Information Category Archives

California Forces Auto Insurers to Adjust Rates After Minority Neighborhoods Affected by Miscalculations

December 17, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Nationwide Insurance and USAA are required by California to adjust rates for auto insurance. The request was caused by a report form ProPublica and Consumer Reports. According to that report, several minority neighborhoods paid more for their car insurance than those in predominately white neighborhoods with the same risk factors.

Insurance regulators confirmed price differences are linked to incorrect usage of a California law provision. The provision allows insurance companies to put several neighborhoods in the same area into one rating territory. The two insurers affected, Nationwide and USAA, are numbered in the top ten largest providers by market share in the United States. The proposed adjustments to rates will greatly reduce racial inequalities in the two providers pricing.

The analysis from Consumer Reports showed USAA pricing was 18% higher on the average. Nationwide had a 14% higher rate. These rates were higher in economically challenged, minority areas than in neighborhoods with more white people but the same high accident costs. According to the California Department of Insurance, it is impossible to quantify how adjustments will affect insured’s premiums. Revisions are just too complex. Making it even harder, these revisions are happening at the same time as a general rate increase. Insurers are now required to show more justification for their measure of risk in underprivileged, minority neighborhoods. California designates these areas as underserved in the auto coverage industry.

Wreck a Rental Car in California? Here is What You Need to Know.

December 1, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Drivers rent cars for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes your personal vehicle is broken down, or perhaps you’re a tourist and need a car for sightseeing once you deboard the plane. Maybe you want to be incognito or just want to drive something new. Whatever the reason, you are bound to have some questions about how to proceed if you should experience an accident while driving a rental car in the sunshine state. Below you will find all the information to ensure everyone is safe, your claims are filed correctly and maybe even get some help from your credit card company.

First Things First -Scene of the Accident

911- If anyone is hurt, it is important to call 911 for rescuers immediately. If there are no injuries, you’ll need a police officer to come and make a report. Regardless of who is at fault, authorities and medical rescue should be called immediately after the accident. Even if no other car is involved in the accident, or someone hit your rental car when it was parked and took off, you will still need a police report to show the insurance company and the folks at the rental car office.

The Biggest Class Action Verdicts in History

November 9, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Myriad class action suits course through the court systems every day at both the state and federal levels. Many of which wait for years and never reach the vital stage of class court certification, the most decisive step toward obtaining a settlement. The famous class action employee discrimination suit against Walmart by female employees went on for 11 years and was finally defeated by the supreme court in 2011. Many class action lawsuits reach settlements with payout amounts spanning a wide spectrum. Some payouts reach into the billions.

1998 Tobacco Master $206 Billion

This suit was brought by 46 different states attorneys as a consolidation of cases so it is not technically a class action. It was brought on behalf of states against several tobacco manufacturers. It merits inclusion for the similarities to a class action lawsuit and the sheer size it encompasses. Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, Phillip Morris, and RJ Reynolds settled with the attorney generals for expenditures by the states for the treatment of illnesses caused by smoking in the various state funded medical programs. Doing so kept them from getting sued privately by individuals. The $206 billion is set to be paid to the states over a span of 30 years.

How Are Damages Proven for California Car Accidents?

July 3, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

If you are in a car accident you have to prove any damages you have claimed in order to get the compensation owed to you for any damages in the accident. It is a common concern accident victims have as it can be tricky to accomplish. There are several things to keep in mind to successfully prove your damages.

California is Not a No-Fault Car Accident Insurance State

In California, you must prove fault in order to prove your damages in a car accident. California is not a no-fault state and so tort law is used to determine responsibility for a car accident. Car accidents are most often the result of a driver’s negligence. Negligence is when someone does not act with due care and common sense. They violate their duty to be safe to other drivers on the road. Violation of that duty resulted in the injury of another person on the road. The injury could be personal or that of property.

What Do You Need Before You Visit a Car Accident Attorney in California?

June 28, 2018 | by Moseley Collins

Have you recently been involved in a car accident? It doesn’t matter if it was your fault or someone else’s, there are probably a lot of questions popping into your head. The first few questions are usually centered on injuries, insurance and attorneys. These three things will affect you the most immediately after an accident as well as later, just when you think it’s all over. While nothing will completely ease your stress and anxiety after an accident, having all your ducks in a row can make things a lot easier. It also eases the confusion when you make your first contact with a car accident attorney.

The Scene of the Accident

Although it is hard to, victims of a car accident should stay extremely aware the first few moments after it occurs. The more details you can recall and document from these initial moments could prove highly important to your case. Take notes of your immediate thoughts. What happened. What did you see? Write down witness statements and take down their phone numbers. Don’t forget to take down the license plate number of all vehicles involved. Everyone has a camera on their phone these days and now is the time they really come in handy. Take photos of the accident scene, damage to the vehicles involved and any injuries obtained. Do not remove your car from where it was hit unless there are no damages or injuries. Leave it where the accident happened until police arrive.

