Insult to Injury

Insurance, Fraud, and the Big Business of Bad Faith

Ray Bourhis

264 pages, parution le 19/09/2005

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Résumé

You pay insurance companies to protect you in case of tragedy, but will they be there when you need them most?

Joan Hangarter bought a disability policy in 1990 to protect her should she ever become seriously ill. She dutifully paid her annual premiums for nearly a decade. But when she became disabled, she and her children found themselves homeless and bankrupt when her insurer-UnumProvident-stopped paying her benefits. With the help of attorneys Ray Bourhis and Alice Wolfson, Hangarter won a landmark $7.7 million jury verdict against Unum.

Hangarter's dramatic story illustrates in shocking detail how insurance companies put profit above the promises they make to policyholders. Exposing the intricate systems insurance companies use to target and terminate expensive claims without just cause, Bourhis reveals the back-room mindset that drives these illegal practices. He shows how low-level employees are duped into unethical conduct, how insurers manipulate the facts and the law in the few cases that do go to trial, and exactly what ordinary people are up against when forced to take on this industry.

Bourhis paints a frightening picture of how key decisions by Congress and the US Supreme Court have enabled these schemes to continue unchecked- and he provides a sorely needed roadmap to reform.

L'auteur - Ray Bourhis

Ray Bourhis is a partner with the law firm of Bourhis & Wolfson in San Francisco, California, specializing in insurance bad-faith litigation. A graduate of Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, Bourhis has been a court-appointed Special Master overseeing reforms in the California Department of Insurance and was appointed by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer to her Federal Judicial Selection Advisory Committee. He was recently profiled by Ed Bradley in a 60 Minutes report concerning fraudulent insurance practices. Born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, Bourhis credits an attempt by gang members to throw him into a blazing bonfire at the age of twelve with helping him develop the survival skills needed to deal with insurance companies. He lives with his family in Kentfield, California.

Sommaire

Introduction
False Profits
Licensed to Steal
So Sue Me
Go Figure
The Seventh Amendment
Open Fire
So Help Me God
Pinpricks and Pretexts
Customer Care
Fact or Fiction
...Some with a Fountain Pen
A Message
Liar's Dice
Friends in High Places
Kick in the Assets
Claims Games
Afterword
Exhibits
Further Reading
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Berrett-Koehler
Auteur(s)	Ray Bourhis
Parution	19/09/2005
Nb. de pages	264
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	552g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9781576753491
ISBN13	978-1-57675-349-1