Kuhn said that throughout the claims process, USAA stuck to a “lowball” offer of $10,000, before finally agreeing to pay the policy limit of $250,000 on the eve of the trial. (Credit: Tada Images/Adobe Stock)
On Friday, a Nevada jury leveled a $100 million punitive judgment against USAA in a bad faith suit from a customer who alleges the insurer failed to defend him and pay his claim after an auto accident. USAA will also be required to pay $14 million in compensatory damages as part of the judgment.
When opening statements were heard in the case at the end of January, the plaintiff was suing the insurer for $20 million.
In 2018, the plaintiff, Timothy Kuhn, was in stationary traffic when a Ford F-150 slammed into the back of his BMW sedan at around 45 miles per hour. Kuhn claimed he received a serious brain injury as a result of the collision.
While Kuhn’s neck and back injuries healed quickly, he reported ongoing issues from the head injury, including memory loss, lack of focus and headaches.
Initially, USAA agreed the accident was not Kuhn’s fault, but that changed when he brought a suit against the other driver. At this time, he claims USAA intervened and argued Kuhn was responsible for the crash.
The plaintiff’s attorneys submitted a claim to the truck driver’s insurance in June 2020, resulting in a $50,000 payment from that insurer. Plaintiff Attorney Kimball Jones told the jury that once USAA caught wind that Kuhn planned to sue the truck driver, the carrier decided to intervene and litigate against him.
Kuhn said that throughout the claims process, USAA stuck to a “lowball” offer of $10,000, before finally agreeing to pay the policy limit of $250,000 on the eve of the trial. The insurer also argued that Kuhn’s brain injury was not as severe as he claimed.
Kuhn’s attorneys reportedly said an initial policy limit payout from USAA, while agreeing the other driver was completely at fault, would have resolved the dispute.
After the trial, Joshua Berrett of Bighorn Law, which was one of the firms representing Kuhn in the hearings, told CVN that he often sees insurers intervene in cases on behalf of the at-fault driver in order to minimize the amount they have to pay out in a claim. This, he said, violates an insurance company’s obligation to act in good faith with their policyholders.
Berrett told CVN that he believes the massive verdict was influenced by USAA’s decision to make a last-minute payout to Kuhn, while denying his injury, which cast the insurer in an unflattering light to the jury.
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