The choose stated a category motion can be higher than particular person lawsuits, with the damages mannequin the plaintiffs provided presenting an “appropriate percentage refund” over a size of time to deal with manageability.
The case stemmed from policyholders objecting to GEICO’s announcement that it will provide $2.5 billion of auto insurance coverage credit – together with a 15% low cost on renewals – beginning April 2020 to replicate how folks had been driving and stepping into automobile accidents much less typically because the pandemic.
The complaining policyholders stated GEICO reaped a windfall because the receivable credit score fell ‘well short’ of the ‘substantial and full relief’ the insurer had claimed the credit supplied, contemplating the lessened dangers on the highway, Reuters first reported.
The class motion – Day v. Geico Casualty Co et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 21-02103 – would cowl California residents who purchased automobile, motorbike, or RV insurance coverage from GEICO between March 1, 2022, and now.
GEICO can also be defending towards the same federal lawsuit in Chicago, the place it beforehand satisfied an appeals court docket to uphold the choose’s dismissal of the case.
Other insurers who provided pandemic-related refunds to policyholders embody State Farm and Allstate.