USAA Punished for it Claims Handling Punitive Damages Should be Awarded With Caution and Within Narrow Limits Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/usaa-punished-claims-handling-barry-zalma-esq-cfe-nbp2c, see the full video at and at and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4950 posts. Posted on December 19, 2024 by Barry Zalma DISPUTE OVER HURRICANE DAMAGES RESULTS IN MAJOR PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR BAD FAITH Although he Mississippi Supreme Court recognized the need to only award punitive damages with caution and within narrow limits, it did not limit its award in accordance with that maxim. After almost 19 years of litigation the last appeal resolved the various disputes. FACTS Hurricane Katrina destroyed Paul and Sylvia Minor’s home on August 29, 2005. The Minors had a homeowner’s insurance policy with United Services Automobile Association (USAA). The USAA policy covered damage caused by wind but excluded damage caused by storm surge or flood. The Minors reported their loss with USAA, which resulted in a years-long coverage dispute. USAA ultimately issued payments for damage it concluded was caused by wind but not for damage it concluded was caused by storm surge or flood. The Minors maintained that they suffered a total loss caused by wind and demanded that USAA pay the policy limits. The case proceeded to trial in 2013, and the jury awarded the Minors $1,547,293.37 in compensatory damages. In United Services Automobile Association v. Estate Of Sylvia F. Minor, Kathryn Minor and Stephen Minor, No. 2023-CA-00049-SCT, Supreme Court of Mississippi, En Banc (December 5, 2024) resolved the bad faith claims. The issue was ultimately presented to a jury. The jury awarded the Minors $10,000,000 in punitive damages and $457,858.89 in extra-contractual damages (solely attorneys’ fees). USAA appealed, raising several assignments of error. Trial To establish its bad faith claim, the Minor Estate introduced various USAA documents, including (1) portions of the USAA underwriting file; (2) the confidential email regarding (a) the engineer’s March 2006 findings and (b) Bergstrom’s conclusion that USAA would be responsible for paying for all the windows and the contents in rooms with windows; and (3) USAA’s letter to the Minors in June 2006 indicating the majority of damage was due to flooding. Punitive Damages Punitive damages are considered an ‘extraordinary remedy’ and should be awarded ‘with caution and within narrow limits.'” The Supreme Court found that the evidence presented at trial demonstrates a type of conduct for which punitive damages were designed. The Minor Estate provided sufficient proof that USAA acted in bad faith, with complete disregard for the Estate’s rights. Whether The $10 Million Punitive Damages Award Should Be Reversed Or, Alternatively, Reduced. USAA alternatively argues that the $10 million verdict should be reduced because it claims that the damages award is a 22:1 ratio and therefore unconstitutionally disproportionate to the extra-contractual damages awarded ($457,858.89). USAA relies on State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408, 425, 123 S.Ct. 1513, 1524, 155 L.Ed.2d 585 (2003), which states that “[s]ingle-digit multipliers are more likely to comport with due process.” USAA argued that a 1:1 ratio should apply to the damages award here. The Supreme Court found that punitive damages is less than seven times the amount of compensatory damages, which it concluded clearly falls within the guideline provided in Campbell. A punitive damages award not only serves as a deterrent, it also compensates the plaintiff for its public service in bringing the action. The Supreme Court found the trial court’s decision to force the Minor Estate to use nearly half of its award to pay attorneys’ fees does not adequately compensate the Estate for bringing this action against USAA for its bad faith conduct in handling the Minors’ insurance claim from 2005. Therefore, the Supreme Court concluded that the trial court erred by denying the Estate’s post-trial motion for attorneys’ fees. CONCLUSION In sum, the trial judge did not err as a matter of law by submitting the issue of punitive damages to jury, and the $10 million award of punitive damages is not unconstitutionally disproportionate. The Supreme Court affirmed the jury verdict awarding the Minor Estate $10 million in punitive damages and $457,858.89 in extra-contractual damages as to attorneys’ fees and reverse the judgment of the trial court and render attorneys’ fees on behalf of the Estate in the amount of $4,500,000, plus post-judgment interest at an annual rate of 4 percent from October 3, 2022, the date of judgment, until paid. ZALMA OPINION This case that dragged on through the courts of Mississippi for 19 years and resulted in compensatory damages based upon an interpretation finding coverage for the estate and that the insurer’s conduct was so egregious that the estate was entitled to tort damages plus punitive damages many times more than the compensatory damages. The Supreme Court astonishingly concluded that punitive damages were not limited to punishing the insurer but were payment to the estate for its action on behalf of everyone in the state of Mississippi and that they should not be required to