Courthouse News Service, Court Nixes Class Action on Geico Insurance Fraud:
The 7th Circuit dismissed a man’s prospective class action, accusing Geico of omitting necessary repairs from its collision-damage estimates, because the plaintiff had donated his car to charity after the crash without performing repairs.
Steven Greenberger, a professor at DePaul University College of Law, was involved in a crash in 2002 that damaged the bumper, steering box, suspension and lower body of his 1994 Acura.
Geico evaluated the damages and wrote Greenberger a check for $3,284.69. A body shop later estimated that the car would cost $4,938.65 to repair, about $1,150 more than Geico estimated.
Greenberger deposited Geico’s check and donated the car to charity without making any repairs. He then accused Geico of “systematically [omitting] necessary repairs from its collision-damage estimates in violation of the promise to restore the policyholder’s vehicle to its preloss condition.” An Illinois federal court entered summary judgment for Geico, and the 7th Circuit upheld the ruling on Monday.
- National Law Journal, Law Professor Who Gave Away the Evidence Loses Appeal
According to his DePaul faculty webpage, Steven is Associate Dean of Faculty at DePaul and teaches Civil Procedure and Complex Civil Litigation. Prior to joining the DePaul faculty, he was as a corporate litigator with Irell & Manella (Los Angeles).
