Rhode Island shop owner wins millions in lawsuit against Amica, Metropolitan

(All text, information, and photos are courtesy of Fender Bender Online.)

June 12, 2012—David Miller, former owner of Miller’s Auto Body in Cumberland, R.I., on May 29 won a multi-million judgment against Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company and Amica Mutual Insurance Company, according to a report by The Valley Breeze newspaper.

In 2002, Miller was accused of defrauding both insurance companies with multiple counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. Miller had criminal charges filed against him by the Rhode Island State Police.

The Office of Attorney General dismissed all charges after the jury’s verdict found that Metropolitan and Amica both intentionally withheld vital information throughout the prosecution, according to The Valley Breeze.

Miller filed a countersuit in 2006, claiming that the companies were “liable for an abuse of process,” Miller’s attorney, Michael Kelly, told The Valley Breeze.

Kelly told The Valley Breeze that the jury found the insurance companies “acted with malice and bad faith, and with such willfulness, wickedness, or recklessness that amounts to criminality, which for the good of society and warning to the defendant, ought to be punished.” The jury issued $1.25 million in punitive damages against Metropolitan and Amica.

According to The Valley Breeze, Miller was awarded with a total judgment of more than $1.5 million from Amica, and more than $1.7 million from Metropolitan.

(To view the original article, please go here: http://www.fenderbender.com/FenderBender/June-2012/Rhode-Island-shop-owner-wins-millions-in-lawsuit-against-Amica-Metropolitan/)

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