North Sacramento Has a Dog Bite Problem

October 25, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

According to the Sacramento Bee, more dog bites happen in North Sacramento than anywhere else in the city, citing 2,800 bite reports, many of which required hospital treatment, between 2012 and 2017. Of the twenty-three zip codes in the area, 95815 and 95838 reported the most dog bites, 647 total. One-fourth of all dog bite reports in the city. These two zip codes cover the area from American River to the city boundary in the north and from the east boundary to Steelhead Creek. City groups such as the Del Paso Heights Community Association confronted city officials about the dog bite problem in North Sacramento only to be told there was nothing they could do about it and there was not adequate funding for animal control in the city.

Gina Knepp, the manager of Front Street Shelter and person responsible for the city’s animal control, is quoted as saying proactive measures are limited because there are only six animal control employees and never more than two on duty at the same time. A backlog of more than 270 dog bite complaints existed earlier this year.

A report from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 2013 showed that when crime and social disease are a part of the community, there are also problems with animal control. In the report, impounded animals at SPCA shelters and those by the city and county of Sacramento were investigated and the highest concentrations were found in Del Paso Heights and Oak Park. The information from the report was combined with a map of the city’s worst areas for building code violations. The most dog bite problems happen in the areas with poor housing maintenance and code violations. There tends to be less fenced in areas and more dogs roaming free on the streets.

What Car Accidents Can do to Your Insurance Costs

October 20, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Many drivers do not fully understand what huge impact car accidents have on the cost of their insurance. It is easy to understand why your own wrecks increase your rates, but harder to comprehend the correlation of the nation’s crash rate and insurance costs. What’s more, there are specific types of car accidents that happen more often than others and make the biggest impact on car insurance costs. Not only do your own accidents influence your car insurance rates, but those in the community around you, especially if they are one of these five specific types.

Five Most Common Types of Car Accidents in the United States

While the specific circumstances will vary, there are five different types of accidents that happen repeatedly in the United States. A large majority of these accidents are minor and end up in nothing more than a few dents and bruises. Unfortunately, a smaller percentage end tragically in a death or with serious and life-altering injury. Any accident can be deadly. The five most common types of car accidents are:

Why Wont My Insurance Cover My Auto Accident?

August 31, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Car insurance can be hard to understand. What makes it even harder is that you don’t really know what can happen until you have an accident. The tiny fine print you skimmed over or the legal terms that you didn’t really understand can come back to haunt you at the worst possible moment. The pain and emotional stress of a car accident is overwhelming, add approximately unsettling and costly surprises from the insurance company and you have the recipe for a nervous breakdown.

Some people don’t realize it, but many of us cause our own policy cancellations and other issues that result in not as much coverage as we thought we had or not having any at all. Some things we all do, on purpose or not, that put us in danger of being without coverage. If the insurance carrier decides you’ve broken any of their diehard rules, they can drop you in a second. Some of these things are obvious to most people, others are surprising but all can have you without accident coverage.

DUI or Otherwise Impaired

Teens with ADHD 36% More Likely to Have a Car Accident Says Study

June 29, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Teen drivers are already at a higher risk of car accident than other age groups of drivers, but those with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, are 36% more likely than other adolescent drivers to have an accident. This information comes from a recent study from JAMA Pediatrics, although latter studies have shown even higher percentages. Some stating teens with ADHD are as much as four times more likely than their peers to wreck.

The new study was able to use larger samples of teens and rely on more efficient reporting styles than older studies, making it more dependable. Information was compiled using 18,500 electronic health records for minors from six New Jersey primary care facilities. Almost 2500 had ADHD. Although this risk is substantial, the study shows it is manageable.

A chronic condition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, manifests itself with symptoms of hyperactivity and impulse control issues. They have substantial complications sustaining concentration and focus. These symptoms while driving can impair the driver in much the same way as if they were intoxicated. Long-distance driving is particularly risky for people with ADHD because they become easily distracted. Distracted driving is illegal and consists of anything that takes the drivers attention from the task of driving. Examples include texting, talking on the phone, tuning the radio and talking with passengers. An interesting fact that came out of the study is that most teens with ADHD do not get their licenses until they are older.

Medical Malpractice Debate Opens with Proposed House Bill

June 22, 2017 | by Moseley Collins

Both sides of the medical malpractice tort reform debate are out in full-force lobbying Congress concerning a House GOP bill which aims to cap pain, suffering and all non-economic damages in a medical malpractice suit. The bill also lays out more limitations in malpractice suits involving care provided or funded by the federal branch of government.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa authored the bill called The Protecting Access Care Act of 2017. It creates a three-year statute of limitations after the damage is done, or one-year after the injured party discovers the damage, whichever occurs first. While it limits non-economic damages to $250,000, it does not preempt caps established by states. There are also limitations on plaintiff attorney contingency fees and other provisions.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi received word from over 80 advocacy groups against the bill referred to H.R.1215, stating it removes the rights of patients who are injured in malpractice cases, elder abuse cases, prescription of dangerous drug negligence, and defective medical devices. They further claim that even if only applied to medical care facilities and staff, studies show its provisions would cause more injury and death due to the wide loosening of care. The letter written by the advocacy groups cited a 2003 Consumer Watchdog study that disputes the idea that California’s malpractice cap is the primary reason behind the premiums for doctors being lowered. They go on to write that trial lawyers lobby for the bill in order to raise their fees.