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Vol. 36 / Issue 12 / December 2018
2018 Legislative Roundup in California: It Was a Very Good Year
Progressive Corporation’s Appeal Dismissed by State Appeals Panel in FL
by Ed Attanasio
by Emmariah Holcomb, glassBYTEs.com
There were a lot of proposed bills this year that could have either helped or hurt the collision repair industry in California. But by working hard to support or oppose them, CAA lobbyist Jack Molodanof was able to say it was a productive and successful year, legislatively speaking. “The state legislature adjourned for the year, and the governor finished taking action on many bills,” Molodanof said. “CAA had a very successful legislative year, which
included supporting new laws that require preventative maintenance facilities to be registered with BAR and allowing customer authorizations through text message and other electronic means. CAA was also actively involved in stopping several pieces of legislation, including bills that would have: 1.) allowed insurers to conduct labor rate surveys in a manner skewing results and suppressing market rates; 2.) treated auto repair facilities as debt collectors and 3.) created new tires fees.” Below is a summary of key bills See Legislative Roundup, Page 12
Automakers at OEM Summit Offer Updates on Certified Collision Repair Center Programs by John Yoswick
The Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) day-long OEM Col-
Nicole Riedel of Subaru said the automaker’s certified shop program will be opening up for independent shop participation
lision Repair Technology Summit held in Las Vegas during SEMA included updates from a number of automakers on their collision shop certification programs. Nicole Riedel of Subaru of America, for example, said that independent shops will soon be added to her company’s shop certification program that was launched with dealership shops this past June. “We have a little over 600 retailers across the U.S., and of that, at most one-third have collision centers,” Riedel said. “That’s not nearly See OEM Summit, Page 24
Progressive Corporation’s appeal was dismissed by the state appeals panel in Florida in early November. The auto insurer has been accused of piling windshield replacement companies with the cost of insurance appraisals, according to court documents. Two years ago, four companies sued Progressive in a county court, claiming the company was in breach of contract for only paying a portion of covered windshield repairs. The four windshield replacement companies are: • • • •
SHL Enterprises LLC, Shazam Auto Glass LLC, Glassmetics LLC, and Lloyd’s of Shelton Auto Glass LLC
According to Progressive, its company policy includes an appraisal provision that works to resolve repair cost disputes. The windshield replacement companies claimed the appraisal provisions violated state law. According to the panel, the county court agreed and considered the provisions unenforceable because it requires windshield companies to pay for appraisal costs. The court claimed this was equivalent to a deductible. The appeals panel claimed the lower courts, who had previously viewed the case, misunderstood state laws after these instances:
• The lower courts referred to the company’s cost-shifting as a deductible, and See Appeal Dismissed, Page 17
11th Circuit Considers Whether to Reinstate Auto Insurance Price-Fixing Claims
ices by agreeing among themselves to pay a preset “market rate” and to enThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the force compliance by “steering” their Eleventh Circuit heard arguments Oct. insureds to businesses that play ball, 23 leveled by a group of auto body re- effectively boycotting other shops. pair shops claiming State Farm InsurIn addition to State Farm, the defendants include Allstate, Progressive, GEICO, Nationwide, USAA, Liberty Mutual and Hartford, among others. Sitting en banc, the judges were considering whether to keep alive multidistrict litigation that was tossed out by a district judge for failure to Mark Shurtleff (left) and John Eaves. Republished with state a claim, then revived by permission. Credit: John Disney, ALM/Daily Report a split panel last year. ance and a host of other national The cases have been combined carriers are conspiring to fix prices. in Florida’s Middle District, and the The plaintiffs say the insurers instant appeals represent five of 14 have conspired to drive down the similar complaints combined in the prices they’re charged for repair servSee Price-Fixing Claims, Page 10 by Greg Land, Daily Report
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