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• Coal Ash Class Action Lawsuit Settled
   
• Dangers From Tennessee Coal Ash Spill
   
• Rowan County Crash Kills One, Injures Two
   
• Letcher County Crash Claims Whitesburg Man
   
• Nursing Home Rating System Introduced
   
• Crash On I-65 Kills Two Women
   
• Nicholas County Wreck Kills Two
   
• Pikeville Wreck Kills Three, Injures Three
   
• Knott County Wreck Claims Life Of One Man, Badly Injures Another
   
• Nicholasville Road Crash Claims Life of Lexington Man
   
• Lawrenceburg Man Killed In I-64 Wreck
   
• Safe Kid's Toys Website
   
• Madison County Wreck Kills Berea Man
   
• Woodford County Car Crash Kills One Man, Badly Injures Another
   
• Hospitals Liable For Patient Infections
   
• Patient Abuse At Richmond Nursing Home Documented On Videotape
   
• Elderly Diabetics Face Greater Risk From Drug
   
• Enforce Discrimination and Consumer Protection Laws Toward Solving the Mortgage Mess
   
• Bath County Woman Killed In I-64 Wreck
   
• Tainted Toys To Remain For Sale, Consumer Product Safety Commission Says
   
• Justice For Sale? Supreme Court To Decide West Virginia Judicial Campaign Contribution Case
   
• American Association for Justice Reports On Insurance Companies' "Tricks of the Trade"
   
• HIPAA Violated By Defense Counsel's Interviews of Plaintiff's Prior Treating Physicians
   
• UK Students Killed in I-75 Wreck
   
• Wreck On Kentucky Highway 33 Injures 3
   
• Mislabeled Insulin Syringes Recalled
   
• I-64 Wreck Claims Mt. Sterling Man
   
• One Fatality From US 68 Wreck In Jessamine County
   
• One Killed In Henry County Wreck
   
• Paris Man Killed In Wreck On Bypass
   
• Fourth Death In US 127 Wreck Near Albany
   
• Montgomery County Men Killed In Wreck On US 60
   
• "Get Out of Jail" Free Cards For Corporations -- American Association for Justice Details Undermining of Family and Consumer Protections
   
• Drop Side Crib Recall
   
• Lincoln County Wreck Kills Husband, Injures Wife
   
• Increased Efforts To Prevent Injured Families From Holding Corporations Accountable
   
• Fen-Phen Flim-Flam: Don't Be A Victim of Lawyer Advertising
   
• Unsafe Drugs Approved & Then Pulled By FDA
   
• Nursing Home Safety & Health Violations Reported
   
• Double Fatality In Pike County Wreck
   
• Fatal ATV Crash In Jackson County
   
• Deadly Crash On Man o' War
   
• Tired Truckers Targeted By New Technology
   
• ATV Age Guidelines Unsafe
   
• Family Member Of Asbestos Worker May Sue For Cancer Death Caused By Asbestos Exposure
   
• Drugs Being Investigated Listed by FDA
   
• Pregnant & New Mothers Endangered By Proposed FDA Rule
   
• Delays Caused By Insurance Companies Harm Patients, Doctors Report
   
• Pain & Suffering Damages of $100,000 for Amputee Vacated By Court As Too Low and "A Miscarriage of Justice"
   
• Hospital Death Rates Online
   
• Drug Makers Should Be Liable For Defects Under State Law, New England Journal of Medicine Editors Argue to Supreme Court
   
• Railroad Crossing Safety Requires "Active" Warning Systems
   
• Beef Recalled By Whole Foods
   
• State Farm To Pay $74 Million More To Settle Katrina Claims
   
• Consumer Product Safety Whistleblower Protection Passed by Congress
   
• U.S. Needs National Database of Replacement Joints
   
• Congress To Ban Toxins In Children's' Toys
   
• Disability Insurers Investigated by Senate
   
• Weakening of Workplace Toxin Rules Underway
   
• Sick Truckers On Nation's Highways
   
• MySpace Photos Destroy Plaintiff's Credibility and Case
   
• Scorsone for Fayette Circuit Judge
   
• Worst Insurance Companies: The Top Ten
   
• Parents' Underinsured Motor Vehicle Coverage Applies to Vehicle Owned by Child
   
• Nurses Report Staffing Shortages Impact Patient Care
   
• Fairness of Consumer Arbitration Procedures Questioned
   
• Food-Borne Illness Case Settled
   
• Senator Charges "Criminal Negligence" In FDA's Failure to Protect Food Supply
   
• President Bush Should Support Fair Pay Law
   
• Criminal Prosecution For Worker Safety Violations
   
• FDA Chief Bypasses Bush Administration to Beg Congress for More Money
   
• Bush Administration Rules Protect Corporate Wrongdoing
   
• FDA Report Acknowledges Agency Cannot Protect American Public
   
• Drug Companies Find Shelter In Overwhelmed FDA
   
• Disability Insurers Causing Overload of Social Security
   
• Windfall Profits for Kentucky's Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies
   
• It Is Presumed That You Have Given Up Your Constitutional Rights
   
• Appeals Court Reinstates Retaliation Case of Employee Fired "Immediately Upon" His Employer Learning of His Discrimination Charge to EEOC
   
• Conference on Health Care Transparency and Patient Advocacy
   

What are the Insurance companies' "Tricks of the Trade?"

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has followed up its report The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America; How They Raise Premiums, Deny Claims, and Refuse Insurance to Those Who Need It Most with a further report, this one detailing the insurance companies' most common ways and means to keep from paying claims.

AAJ's latest report is titled:  Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse. 

The most common tricks are denying claims, delaying until death, confusing consumers, discriminating by credit score, abandoning the sick and cancelling for a call. 

