Revised: 09/22/2006
Court rules against Farmers Insurance
PORTLAND - Oregon's highest court has
ruled against Farmers Insurance, saying the insurance
company had no right to deduct the payouts an injured
woman received from two other insurance sources.
In 1988, Terrel Ann Bergmann was injured in a car crash,
after another driver failed to stop at a red light. She
received $25,000 from the other driver's insurance
policy, as well as over $107,000 in workers'
compensation benefits. But because the total did not
cover her damages - which she estimated topped $650,000
- she asked to receive the maximum $100,000 from her own
Farmers underinsured motorist policy.
Farmers refused, saying state law allowed the company to
deduct the other payouts she had received from the
$100,000 it owed - bringing the total to nothing.
A Jackson County judge sided with Farmers and the Oregon
Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. But a divided
Oregon Supreme Court reversed the appeals court decision
by a 4-3 vote.
Apparel
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