pay their lawyers but that payment should come from the insurer as part of its punishment. The Supreme Court ignored the fact that as a result the estate must pay income taxes on the punishment damages since they are not designed to make the insured whole and punished each member and insured of USAA. In my opinion it’s time the courts of the USA do away with the tort of bad faith to avoid excessive judgments and allow contract disputes to be enlarged into a major amount of punishment for an insurer who rejected a claim based on interpretation of contract terms and the facts of a loss, like this case. In that regard see my book, It’s Time to Abolish The Tort of Bad Faith Available as a paperback here. Available as a Kindle book here. (c) 2024 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc. Please tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos. Subscribe to my substack at https://barryzalma.substack.com/subscribe Go to X @bzalma; Go to Newsbreak.com https://www.newsbreak.com/@c/1653419?s=01; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/account/content?type=all; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://lnkd.in/gwEYk

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 Bishop Robert Barron Cycle C Advent 2nd wk of Advent Topics God's love Pride Bible References Matthew 11:28-30 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus offers to free us from the burden of our pride. What is it that makes our lives heavy and weighed down? Precisely the burden of our own egos, the weight of one’s own self. When I am puffing myself up with my own self-importance, I’m laboring under all that weight. Jesus is saying, “Become a child. Take that weight off your shoulders and put on the weight of my yoke, the yoke of my obedience to the Father.”  Anthony de Mello proposed the following parable to describe us prideful souls. A group of people sit on a bus that is passing through the most glorious countryside, but they have the shades pulled down on all the windows and are bickering about who gets front seat on the bus. This is the burden of pride: preferring the narrow and stuffy confines of the bus to the beauty that is effortlessly available all around. This, of course, is why Jesus can say, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” What the Lord proposes is not a freedom from suffering but, what is much more important, a freedom from the self. Gospel Reflections Meditate on Daily Gospel Reflections from Bishop Robert Barron

UNLIKE DONALD #TRUMP... I want #Police held accountable for their #Criminal actions! Trump says he wants to make Police even more "ABOVE THE LAW" than they are now! That is insane! Police should be REQUIRED BY LAW to have an active insurance policy for general liability, to pay out the lawsuits and police misconduct claims! And those cops should also be CRIMINALLY CHARGED under federal law, Title 18 U.S.C. § 241 and 18 U.S.C. § 242 every single time they violate the rights of Americans! I have been telling people this for YEARS! I install replacement windows for a living..... My job REQUIRES me to purchase a ONE MILLION DOLLAR general liability insurance policy. Without it I can't work! I DON'T carry a gun, shoot people, taze people, bust out people's car windows, imprison people with torture cuffs, or put people into a cage while I'm at work..... I simply install windows, and MUST HAVE liability insurance! Don't you think it's beyond reasonable to ask that #Police Officers be REQUIRED BY LAW to carry a general liability insurance policy, just like I have to have, since they DO all of the things listed above! They DO carry a gun, they DO commit violence against other Americans, they DO put people into shackles, they DO damage the property of Americans, and they DO harm Americans on a regular basis Is it REALLY necessary for ME to be forced to have general liability insurance in order to "Change a window" when we have MEN IN BODY ARMOR WITH GUNS AND TASERS who don't have insurance? You see..... Police definitely DON'T WANT to be required to purchase their own insurance policy! Do you know WHY??? I'll tell you... If these Police had their own liability insurance every time that an American citizen wins a case of police brutality or misconduct, and / or wrongful death when they kill the innocent.. THEIR INSURANCE WOULD HAVE TO PAY THE LAWSUIT! And that would make their premiums go up... And when it has happened several times (Like happens with bad cops) their policy would be CANCELLED leaving them unable to ever work as a police officer again! This is something that MUST HAPPEN! We can no longer tolerate a #Criminal gang of blue line thugs who are "Above the Law" and are NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE! And body cameras should be MANDATORY and activated throughout the shift of ALL POLICE OFFICERS! If they turn them off it should be an automatic 25 years in prison! The body cameras and dash cameras should be LIVE-STREAMED to servers controlled by CITIZEN OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES of regular Americans (Like myself and James Freeman) and to Police headquarters, after a 5 minute delay THE AMERICAN PEOPLE should NEVER get a redacted version of the body cameras, after all, THEY ARE THE BOSS! Every body camera in America should be viewable after a 5 minute delay, it should be released for ANYONE to look at it, at any time, and for any reason... and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should it be edited whatsoever! STOP enabling criminal behavior by Police! STOP enabling criminals to walk free among us! DEMAND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY WITH EVERY BREATHE YOU TAKE, RIGHT UP UNTIL THE VERY LAST ONE! Because if you should fail to do this.... Your children and grandchildren will live as #Slaves and under #Tyranny https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1651406135372025867?referrer=conservativethinking

