CHARLESTON – Fifty-one lawsuits have been filed against Erie Insurance Property & Casualty Company after the plaintiffs claim it breached its contract with it failed to offer enough underinsured motorists coverage.
The plaintiffs all were involved in automobile accidents between 1998 and 2009 and the plaintiffs had policies with Erie at the time of those accidents, according to lawsuits filed between March 13 and 15 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs claim following the automobile accidents, they presented a liability claim against the underinsured motorists and also presented an underinsured motorists claim to Erie under their policies.
The plaintiffs reached a settlement with the underinsured motorists and the liability insurer paid to the plaintiffs the per person limits of liability coverage, according to the suits.
Because the payment for the underinsured motorist’s liability coverage did not fully compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries and damages that were sustained in connection with the accidents, Erie paid the plaintiffs underinsured motorist coverage limits that were available under their policies, according o the suits.
The plaintiffs claim at the time Erie sold the policies, and at various times thereafter, Erie was obligated to make commercially reasonable offers of underinsured motorists coverage.
On Aug. 4, 2009, Tamara Hardman filed a class action lawsuit against Erie in Jackson Circuit Court and Erie and in 2016, Erie challenged the circuit court’s certification of a class.
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals entered a memorandum decision in 2017 in which it found that Hardman’s claims were not appropriate for class treatment, leaving the individual members of the class, including the 51 plaintiffs, no choice but to pursue individual claims against Erie in connection with its use of a non-compliant selection/rejection form and its failure to make commercially reasonable offers of underinsured motorist coverage.
The plaintiffs claim Erie misrepresented that the limits of underinsured motorists coverage available to the plaintiffs and failed to make commercially reasonable offers of underinsured motorists coverage.
Erie breached its contracts with the plaintiffs, according to the suits.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are represented by Brent K. Kesner and Ernest G. Hentschell II of Kesner & Kesner; and Carrie L. Newton.
Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers: 18-C-261, 18-C-262, 18-C-263, 18-C-264, 18-C-265, 18-C-270, 18-C-271, 18-C-272, 18-C-273, 18-C-275, 18-C-276, 18-C-277, 18-C-279, 18-C-280, 18-C-281, 18-C-282, 18-C-283, 18-C-284, 18-C-286, 18-C-289, 18-C-290, 18-C-291, 18-C-292, 18-C-293, 18-C-294, 18-C-295, 18-C-296, 18-C-297, 18-C-298, 18-C-299, 18-C-300, 18-C-301, 18-C-309, 18-C-311, 18-C-313, 18-C-314, 18-C-320, 18-C-321, 18-C-323, 18-C-324, 18-C-325, 18-C-326, 18-C-328, 18-C-330, 18-C-333, 18-C-334, 18-C-335, 18-C-341, 18-C-348, 18-C-350, 18-C-351