Free Response to Motion - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA

IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF PIMA

Richard Coelho, husband; 1 Cathy Coelho, wife; Individually and.as parents of ) Alex Joseph Coe-lho, deceased, ) Plaintiffs, vs .
)

No. 3 3 0 0 9 8 (Consolidated with David F. Burriss, husband; Jane) C - 3 3 1 5 2 7 and Doe Burriss, wife individually ) 2 0 0 0 3 7 5 7 ) and as parents and next best 1 friends of David F. Burriss, ) Jr., a minor; et al.,
) )

Defendants.

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American Standard Insurance Company, 1 Plaintiff, )
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DEC
Richard Coelho, husband; Cathy ) ' Coelho, wife, individually and ) as parents of Alex Joseph I---* Coelho, deceased, Defendants. )
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2 7 2001

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DEPOSITION OF JANET B. NEARY

Phoenix, Arizona December 5, 2 0 0 1 1 0 : 2 1 a.m. Prepared for: M. JAY FELIX Attorney at Law
( Copy )

Prepared By:
ELAINE M. CROPPER, RDR, CRR

Arizona CCR # S O 4 9 1
CROPPER & ASSOCIATES, LTD. 7 7 East Columbus, Suite 1 0 2 Phoenix, AZ 8 5 0 1 2 - 2 3 5 1

CROPPER & ASSOCIATES, (602) 277-8882

LTD.

Case 2:03-cv-01277-SRB

Document 203-3

Filed 09/21/2005

Page 1 of 4

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30 days is just an average.

Q.

Does American Family have any guideline that

you're aware of for handling deadline demands? A. We instruct the employees that, based on the

Arizona Unfair Claims Practice Act, that any written request, any written correspondence be answered within 10 working days or be responded to.

Q.

Does American Family subscribe to the Unfair

Claims Practices Act? A. Yes.
.

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Q

That would be something that American Family

would look to as a guideline for how to properly handle claims? A. Yes. Excuse me for just a moment. (Discussion off the record.)

Q.

Q.

My partner heard something that I didn't so

maybe I better clarify it.
I wanted to ask you about the process of

referring a file to the in-house Legal Department. it your practice to refer a file to in-house Legal Department when there are - - well, let me ask you a broader question.

Is

What is the practice at American Family for referring claims to the in-house Legal Department?
CROPPER
&

ASSOCIATES, LTD.

(602) 277-8882

Case 2:03-cv-01277-SRB

Document 203-3

Filed 09/21/2005

Page 2 of 4

Page 1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Verla Taylor; Plaintiff,
vs

.

1 1 1 1 1
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No. CV '01 1942 PHX FJM

1 American Family Mutual ) Insurance Company, a foreign -corporation; Does) I-x; 1 1 1 Defendants. 1

CONDENSED TRANSCRlm

DEPOSITION OF JANET NEARY

Phoenix, Arizona June 28, 2002 9:58 a.m.

23 24
25

Prepared for: MS. ALLEN (Certified Copy)

Prepared By: SHANNON STEVENSON Certified Court Reporter Certificate No. 50461

Case 2:03-cv-01277-SRB

Document 203-3

Filed 09/21/2005

Page 3 of 4

Page 22

Page 24 .

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2 Q 3 yourself! 4 4 A Ya. 5 ~ e t ' sgo now to exhibit before we go 5 Q 6 6 here, you've had a chance to look at Exhibit 35 and 7 7 Exhibit 377 8 8 A Yes. 9 9 Q Other than those two exhibits, an you 10 aware of any other documents available to claims personnel 10 1 1 at American Family that speak in any fashion on the topics I I 12 12 for which you've been designated as the spokesman of the 13 13 company today? 14 14 A No, I do not. 15 15 Q ~ lright. Let's start with Exhibit 35. l 16 16 This is a document entitled corporate 17 17 claim philosophy and guidelines. This section dealing 18 18 with casualty, physical damage, business lines, worker's 19 19 comp, property, no fault and subrogation; correct? 20 20 A Yes. Q Apparently it was promulgated on or about 21 21 22 22 March 9. 1995? 23 23 A Yes. And the first page of Exhibit 35 under the 24 24 Q 25 25 heading "general guidelines." the first statement is

Yes. And management would, of course, include

2 3

1 that? A

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Yes. Q And the Department of Insurance writes some : regulations pursuant to the statute? A Yes. And we have given them copies of that as well. So they have both the act itself and the Q regulations7 A Yes. Q The second sentence reads. "the corporate philosophy is to allow the file handler to determine what is appropriate handling of the file based on the exposure and facts of the loss"; is that correct? A Yes. Q When the word "file handler" is used here, what does that mean? A The file handler would be the claims adjuster handling the claim. So if it was a claim n p , it would mean the Q claim rep, and if it was a claims analyst it would mean a claims analyst, and if it were both a rep and an analyst, then it would mean both o f them? A Correct. Q Is there any magic to the phrase "handling"? I mean what constitutes handling; in other

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"American Family will cotnply with all state statutes including the settlement practice statutes o f the states in which we operate"; is that correct? A Yes. Q Is there a statute in Arizona which American Family conducts its business in accord on the topic of settlement practices? A The Unfair Claims Practice Act through the Department of insurance would be one that we adhe to, yes. Q And the Department of Insurance in Arizona publishes certain regulations in connection with that act A Yes. Q Do the claims personnel at American Family have access to that information? A Yes. How do they have access to if in a book Q somewhere in the office that they can go and get? Doe! everybody have a copy at their desk? A We have given every adjuster a copy of the Unfair Practices Act. Q How about the regulations? A The regulations other than the Unfair Claims Practices Act? Q The act is a statute. Do you understand

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words, when are you a file handler and not if there is such a distinction? MS. ALLEN: Form. Q BY MR. WAUGH: In terms ofthe level of your activity in connection with the claim? MS. ALLEN: Form. THE WITNESS: Any adjuster who had -who was assigned any part of a claim could be considered a filehandla. Q BY MR. WAUGH: Okay. Would that be true for a manager too who may have been consulted by an adjuster about what to do with a claim? MS. ALLEN: Form. THE WITNESS: File handling could in my mind mean the adjuster who is handling a claim. If a manager is brought in for consultation or guidance or advice. I don't necessarily think of them as the file handler. It is the adjuster who is physically handling that file. MS. ALLEN: I need to take a short break. MR. WAUGH: Sure. (Break taken at 10:32 am.) (Back on the record at 1 0 3 7 am.) Q BY MR. WAUGH: Would the manager in thi situation who you would not consider the file handler be

7 (Pagcs 22 to 25) BARTELT & KENYON
(602) 25441 11
592b56dMe184!

AMFAM010903

Case 2:03-cv-01277-SRB

Document 203-3

Filed 09/21/2005

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