Palo Alto Intel troubles boss makes escape the chipmaker high level after 45 years as it struggles to compete with rivals in the race to power artificial intelligence. Rivals such as Nvidia and AMD have left the chip company far behind paranoid survive. During the 1990s, the partnership between Microsoft Windows and Intel, known as "Wintel", became instrumental in shaping the PC landscape. Silicon Valley tonynetone

🔥 Microsoft Connected Experiences means they collect your Word and Excel files for AI training. Why not call it AI training? Why use such words? This is an unethical practice followed by a trillion-dollar corporation. How is this even legal? I am so glad that I don’t have Windows OS or MS office. https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft Remember Bill Gates Stole DOS to start M$!

Police should be REQUIRED BY LAW to have an active insurance policy for general liability, to pay out the lawsuits and police misconduct claims! And those cops should also be CRIMINALLY CHARGED under federal law, Title 18 U.S.C. § 241 and 18 U.S.C. § 242 every single time they violate the rights of Americans! I have been telling people this for YEARS! I install replacement windows for a living..... My job REQUIRES me to purchase a ONE MILLION DOLLAR general liability insurance policy. Without it I can't work! I DON'T carry a gun, shoot people, taze people, bust out people's car windows, imprison people with torture cuffs, or put people into a cage while I'm at work..... I simply install windows, and MUST HAVE liability insurance! Don't you think it's beyond reasonable to ask that #Police Officers be REQUIRED BY LAW to carry a general liability insurance policy, just like I have to have, since they DO all of the things listed above! They DO carry a gun, they DO commit violence against other Americans, they DO put people into shackles, they DO damage the property of Americans, and they DO harm Americans on a regular basis Is it REALLY necessary for ME to be forced to have general liability insurance in order to "Change a window" when we have MEN IN BODY ARMOR WITH GUNS AND TASERS who don't have insurance? You see..... Police definitely DON'T WANT to be required to purchase their own insurance policy! Do you know WHY??? I'll tell you... If these Police had their own liability insurance every time that an American citizen wins a case of police brutality or misconduct, and / or wrongful death when they kill the innocent.. THEIR INSURANCE WOULD HAVE TO PAY THE LAWSUIT! And that would make their premiums go up... And when it has happened several times (Like happens with bad cops) their policy would be CANCELLED leaving them unable to ever work as a police officer again! This is something that MUST HAPPEN! We can no longer tolerate a #Criminal gang of blue line thugs who are "Above the Law" and are NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE! And body cameras should be MANDATORY and activated throughout the shift of ALL POLICE OFFICERS! If they turn them off it should be an automatic 25 years in prison! The body cameras and dash cameras should be LIVE-STREAMED to servers controlled by CITIZEN OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES of regular Americans (Like myself and James Freeman) and to Police headquarters, after a 5 minute delay THE AMERICAN PEOPLE should NEVER get a redacted version of the body cameras, after all, THEY ARE THE BOSS! Every body camera in America should be viewable after a 5 minute delay, it should be released for ANYONE to look at it, at any time, and for any reason... and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should it be edited whatsoever! STOP enabling criminal behavior by Police! STOP enabling criminals to walk free among us! DEMAND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY WITH EVERY BREATHE YOU TAKE, RIGHT UP UNTIL THE VERY LAST ONE! Because if you should fail to do this.... Your children and grandchildren will live as #Slaves and under #Tyranny https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1651406135372025867

Right on Que… 43 Monkeys escaped from a Research Facility in South Carolina- Authorities warn to Lock their Doors and Windows I’ve seen this movie before… • The monkeys “broke loose” from a Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County 😡According to its website, Alpha Genesis breeds monkeys and provides "nonhuman primate products and bio-research services" across the globe.😡 https://rumble.com/v5mvu98-43-monkeys-escaped-from-a-research-facility-in-south-carolina-authorities-w.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiNUxHxrxHE Practice run?? I heard businesses in the area are boarding up windows..

