Allstate Wins Class Action Suit on Diminished Value

After a three-week trial, a St. Clair County, Ill. Circuit Court jury returned a complete defense verdict last Thursday, April 29 for Allstate Insurance Company in a 30-state class action involving diminished value claims in auto insurance.

The plaintiffs in the case had charged that Allstate should have paid for the “diminished value” of automobiles involved in accidents. They alleged that the insurer should be responsible for paying the amount a vehicle loses in value after full repairs have been made. The plaintiffs, who were represented by both local and national class action law firms, sought nearly $400 million in damages.

“We are delighted that the jury agreed with our evidence that Allstate complied with all of its obligations under the policy,” stated Margo Weinstein, counsel for Allstate and a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. “We are not aware of any other multistate class action jury trial in which a corporate defendant prevailed.”

The law firm’s announcement also noted that “the case was unusual in that it was one of the few multistate class actions that has ever gone to trial. It covered some 387,000 Allstate policyholders from 29 states and the District of Columbia.”

In addition to the Sonnenschein firm Allstate was also represented by Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP of San Francisco and the Edwardsville law firm of Burroughs, Hepler, Broom, MacDonald, Hebrank & True LLP.