USAA class action alleges company uses third party to unfairly reject, underpay claims

USAA class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is facing a class action lawsuit related to its handling of automobile personal injury protection and medical payment claims.
• Why: USAA is accused of delegating its claims to a third party company’s computer program that improperly reduces or denies USAA claims.
• Where: USAA’s counsel petitioned to have the case removed from Clark County, Washington, court and moved to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma.

The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is facing a class action lawsuit claiming that it uses a third party company that improperly reduces or denies claims related to automobile personal injury protection and medical payments.

USAA is accused of using third-party Auto Injury Solutions as part of a multi-faceted USAA claims scheme to implement a computer program called Medical Bill Audit (MBA) for denying claims.

“The MBA process is designed, largely through automated computer processes, to categorically and systematically, without human input, eliminate, abate and/or reduce the amount USAA pays for its insured’s health care expenses based upon its treatment of various codes,” the USAA lawsuit says. 

USAA customers claim insurance adjusters never look at denied claims

The USAA lawsuit plaintiffs Caryn Jennings and Tricia Harder are both Washington residents who had automobile accidents and are part of a class stating that USAA did not investigate their claims and instead used Auto Injury Solutions’ computer model to deny or reduce claims.

USAA has used the program to avoid having a USAA insurance adjustor review the claim or conduct an investigation into the validity of those claims, the USAA class action says.

A September class action lawsuit claims USAA did not properly protect the personal information of clients, resulting in the USAA data breach.

Have you had a personal injury or medical claim denied by USAA? Let us know in the comments. 

The defendants are represented by Kimberly A. Reppart and Kara A. Tredway of Forsberg and Umlauf P.S.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jason T. Dennett and Cecily C. Jordan of Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC along with Franklin D. Azar, Dezarae LaCrue, Michael D. Murphy, Timothy L. Foster and Brian Hanlin of Franklin D. Azar and Associates P.C.

The USAA class action lawsuit is Jennings, et al. v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company, et al., Case No. 3:23-cv-06171, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma.

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