Bill Would Allow Insurance Industry to Legally Discriminate Against West Virginians
Charleston, W.Va. – The West Virginia Association for Justice today condemned HB 3073, a bill that would allow insurance companies to discriminate against West Virginians based on religion, race, age, creed, color, national original and gender—in violation of the law—by granting them immunity from the West Virginia Human Rights Act. The legislation follows the West Virginia Supreme Court decision in Doris Michael, et. al. v. State Auto and Appalachian Heating. Indeed, the text in the bill states that its purpose is to overrule the Court in the Michael decision.
“How can legislators even consider a bill that would give insurance companies immunity to discriminate against West Virginias based on their religion, race, age, national origin, gender or even a disability. This is 2011, not 1950. Evidently the insurance industry wants to turn back the clock if it means higher profits. Our legislature’s first priority must be protecting the citizens they represent—not billion-dollar insurance corporations who discriminate against West Virginians” said Michael J. Romano, president of the West Virginia Association for Justice.
“All Americans must be free from discrimination. It’s a fundamental right that generations of Americans fought for in the face of persecution, jail and even death. It’s a right so fundamental that it should be strengthened—not weakened or eliminated just because the insurance industry wants to violate it. Our legislature should be thinking about adding protections for all insurance consumers, not eliminating the few that we have left.”
In the Michael case, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled that an insurance company could not unlawfully discriminate against a claimant based on race under the West Virginia Human Rights Act by wrongfully delaying settlement of an otherwise legitimate insurance claim. In her decision, Justice Robin Davis wrote that the Human Rights Act applies to "any person, employer, employment agency, labor organization, owner, real estate broker, real estate salesman or financial institution." Simply, an insurance company must follow the law and not discriminate.
The West Virginia Human Rights Act was passed in 1961 and prohibits a person from engaging in any act with a purpose of harassing, degrading, embarrassing, or causing physical harm or economic loss. "Hence, an insurer settling a property damage claim with a member of a protected class in a discriminatory manner that causes economic loss violates the Act," Davis wrote.
“We, in West Virginia, hold individual freedom in high regard and vehemently protect those whose freedoms would be taken for any reason—particularly when that freedom is taken by an insurance company just to earn greater profits,” said Romano.
WVAJ AFFINITY PARTNERS
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