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Allstate Insurance Co. v. Hennings5/31/2005
ed November 14, 2002, from Illinois National Insurance advising Flores that his coverage had been cancelled on December 16, 1999 for nonpayment of premiums. Scrine was aware that Bureau of Motor Vehicles records showed that Flores was convicted on July 31, 2002 of having no insurance at the time of the October 24, 2000 accident. Further, Scrine testified that Allstate had sent letters to Flores, to which he had not responded, and had hired a private investigator, who had been unable to find Flores. Nevertheless, according to Scrine, it was up to Hennings, as its insured, "to provide [Allstate] some type of documentation" showing that Flores was uninsured, such as an affidavit by him admitting that fact. (Tr. 71). In her February 24th appearance, Scrine admitted that Allstate had not reimbursed Hennings for the $500 deducted from their payment for her property damage claim, and on March 9th, she again affirmed that Hennings had not been paid the $500.
Between the two days of trial, Dr. Klassen performed an additional surgery on Hennings because she had suffered an injury to her left knee several days before the first day of trial. After the conclusion of Hennings' case, Allstate moved to admit a video of a second deposition of Dr. Klassen, taken after that surgery. Hennings objected, arguing that it was irrelevant as she was not making a claim for the second surgery. The trial court denied Allstate's motion.
In her closing, Hennings asked the jury "to hold Allstate accountable." (Tr. 129). She suggested that her painful, daily headaches would support an award of $25-30 per day, which based upon her life expectancy of about 50 years, would total $45,000-$54,000. She further cited the pain, suffering, and permanency of her knee injury, and suggested that an award of $1,000-$1,200 yearly, over her life expectancy, for $50,000-$60,000 would be appropriate. Hennings suggested that her less serious lower back injury warranted an award of $5,000, and she reminded the jury that she was still awaiting her $500 deductible.
Allstate argued that Hennings should not be given "a windfall," that she had "to prove that [Flores] was in fact uninsured at the time," that she should be found 10% at fault, that the jury should remember that Hennings had knee problems before the accident and was extremely active physically, that her constant headaches could be the result of her high stress job of teaching middle school, and that Dr. Klassen was unable to predict that Hennings would need a knee replacement. (Tr. 136). Allstate further argued that there was "a question about whether Mr. Flores was actually uninsured," and suggested that an award of $25,000 would be "more than reasonable." (Tr. 141, 142).
The jury returned a verdict finding Flores 100% at fault and finding Hennings' damages to be $115,000. The trial court entered judgment against Flores and Allstate in that amount. Allstate then filed a motion to correct error, asking the trial court to reduce the judgment to $100,000 because that was the limit of Hennings' policy as to uninsured motorist coverage, or to reduce the judgment based on the evidence, or to grant a new trial. The trial court denied Allstate's motion, finding that sufficient evidence supported the verdict and that the $115,000 "judgment was not excessive." (App. 12). The trial court further held that there was "sufficient evidence that [Allstate] breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing to its insured by ignoring [Hennings'] claim that . . . Flores was uninsured at the time of the collision . . . ." Id.
DECISION
1. Amount of Damages Award
The trial court denied Allstate's motion to correct error, which had argued that
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