SunTrust HELOC, ERISA…RUOK?

September 10th, 2009. By AbiK

SunTrust bank’s been popping up in the news—and in chat rooms lately. Granted, in the chat rooms there’s a lot of griping about NSF’s, fees that seem to appear out of nowhere, trouble with closing accounts…and on and on. They’re the beefs we all have with big banks. SunTrust is also in the news this week as authorities continue to look for the guy who cashed close to $9,000 in fraudulent checks last summer at some SunTrust banks in Maryland.

But the bigger issues with SunTrust right now are lawsuits it may be facing in regard to its HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) loans and allegations that it may have breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA.

First, the SunTrust HELOC…

SunTrust is not alone when it comes to having frozen or stopped HELOC accounts. The difference here—which LawyersAndSettlements has been reporting on—is that there was allegedly no real “heads up” given to SunTrust clients who received letters informing them that their HELOC loans were frozen—and worse yet, no explanation or clear grounds for doing so. From reports to date, folks who were affected by the freeze-out were on time with loan Read the rest of this entry »

Cell Phone Radiation: More Than Just a Headache

September 8th, 2009. By LucyC

So it’s back to school this week, and many parents will have armed their kids with the latest in cell phone technology to help protect them from potential threats to their safety. But there may be a bigger price to pay than user fees, and that is the development of brain cancer. 

Admittedly, there’s still no clear answer on whether or not cell phones can cause brain cancer. But there’s a mounting body of evidence to suggest that cell phones are seriously dangerous to our health. 

The telecom industry has funded studies to identify any possible health risks, but just how capable are they of objectively evaluating the risks when they stand to either lose or make millions of dollars from the findings?  Read the rest of this entry »

What Price Beauty? Your Lawyer knows…

September 8th, 2009. By AbiK

The phrase “What price beauty?” is starting to take on new meaning. Used to insinuate something that went a bit too far—in cost, time, discomfort, whatever—to achieve beauty. But now, it’s about safety. And it goes beyond whether the manicurist remembered to disinfect the cuticle nipper/trimmer. Not downplaying a potential infection, but beauty’s got bigger—and potentially more dangerous—issues to deal with. Enter medispas…

There’s a lot of misconception about what a medispa is and isn’t. A medispa, or medical spa, refers to a facility where both traditional spa treatments (facial, massage, waxing, manicure) and non-surgical cosmetic procedures (laser hair removal, cosmetic injections like botox, laser resurfacing, chemical peels) are administered. A medispa operates under the supervision of a doctor—but that doesn’t mean the doctor either performs the treatment or is even on-site when it happens.

Sounds straightforward—until you ask yourself, so who’s wielding that Yag laser during my hair removal treatment? And what board certified them? Read the rest of this entry »

Bad Faith Insurance Companies in Denial

September 8th, 2009. By janem

Last month Michigan voted to pass legislation that will keep them up to speed with 46 other states regarding bad faith insurance practices. Consumers will be protected from unfair and abusive insurance company practices by creating penalties for insurance companies that deny policyholders’ rightful claims, while holding CEOs and other corporate leaders accountable for boosting profits at the expense of consumers.

The plan is twofold: to protect consumers and whistleblowers–the insiders who can’t sleep at night knowing the companies they work for deny or delay legitimate insurance claims so that the company’s profits increase. According to Bloomberg News, whistleblower Jo Anne Katzman, a former claims adjuster with Allstate Insurance Company, said managers regularly threatened adjusters–they would lose their jobs if they didn’t deny enough claims. She also was ordered not to pay a claim she knew was valid. As well,  both Farmers Insurance and Allstate have employee incentive programs for adjusters who deny the most claims!

Naturally, insurance companies and their lobbying and public relations firms deny, deny. They launched radio attacks and automated phone calls against Michigan’s legislators who are trying to protect their residents against bad faith and wrongful denial insurance.

And bad faith bills have been introduced in 14 states and Washington, D.C., this year.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies applauded the non-profit American Legislative Exchange Council  (ALEC) when it adopted a resolution in opposition to insurance bad faith legislation. So smart ALEC (sorry, couldn’t help myself) retaliated by going on about the advancement of free market, limited government principles and plans to conduct a policy making program uniting members of the public and private sector, according to their website.

And here’s the doozy: Paul Tetrault, NAMIC state affairs manager and a member of ALEC’s Civil Justice Task Force, said in a statement that while bad faith bills are typically described in “favorable terms” by sponsors, the resolution recognizes that such bills hurt consumers through increasing costs ultimately borne by policyholders… The resolution also stresses the way in which the threat of excessive bad faith liability can interfere with the proper functioning of the claims settlement process, hindering insurers’ ability to detect fraud, which can result in payment of meritless claims.”

Try telling that to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been denied legitimate claims.  Here are just a few cases that are considered bad faith insurance and practiced regularly by many insurance companies:

1. The insurance company does not investigate a claim in a prompt and timely manner.
2. A settlement is not offered within a reasonable amount of time once the investigation is complete.
3. A delay in any payments concerning a settlement.
4. The insurance carrier has not informed you of additional benefits.
5. Any type of fraud or harassment during the investigation on the part of the insurance company.
6. Concealing any facts from the insured is cause for insurance bad faith.
7. Not following the regular procedures within the claims manual.
8. Altering any form of the insurance policy without the knowledge of the insured.
9. Threaten not to pay unless the insured conforms.
10. Failure to evaluate damages within a reasonable amount of time.

As consumers, we must oppose bills like the one ALEC has proposed.

Chinese Drywall: Happy New Year!

September 6th, 2009. By AbiK

You can either choose to look at it as glass half-full, or glass half-empty. I’m betting that folks who’ve been living in the hell known as Chinese drywall have been looking at it as glass all-the-way empty and are somewhat numb by now to any developments in this story.

The latest is that now we have a target date for the inaugural Chinese drywall case going to court: January 2010.

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon told lawyers this week that he’s looking for them to select six plaintiffs whose cases will begin to be heard early next year. For anyone who’s been keeping Read the rest of this entry »