GOOD MORNING FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS: AS MANY OF YOU KNOW, I LIVE RETIRED IN THE U.S. TERRITORY OF PUERTO RICO IN THE CARIBBEAN. MOVING HERE WASN'T A BAD IDEA: TROPICAL WEATHER, CLOSE TO THE SEA SHORE, NO NEED FOR HEATING BILLS, NO SHOVELING SNOW, NO HEAVY CLOTHES, NO DRIVING ON BLACK ICE AND STILL IN THE U.S.A. EVEN BETTER: HAVING MY OWN HOME BUILT STRONGER THAN IN THE MAINLAND AND NO PROPERTY TAXES IF THE HOUSE IS YOUR MAIN PLACE OF RESIDENCE, NO COMPULSORY HOME INSURANCE AND CAR INSURANCE IS ONLY ONE PAYMENT A YEAR OF LESS THAN $200 FOR BASIC LIABILITY AND IT COMES ATTACHED TO THE REGISTRATION. IT COULD HAVE BEEN PARADISE UNTIL IN 2020, THE GLOBAL POWERS DECLARED A GLOBAL "PANDEMIC". THE TYRANNY THAT FOLLOWED, VARIED DEPENDING ON THE COUNTRY OR STATE WHERE YOU LIVED IN. HERE IN PUERTO RICO, THE TYRANNY WAS ONE OF THE WORST IN THE U.S. COMPULSORY LOCKDOWN, WEARING MASK ALL THE TIME, KEEPING 6 FEET APART FROM OTHER PEOPLE... STREETS WERE EMPTY, BUSINESSES CLOSED... ONCE I WAS WALKING IN TOWN WITH MY WIFE, GOING TO A GROCERY MINI MARKET TO GET SOME FOOD AND WE WERE STOPPED BY THE POLICE TELLING US THAT WE HAD TO WALK 6 FEET AWAY FROM EACH OTHER (BEING HUSBAND AND WIFE), THEY ASKED WHERE WE WERE GOING TO AND WE TOLD THEM THE TRUTH, THEY SAID 'GO BACK HOME, THE GROCERY IS CLOSED'. WE KNEW PHARMACIES REMAINED OPEN, SO WE SAID THAT WE NEEDED SOMETHING FROM THE PHARMACY AND KEPT ON WALKING. THE POLICE LIED TO US, THE GROCERY WAS OPEN. ANOTHER TIME, ON A SUNDAY MORNING WITH STREETS TOTALLY EMPTY, I WAS ALONE IN MY CAR WITHOUT MASK AND STEPPED OUTSIDE THE CAR FOR A FEW SECONDS TO DEPOSIT SOME MAIL IN A MAIL BOX LOCATED IN THE SIDEWALK, OUT OF NOWHERE, A POLICE WOMAN CAME, THREATENING ME WITH ARREST FOR BEING OUTSIDE WITHOUT A MASK, I RAN BACK TO THE CAR AND STEPPED ON THE GAS... A YOUNG GUY WAS BEATEN AND ARRESTED FOR BEING ON A BICYCLE WITHOUT MASK... THEN CAME THE SOLUTION: THE VACCINES. THE REMEDY WAS WORSE THAN THE SICKNESS. VACCINATION WAS QUASI COMPULSORY: NO VACCINE, NO JOB, NO VACCINE, NO SCHOOL, NO VACCINE, NO EATING IN RESTAURANTS OR EVEN GOING TO THE BEACH, NO SERVICES, NO ENTRANCE IN PUBLIC PLACES, DOCTORS WERE TELLING PATIENTS 'WITHOUT VACCINE YOU CAN'T EVEN STAND OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE', MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND EVEN LIFE OR DEATH SURGERIES WERE DENIED TO THE NON VACCINATED... PEOPLE WERE DYING FOR BEING DENIED MEDICAL SERVICES. MY WIFE NEEDED AN ANNUAL MEDICAL TEST AND HAD TO RUN TO A FREE STATE TO GET IT... SHE'S NEVER COMING BACK TO THIS 'SHITHOLE'. IN ORDER TO LIVE A MORE NORMAL LIFE, ABOUT 90% OF THE PEOPLE GOT VACCINATED MULTIPLE TIMES, BECAUSE ONE DOSE WAS NOT ENOUGH, IN ORDER TO KEEP YOUR JOB, YOU HAD TO HAVE YOUR VACCINES UP TO DATE... THEN THE SAME NEWS REPEATING EVERYDAY ON THE RADIO, DIFFERENT PEOPLE, DIFFERENT LOCATION BUT BASICALLY THE SAME NEWS: 'DRIVER LOST CONTROL OF A VEHICLE, IMPACTED A TREE, A WALL OR A UTILITY POLE AND DIED INSTANTLY... OF COURSE, IT WAS A VACCINE INDUCED HEART ATTACK WHILE DRIVING. IN OTHER NEWS: 'A DEAD STINKY BODY OF A MAN OR WOMAN IS FOUND IN A HOUSE OR APARTMENT WITH NO SIGN OF VIOLENCE, WHEN NEIGHBORS CALLED 911 AFTER THE BAD SMELL WAS COMING OUT OF THE WINDOWS. THE SAME NEWS, DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST: 'BABY FOUND DEAD AT HOME WITHOUT SIGNS OF MISTREATMENT'. SAME NEWS, DIFFERENT BABIES, PROBABLY BY DRINKING BREAST MILK FROM VACCINATED MOTHERS. THEN YOUNGER PEOPLE STARTED DYING SUDDENLY WITHOUT EXPLANATION. RECENTLY, A FEMALE ATHLETE FROM PUERTO RICO (29) DIED IN A SPORT COMPETITION IN TURKEY, EVEN BEFORE SHE PLAYED. A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, A POLICE WOMAN (28) COLLAPSED AND DIED. THE NEWS NEVER GIVE ANY INFORMATION ON THE CAUSE OF DEATH... AND THEN, THE 'TURBO CANCERS'. YOUNGER PEOPLE ARE BEING DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER THAT FROM THE MOMENT OF DIAGNOSIS IS ALREADY IN PHASE 4 AND THEY ARE NOT LASTING VERY LONG. ACCORDING TO A GRAPHIC LEFT BY THE LATE DOCTOR ZELENKO, THE EFFECTS OF THE VACCINES WILL LAST FOR UP TO 10 YEARS, WITHIN THAT PERIOD, THE VACCINATED WILL BE DYING BUT THE DIAGNOSIS WILL BE ANY KNOWN ILLNESS, NEVER BLAMING THE VACCINES. THE BAD NEWS IS, THE VACCINATED MAY FEEL FINE NOW BUT BEFORE 10 YEARS AFTER THE SHOTS, THEY WILL BE GONE. IT'S THE PERFECT CRIME, A HOLOCAUST AND NOBODY IS PAYING THE PRICE FOR KILLING PEOPLE.

CAN'T UNINSTALL RECALL - ANOTHER REASON TO DITCH WINDOWS https://old.bitchute.com/video/Wf5HIcWbbXA/