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State Trial Lawyers Applaud Bills Protecting Rights of Pennsylvania Consumers
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| Copyright: | PR Newswire | | Source: | PR Newswire | | Wordcount: | 384 |
PHILADELPHIA, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Trial
Lawyers Association (PaTLA) today welcomed legislation recently introduced in
the state legislature: a Senate bill that levels the playing field for victims
of bad faith on the part of insurance companies and a House bill designed to
help consumers make more informed choices when purchasing automobile
insurance.
Senate Bill 745 introduced by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf would allow juries to
determine fault and award damages in bad faith insurance cases. Currently in
Pennsylvania, only a judge can decide bad faith, while in federal court juries
make the decision in such cases. "If a jury is competent enough to decide
cases involving negligence or criminal conduct-and it is--we should have
confidence in them to make a determination of whether an insurance company was
wrong in denying or stonewalling a claim," said Ruben Honik, President of
PaTLA. "The founding fathers knew the jury system would work 200 years ago
and it works today."
An insurance company commits bad faith by intentionally denying payment of
lawful claims to its customers, or by delaying the payment for a very long
time. Although bad faith can occur in all kinds of claims, it is most common
in auto insurance cases, Honik said. "We have seen that insurance companies
use this standard practice of delay and deny to increase their profits."
The bill introduced by Rep. John J. Taylor (R-Phila.) would require
insurers to use plain language to set out policy rights, requiring them to
replace "full tort" and "limited tort" with "full right to sue" and "limited
right to sue" in policies.
Of the bill, Honik said: "Pennsylvanians deserve to have their rights
under their auto insurance policies explained in easy-to-understand language.
Lawyers learn the word 'torts' in law school but who else really knows what
that means?" Insurance companies should be compelled to speak to us in plain
English and consumers shouldn't be expected to hire lawyers to understand
insurance policies they sign up for."
PaTLA is an organization of more than 3,000 Pennsylvania attorneys with
the mission to uphold and defend the civil justice system in Pennsylvania,
keeping courthouse doors open and preserving the constitutional right to a
trial by jury.
SOURCE Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association
CONTACT: Craig Giangiulio of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, +1-215-546-6451 x.106; mobile +1-856-630-5537, craig@patla.org
This is a news service of Thomson Business Intelligence Service ©2006. This content is for your personal use only, subject to Terms and Conditions. No redistribution allowed.
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