October 26, 2005 - Ohio Supreme Court Gives Insurance Companies More Protection Than Victims

In an astonishing decision, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that health and automobile insurance companies that pay medical bills on behalf of a person who is injured by the negligence of another person are to be paid in full before the injured person may be permitted to receive any compensation. In other words, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that insurance companies have priority over injured victims.

For example, let's say Jane Doe is involved in automobile accident with a drunk driver, who possessed an automobile insurance policy with a liability limit of $12,500.00 (the state minimum amount). In the accident, Ms. Doe is severely injured and incurs $50,000.00 in medical expenses, all of which is paid by her health insurance company, and loses $10,000.00 in wages, none of which is covered by her employer. Ms. Doe's health insurance company has included a provision in her policy that requires that they be reimbursed before she receives any compensation in such situations. Of course, the inclusion of this provision in the policy was not as a result of Ms. Doe and her agent sitting down to negotiate the terms of the Plan. She was simply provided a copy of the Plan by the health insurance company through her employer. Assume then that the drunk driver's company offers their policy limits of $12,500.00 to settle the claim. Unfortunately, since her health insurance company has paid more than this amount, the health insurance company is permitted to collect every penny of the insurance proceeds, leaving Ms. Doe with absolutely nothing. Not only has she not been permitted to receive any compensation for her severe pain and suffering, she is actually out $10,000.00 as a result of missing work.

This decision obviously enriches the insurance companies at the expense of injured victims, those least able to afford such losses. Even though the insurance companies receive billions of dollars per year in the way of premiums, the profit created by those premiums does not appear to be enough for these companies. They continue to demand more and more of the hard-earned wages of workers. Unfortunately, the Ohio Supreme Court has now made it much easier for these companies to continue to pad the pockets of wealthy stockholders and executives with the suffering and misery of ordinary people.