Liberty Mutual Totaled Cars Class Action Overview:
- Who: Liberty Mutual and CCC Intelligent Solutions have dodged a class action lawsuit over condition adjustments for totaled cars.
- Why: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the class action allegations would be “unmanageable” because each plaintiff would have to prove harm.
- Where: The decision was made in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Liberty Mutual and CCC Intelligent Solutions have dodged a class action lawsuit over condition adjustments for totaled cars thanks to a decision in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that could affect other similar cases brought by car insurance customers.
In a decision made Feb. 11 in the 9th Circuit, the court said owners of totaled vehicles can’t bring a class action against Liberty Mutual or its valuation contractor for using a “condition adjustment” to reduce the amount it offers to pay on a claim, Reuters reports.
As a class action the case would be “unmanageable” because each individual plaintiff would have to show they received less than their vehicle was worth, the court said.
The decision could impact at least three other similar cases against insurers that are currently underway in the same district.
CCC’s lawyers said the decision was “particularly impactful in light of numerous putative class actions – all involving similar claims against CCC and its insurer customers – that are still pending.”
The 9th Circuit put three other actions against CCC, Allstate, Geico and USAA on hold last summer, waiting to make a decision in the Liberty Mutual case.
Liberty Mutual Shouldn’t Be Able to Reduce Payouts on Total Cars With Unitemized Condition Adjustments, Plaintiffs Said
In Friday’s decision, the 9th Circuit said the lower court’s denial of class action status to the lawsuit for breach of contract and unfair trade practices was correct as it was hard to prove harm.
“If there was no injury, then there was no breach of contract or unfair trade practice,” and “figuring out whether each plaintiff was injured would be an individualized process,” Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson wrote for the 9th Circuit.
The plaintiffs had argued that Liberty Mutual shouldn’t be able to reduce their payouts on totaled cars with unitemized condition adjustments and that those adjustments violated Washington state insurance regulations.
“But that’s an argument for the Washington insurance commissioner,” the court wrote.
In 2020, Liberty Mutual was hit with a class action lawsuit in Ohio by a woman who claimed that the insurance company failed to pay the sales tax, title transfer fees and registration fees she was entitled when her car was a total loss, as per her policy.
The plaintiff is represented by Steve Berman, Robert Carey and John DeStefano III of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
The Liberty Mutual Adjustments Class Action Lawsuit is Lara et al. v. First National Insurance Co et al., 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 21-35126.
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4 thoughts onLiberty Mutual Escapes Class Action Over Totaled Cars, Decision Could Impact Other Cases
In our case, Safeco owned by Liberty Mutual denied full replacement on our 15 year old roof.
There was obvious hail damage and after the “independent” investigator left, more damage from lifted shingles which in turn subjected the roof to being vulnerable to wind damage.
The initial assessment called for spot replacement of specific shingles based on the roof being 5 years old rather than 15+.
We had it assessed by a very reputable local company twice and the representative even met with the claims adjuster to advocate for us. He believed he proved our case based on his interactions with the adjuster.
Safeco still denied replacement and a visual inspection from the street showed extensive damage from impact and now wind lift not to mention the damage related to multiple inspections.
We had our house listed for sale and we were still in the process of fighting with Safeco as the replacement estimate was around 15k.
It’s likely that some prospective buyers passed on the house do the the visual aspects of the roof.
As a result, in order to avoid the closing of our sale, we had to forfeit $7500 from our profits to “split the difference”.
Yes, we lost $7500.00 . The original claim was in 2019 and the sale was near the end of 2021.
We switched insurance providers as soon as we insured our new home
Again, put $7500
I have a similar case with a totaled car where liberty mutual underpaid me. They added some little more when I challenged them. I just had to take it as I desperately needed a new car l.
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The worst thing they did is, they cancelled my active policy wrongfully for late payment confusion that they created them selves. Due to travel I requested an due date extension. Agent assured my that the month due would just be put back to the premium and as a result the next payments would just be higher l. I thought problem was solved and relaxed. One day all agent called and said I need to pay it. That I got time until September 13. Slwhen I tried to pay on September 13 they said it was cancelled after September 12 at 12:01. I don’t argue the 12:01 am tile. It’s in their policy but agent that put the due month back into my premium can’t be ignored. Liberty mutual ignored all emails and voice messages I left to refer them to that conversation with their agent. My policy remained cancelled. I have filed a complaint with the SCC. When I spoke and explained to SCC, there were surprised l mutual did that.
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