New York City comedian Matt Fisher wrote in a recent blogpost that Progressive Insurance, owned by liberal billionaire donor Peter Lewis, has gone to "staggering lengths to avoid paying out a policy on his late sister, including using its own lawyers to defend her killer in court." The New York Daily News reports:
Fisher says his sister Katie was killed in Baltimore on June 19, 2010, when her car was struck by an underinsured driver who apparently ran a red light.
The insurance company of the at-fault driver paid out Katie’s estate "basically immediately" but Progressive refused to pay out the difference.
Maryland state law prohibits individuals from suing an insurance company for refusing to pay, so Fisher and his family had to sue his sister’s killer. The ultimate shock came when Fisher arrived at the hearing, he saw that "the guy who killed my sister was defended by Progressive's legal team." "If you are insured by Progressive, and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy."
Progressive Insurance chairman Peter Lewis spent $25 million to defeat Bush in 2004. A generous donor to left-wing causes, he left the Democracy Alliance last spring.
Update:
In response to the piece run by the Free Beacon, Chris Wolf, claims general manager at Progressive emailed the following statement:
I’d like to take this opportunity to explain Progressive’s role in this complex case. First and foremost, our deepest sympathies go out to Kaitlynn Fisher’s family.
To be very clear, Progressive did not serve as the attorney for the defendant in this case. He was defended by his insurance company, Nationwide.
There was a question as to who was at fault, and a jury decided in the Fisher family’s favor just last week. We respect the verdict and now can continue to work with the Fisher family to reach a resolution.