Here's some things you can do to help keep yourself from being victimized by these tricks:

• read your policy carefully: make sure you understand what is covered
   
• fill out any forms very carefully: a mistake, however innocent, in filling out a form can be used as a basis to deny your claim on the grounds that your mistake on a form was a misrepresentation
   
• if your insurance company decides to refund your premium check, don't cash it because cashing it can be considered your agreement that your insurance company does not have to cover your claim and can instead refund your premium
   
• document your communications with insurance company representatives; do not count on the insurance company standing by what it told you verbally
   
• do not give up; insurance companies make millions and millions of dollars every year because people with valid claims get tired of the run-around and stonewalling and just give up

ROBERT L. ABELL
271 West Short Street
Suite 200
Lexington, KY 40507

866-578-5302 TOLL FREE

859-254-7076 Phone
859-231-0691 Fax

• First Unum Slammed By Court For Deceptive Denial of Disability Benefits
   

• Wal-Mart Settles Overtime and Break Time Lawsuits
   

• Overtime Case Yields $35 Million To Dollar General Store Managers
   

• L-3 Communications Whistleblower To Receive $720,000 Of Share Of Settlement
   

• Stockbroker's Unpaid Overtime Case Against JPMorgan To Go Forward
   

• Working Off The Clock and Missed Breaks Lawsuit Settled By Wal-Mart
   

• MetLife Must Pay Accidental Death Benefits Where Car Accident Not Seizure Caused Death
   

• Insurance Company's Payment Of Claim Is Notice of Claimant's Condition
   

• Kentucky Whistleblower Act Protects Employees That Threaten To Report Government Wrongdoing
   

• Kentucky Whistleblower's Act Applies To An Employee's Internal Report
   

• McDonald's Assistant Managers File Class Action For Unpaid Overtime
   

• Retirement Plan Stock Losses Are Basis For Employees' Suit Against The Hartford
   

• Interrupted Lunch Breaks Cited In Wage Class Actions
   

• Failure To Fully Pay Life Insurance Benefits Breached UNUM's Fiduciary Duty Under ERISA
   

• Pregnancy Discrimination Act Marks 30 Year Anniversary
   

• Retirement Plan Manager Breached Fiduciary Duty By Secretly Increasing Retirees' Medical Insurance Premiums
   

• Injured Workers May Sue Under Racketeering Law Based On Scheme To Deny Them Workers Compensation Benefits
   

• Protections For Disabled Workers Enhanced By ADA Amendments
   

• Police Sick Leave Suit Granted Class Action Status
   

• Retaliation & Age Discrimination Complaints Increase Most, EEOC Reports
   

• Retaliation Against Employee Taking Family Medical Leave Held Unlawful
   

• $10 Million Police Overtime Case Settled
   

• Religious Discrimination Compliance Manual Issued By EEOC
   

• Employee Can Sue For Constructive Wrongful Discharge
   

• Former Employees Who Have Received Their Retirement Benefits May Sue For The Reduced Value Of The Benefits
   

• Employee Fired For Reporting Co-Employee's Illegal Acts May Sue
   

• Cancer Survivor Protected From Disability Discrimination
   

• Pregnancy Discrimination Act Prohibits Firing Woman for Absences Related to Receipt of In Vitro Fertilization Treatments
   

• Overtime and Wage Enforcement Lax, Government Reports
   

• Sixth Circuit Sets Summary Judgment Standard in Mixed-Motive Cases
   

• Wal-Mart Found Liable for Underpaying Workers
   

• Production of Confidential and Irrelevant Documents Dooms Retaliation Case
   

• Age Discrimination Verdict Upheld by Kentucky Supreme Court
   

• Police Officers Must Be Paid For Time Spent Putting On and Taking Off Required Uniform and Equipment
   

• Employees Must Be Paid For Time Spent Putting On and Taking Off Safety Wear and Equipment
   

• Paramedics Entitled to Overtime Compensation
   

• Discrimination Claims Not Barred By Arbitration Decision
   

• Two Employees Each Awarded $350,000 In Race Discrimination Case
   

• Fired Because of A Sick Family Member: Protection Against "Association Discrimination"
   

• Release of Discrimination Claims Valid In Absence of Duress, Fraud or Bad Faith
   

• Employer's Retaliation Against Fiancee of Employee Charging Discrimination Violates Title VII
   

• Employer's Toleration of Co-Worker Retaliation Can Lead to Liability
   

• Retirement Funds In Defined Contribution 401(k) ERISA Plan Lost Due to Investment Manager's Failure to Follow Directions or Failure to Notify May Be Recovered
   

• Appeals Court Terminates Benefits by Crediting Consulting Nurse's Opinion over Treating Doctor's

Robert L. Abell is a  Personal Injury and Accident lawyer for Lexington, Winchester, Paris, Georgetown, Frankfort, Versailles, Nicholasville, Richmond, Lancaster, Stanton, London, Corbin, Shelbyville, Danville, Lawrenceburg, Williamstown, Jeffersontown, Louisville, Harrodsburg, Campbellsville, Liberty, Bardstown, Covington, Columbia, Elizabethtown, Newport, Pikeville, Ashland, Morehead, Jackson, Cynthiana and other communities located in central and eastern Kentucky and Fayette County, Scott County, Clark County, Madison County, Laurel County, Powell County, Morgan County, Breathitt County, Harrison County, Woodford County, Bourbon County, Jessamine County, Mercer County, Boyle County, Anderson County, Shelby County, Jefferson County, Owen County, Franklin County, Grant County, Boone County, Kenton County and elsewhere in Kentucky. 
This website does not constitute and is not intended to be legal advice.  You should consult with a lawyer regarding your own situation. 
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© Robert L. Abell, 2008, All Rights Reserved