companies are allowed to make a profit from the premiums that its policy holders pay under the assumption that they will provide protection for their insured and pay the just claims that their policyholders are responsible for. Again, payment of claims in a timely, fair and equitable manner is what insurance companies are supposed to do and what policyholders pay them for.

Third party assessments of Allstate have been brutal in this department.

Recently, the American Association for Justice named Allstate the worst insurance company in the United States. A study conducted by the non-partisan Consumer Federation of America (CFA) cited Allstate as a leader in “anti-consumer insurance practices.”

“Allstate is certainly not the only insurer pursuing these anti-consumer practices, but it has
been in the vanguard in developing and implementing many of them,” said J. Robert Hunter, CFA’s Director of Insurance and former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance Administrator.

How did a major insurance company earn this reputation?

With a vast number of claims it receives, Allstate has an anti-payment policy of low-ball offers, and uses the three “D’s”, (delay, deny, defend), to minimize payouts to claimants. Allstate uses the three “D’s”, delay payment, denying claims, and defending it in court, with the hope that the injured claimant gets frustrated or desperate enough to accept whatever lowball offer Allstate has offered. This strategy has proven hugely successful since Allstate has seen its earnings skyrocket after it implemented these practices in the 1990’s.

Another reason Allstate delays payments is its bank accounts. Everyday Allstate does not send out a check is another day of a victim’s money sitting in an Allstate bank account accruing interest and investment income. Over time this practice adds millions to Allstate’s coffers.

And then there is the McKinsey report. New York consulting firm McKinsey & Company was hired by Allstate to advise the insurance company on how it could increase profits. McKinsey reportedly recommended Allstate use “boxing gloves” instead of its “good hands” when dealing with filed claims, which led to the practices listed above.

According to the American Association for Justice’s report, Allstate agents were even given special incentives to keep “claims payments low, even if they had to deceive their customers.”

Adjusters who tried to deny fire claims by blaming arson were rewarded with portable fridges, said former Allstate adjuster Jo Ann Katzman in the report.

“We were told to lie by our supervisors,” Katzman said. “It’s tough to look at people and know you’re lying.”

One goal Allstate has in quickly trying to get victims to accept lowball offers is to prevent them from hiring lawyers. According to a 1995 Allstate training manual, research shows that for cases worth under $15,000, unrepresented victims recovered an average of $3,464 while victims who were represented by an attorney were paid $7,450.

That means even for basic cases, represented clients received an average of $4,000 more than non-represented clients. That is why Allstate does its best to get victims to sign a release before they get lawyers like the experienced personal injury lawyers at Hausmann-McNally S.C. to represent them.

Take a recent Hausmann-McNally client who had the unpleasant experience of dealing with Allstate. This 36-year-old woman was hit by an automobile running a stop sign, and her medical bills were expected to top $20,000.

Despite this, Allstate, the offender’s insurer, offered our client just $4,181. The lawyers at Hausmann-McNally were not impressed.

After a three day trial, a jury awarded our client $70,224. The difference between the two numbers demonstrates the value of hiring an experienced law firm like the personal injury attorneys at Hausmann-McNally S.C.

Allstate is one of the most influential insurance companies in the country, and it is changing the way that all insurance providers do business. An injured individual should not have to fight over the simplest of claims just because Allstate thinks it’s right to do so because it will add to their bottom-line profits. Insurance companies have an ethical and moral obligation to pay claims in a timely, fair and equitable manner.

That is what citizens have paid their premiums to have their insurance companies do and it is high time that Allstate starts protecting its insured by paying the claims that they’ve hired Allstate to protect them from. It is high time that Allstate stop the weaseling, chiseling, minimizing and delaying, and start trying to live up to its advertised “Good Hands” policy versus using those hands to economically strangle its claimants.

Are you in good hands????

Attorney Mike Donovan leads personal injury firm into the Hawkeye State

Hausmann-McNally S.C. only hires the best and brightest lawyers. This strategy is crucial to giving our clients the best possible representation, leading to some of the highest settlements in Wisconsin.

Apparently, people are noticing. Attorney Michael Donovan, who has been at Hausmann-McNally since 1977, and is our firm’s senior trial attorney and a shareholder in the firm, has been named to the very exclusive and highly prestigious list of Wisconsin Super Lawyers multiple times in years past. Only five percent of Wisconsin attorneys are given the honor each year.

Donovan and his wife Jean were born, raised and educated in Dubuque, Iowa. He has been licensed to practice in Iowa and Wisconsin since 1973 and is excited about the firm expanding into his home state.

Donovan graduated with honors from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa in 1970 and with distinction from The University of Iowa College of Law in1973.

Donovan’s expertise with dealing with insurance companies stems from the very beginning of his legal career. His first job as a lawyer was with the law firm Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen, a Milwaukee firm that specialized in defense for insurance companies and other large corporations. In his four years at that firm, Donovan learned all the tricks of the trade when it comes to defending insurance companies, knowledge he now uses to protect client from insurance companies.

In his thirty plus years as a trial lawyer, Donovan has tried over 100 jury trials and has settled thousands more. His broad base of experience includes auto accidents, slip and fall, dog bites, sexual assaults, products liability, workers compensation and Social Security disability cases.

He has been involved in several key cases that have lead to groundbreaking decisions by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In Brown v. Maxey he successfully argued for insurance coverage for punitive damages for a severely burned African-American client who was the victim of a careless landlord. He also argued for insurance coverage for a child sexually assaulted in the landmark case, N.N. v. Moraine Mutual. Recently he obtained a large verdict for a construction foreman who was seriously injured by a truck driver whose insurance company denied liability and refused to pay any damages.

Donovan is certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. His accomplishments have been recognized in Who’ Who In America, Who’s Who in American Executives and Professionals and Who’s Who in American Law. Donovan is also admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States.

His family includes Jean, his wife of 37 years, and two adult children, Jon and Jodi. He has been active in his community, coaching youth sports as well a holding civic positions.

Most recently, Donovan was recognized for his community involvement as the Attorney of the Year by the Career Youth Development, a community based social service agency.

Donovan said he was humbled by the Super Lawyer selection, and feels it was more of a reflection on the firm he has worked at the last few decades than on himself.

“I don’t do anything differently than all the other great lawyers here at Hausmann-McNally,” he said. “We all work our hardest to ensure that our clients get the best representation and service possible from our firm.”