Two years after the death of Kaitlynn Fisher, Progressive Insurance finally reached a settlement agreement with the Fisher family. Unfortunately, it took the insurance company’s name being completely tarnished as the story quickly went viral throughout the Internet.
In 2010, Kaitlynn Fisher died in a fatal car accident after a driver ran a red light and crashed into her. The driver that ran the red light, Ronald Kevin Hope III, was underinsured, which meant that his insurance coverage was not enough to cover all of the related expenses. Maryland law does not allow for victims to sue the insurance company to pay for the difference. In order for the Fisher family to collect the difference, they were forced to sue Hope for negligence and prove fault.
Kaitlynn Fisher’s brother, Matt Fisher, wrote a thorough blog post describing how his sister’s insurance company also defended the motorist that ran the red light. Progressive of course denied this claim, and then later said the defending attorney was from Nationwide. Matt Fisher replied to the insurance company by stating the defending attorney’s name as Jeffrey R. Moffat and posting clear evidence that he did indeed work for Progressive. The story quickly went viral and became a social media nightmare for the insurance company.
A spokesperson for Progressive confessed that during the trial, the company was defending their own interests.
Luckily, fault was proven against Hope and the Fisher family was awarded $760,000 plus legal fees. Unfortunately, the verdict was against Hope and not the insurance company. Progressive’s monetary settlement with the family is not confirmed, but is in the “tens of thousands” according to the Fisher family attorney, Allen W. Cohen.
The settlement is complete and the Fisher family can finally start rebuilding their lives. Our hearts go out to the Fisher family for their loss and battle with the insurance company.
Our dedicated San Diego County uninsured motorist accident lawyers at the Jurewitz Law Group fight against insurance companies to get our clients the compensation that they rightfully deserve. Call (888) 233-5020 for a confidential consultation to learn more about how we can help.
Ross Jurewitz
Ross Jurewitz is the founder and managing lawyer of the Jurewitz Law Group, a San Diego personal injury attorney law firm. These San Diego injury accident lawyers specialize in helping people seriously injured in a variety of accidents throughout San Diego County and California.
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