The Cooper Firm

Doe v. Roe (Identities of parties and insurance company confidential)

Mr. and Mrs. Doe were seriously injured in their car when they were struck from the side by a person driving a truck owned by Mr. Roe. The driver of the truck was uninsured, and the firm brought a claim against Mr. Roe on the ground that he negligently entrusted his truck to a driver he knew to be under the influence of drugs. Mr. Roe had an insurance policy on the truck with limits of $200,000. We made a demand on the insurance company for the policy limits, which the insurance company did not timely accept. We then filed suit and argued that the insurance company was responsible for the entire value of the case because it had acted negligently and in bad faith in not timely offering the policy limits. As the case got close to trial, the insurance company agreed to pay the Does $2,375,000, more than ten times the policy limits.

Moates v. Baxter (insured by Allstate)

Traci Moates was driving her two sons home from church when she was struck by Ms. Baxter. Mrs. Moates was killed, and her two sons were seriously injured. Ms. Baxter was insured by Allstate with policy limits of $200,000. When Allstate failed to respond to the firm's time-limited demand, we pursued the case on the grounds that Allstate had acted negligently and in bad faith, thereby exposing its insured to a judgment above the policy limits. Allstate ultimately agreed to pay the Moates family $1.5 million to settle their claims - $1.3 million more than the policy limits.

Jackson v. Allstate Indemnity Company

Michael Jackson was driving his father's car when he caused a wreck that killed a passenger in the car. The passenger's family sued Michael and his father, who were insured by Allstate, with policy limits of $15,000. Based on an exclusion in the policy, Allstate refused to defend the Jacksons, and the passenger's family obtained a $500,000 judgment against the Jacksons. We represented the Jacksons against Allstate, arguing that Allstate had breached its insurance contract and acted in bad faith by refusing to defend the Jacksons. The firm proved that Allstate had acted wrongfully and forced Allstate to pay $540,000 (36 times the policy limits) to resolve the claims.