Class Action Status has been Awarded against Allstate in Medical Examination Cases

 

May 15, 2017

 

A class action law suit has been approved against Allstate over a policy that mandates that the medical examinations of claimants are performed by a doctor that Allstate has chosen before benefits can be delved out. The case that initiated the class action suit is Sayles v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 3:16-CV-10534, 2017 US Dist. (M.D. Pa. May 10, 2017).

 

A judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania has ruled in Sayles v. Allstate Ins. Co. that Allstate's policy provisions conflicted with the state Motor Vehicle Responsibility Law and also predicted that the Supreme Court would result in the same conclusion, finding the provision unenforceable. Sayles was injured in a car accident in December of 2015. After the accident, Allstate requested that Sayles undergo a medical examination by a doctor that the insurance carrier chose prior to receiving any benefits. Allstate never petitioned a court to compel a physical exam of Sayles.

 

The court read the plain language of the law to prohibit exactly what the Allstate provision had mandated of their claimants. The Allstate policy required their claimants to submit to a medical examination before good cause was shown, and the doctor performing the medical examination was chosen by Allstate. After the ruling, independent judges will determine who the examining physician will be and insurance companies will no longer be allowed to hand-pick their doctors.

 

Allstate argued that they did not violate the Motor Vehicle Responsibility Law, as that law did not require a court ordered medical examination, but only suggests that a court may order a claimant to submit to a medical exam. Sayles argued that the Allstate policy allowed the insurers to circumvent the law and the protections it offered insureds.

 

Editor's Note: Now that this case has been so decided, the cases that are filtering through the courts will be much easier to decide. Since a judge has granted Class Action status on cases like this one, many more Allstate customers who were subjected to a medical examination without a court order, or even good cause, will be able to receive compensation.