Perry v. Allstate

A Court authorized the notice because you have a right to know about a proposed settlement of this class action, including the right to claim money, and about your options regarding this settlement before the Court decides whether to give “Final Approval” to the settlement. If the Court approves the parties’ Class Action Stipulation of Settlement Agreement (“Settlement Agreement”), and if any appeals are resolved in favor of the settlement, then payments will be made to those who qualify and timely submit a valid Claim Form. The Class Notice explains the lawsuit, the settlement, your legal rights, what benefits are available, who may be eligible for them, and how to get them. A Claim Form was attached to the mailed Class Notice. You can also complete a Claim Form online.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio is overseeing this class action. The case is called Perry et al. v. Allstate Indemnity Company et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-01522. The persons that sued are called the “Plaintiffs,” and the companies they sued are called the “Defendants.”

To view a copy of the Class Notice, click here.

The settlement includes Defendant Allstate Indemnity Company, Defendant Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Company, Defendant Allstate Insurance Company, Defendant Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, North Light Specialty Insurance Company, Encompass Insurance Company, Encompass Indemnity Company, Encompass Property and Casualty Company, Encompass Insurance Company of America, Encompass Home and Auto Insurance Company, and Esurance Insurance Company.

The lawsuit claims that Defendants improperly deducted nonmaterial depreciation when adjusting some structural loss insurance claims in Ohio.

Defendants have denied all allegations that they acted wrongfully or unlawfully.

In a class action, one or more persons or organizations called “Class Representatives” (in this case, Andrea Perry, Ning Xu, Lori Ferguson, Jason Brown, Gabriel Lado, Josephine Maniaci, Bryon Smith, and Bryan Miskovch) sued on behalf of others who have similar claims. All of those included are a “Class” or “Class Members.” One court resolves the issues for all Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves from the Class.

The Court did not decide in favor of the Plaintiffs or Defendants and has not found that Defendants did anything wrong. Instead, both sides agreed to settle. That way, the parties avoid the cost of litigation, a trial, and potentially, an appeal, and the people and organizations who qualify will get compensation. The Class Representatives and their attorneys think the settlement is best for all Class Members. The settlement does not mean that Allstate did anything wrong, no trial has occurred, and no merits determinations have been made.

To see if you are eligible for benefits from this settlement, you first must determine if you are a Class Member.

If you received the Class Notice, then you have been identified as someone who may be a Class Member. The settlement class includes: all policyholders (except for those listed in the Exclusions below) under any property insurance policy issued by Allstate who made a Structural Loss claim for property located in the State of Ohio between May 16, 2015 through June 30, 2021, and that resulted in an ACV Payment from which Nonmaterial Depreciation was withheld.

“Structural Loss” means physical damage to a home, building, manufactured home, condominium, rental dwelling, or other structure in Ohio while covered by a homeowners residential, manufactured home, condominium, dwelling, or rental property insurance policy issued by Allstate.

“Nonmaterial Depreciation” means Depreciation of labor costs, overhead and profit, and/or other non-material items included within Xactimate® estimating software, and specifically including Depreciation resulting from the application of either the “depreciate removal,” “depreciate non-material” and/or “depreciate O&P” depreciation option settings.

“Depreciation” means the amount subtracted from the estimated replacement cost value to calculate the actual cash value, reflecting the reduction in value due to the age, condition, wear and tear, and/or obsolescence of item(s) of the damaged property.

Excluded from the Class are: (a) policyholders whose claims arose under policy forms, endorsements, or riders expressly permitting the Nonmaterial Depreciation within the text of the policy form, endorsement or rider, i.e., by express use of the words “depreciation” and “labor”; (b) policyholders who received one or more payments for a claim that exhausted the applicable limits of insurance; (c) policyholders whose claims were denied or abandoned without ACV payment(s) for any reason; (d) Allstate and their officers and directors; (e) members of the judiciary and their staff to whom this action is assigned and their immediate families; and (f) Class Counsel and their immediate families (collectively, “Exclusions”).

If you are not sure whether you are included in the Class, you may call the toll-free number 1-888-906-1552 with questions. If you do not know whether you are a Class Member, you can submit a Claim Form and your status as a potential Class Member will be determined for you.

Under the Settlement, Defendants have agreed to pay Class Members as follows:

1. Subject to the terms, limits, conditions, coverage limits, and deductibles of policies, Class Members, who have not been previously repaid in full for prior Nonmaterial Depreciation withholdings from an ACV Payment and timely file a valid and completed Claim Form(s) by September 8, 2023, shall receive 100% of the net estimated Nonmaterial Depreciation that was withheld from the ACV Payment(s) and not subsequently paid, plus simple interest calculated at one-half the annual Ohio legal rate of interest for the year when the loss was reported, and the annual Ohio legal rate of interest for subsequent years after the loss. The amount of this payment will vary based on the size of the claim and the amount of depreciation withheld;
   
   OR
2. Subject to the terms, limits, conditions, coverage limits, and deductibles of policies, Class Members who have been previously repaid in full for prior Nonmaterial Depreciation withholdings from an ACV Payment, shall receive a single payment in an amount ranging from $25 to $500 depending on the amount of Nonmaterial Depreciation originally withheld.

You must submit a Claim Form in order to determine whether you are eligible for payment and the amount of your settlement payment. If you do not, you will not receive a settlement payment. For additional details on the payment terms, please see the Settlement Agreement or call toll-free 1-888-906-1552.

To find out whether you are eligible for a payment, you must complete and return a truthful and accurate Claim Form. You must mail the completed Claim Form to the following address, postmarked no later than September 8, 2023.

Perry v. Allstate Administrator
P.O. Box 2210
Portland, OR 97208-2210

You can also upload to this website a signed, scanned copy of a completed claim form before midnight Central Daylight Time on September 8, 2023.

A copy of the Claim Form was mailed with the Class Notice. You may obtain an additional Claim Form by calling the Administrator at 888-906-1552 or file a claim online here. If you sign a claim form as the representative of a deceased or incapacitated Class Member, you must also submit written proof that you are the Legally Authorized Representative. If you are a contractor to whom an insurance claim was properly assigned by a policyholder, you must submit written proof of the assignment with the filed Claim Form.

If the Court grants Final Approval of the settlement, and if any appeals are resolved in favor of the settlement, then payments will be mailed to eligible Class Members after the claims administration process is completed. This process can take time, so please be patient.

Unless you exclude yourself, you are staying in the Class, and that means you can’t sue Allstate and the Released Persons over the claims settled in this case. It also means that all the Court’s orders will apply to you and legally bind you.

If you submit a Claim Form, or if you do nothing and stay in the Class, you will agree to release all “Released Persons” of all “Released Claims.” “Released Persons” and “Released Claims” are defined in the Settlement Agreement, which you can also request by calling 1-888-906-1552.

To exclude yourself from the settlement, you must mail a letter saying that you want to be excluded from the Perry, et al. v. Allstate Indemnity Company, et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-01522 settlement. Your letter must include your full name, address, and be signed. You must also include a clear statement that you wish to be excluded from the settlement class. You must mail your request for exclusion postmarked by June 26, 2023, to:

Perry v. Allstate Administrator
P.O. Box 2210
Portland, OR 97208-2210

More instructions are in the Settlement Agreement. You cannot exclude yourself by phone, by email, or on this website. The right to exclude yourself from the proposed settlement must be exercised individually, not as a member of a group and, except for a deceased or incapacitated Class Member, not by another person acting or purporting to act in a representative capacity. If you request exclusion on behalf of a deceased or incapacitated Class Member, you must also submit written proof that you are the Legally Authorized Representative.

No. Unless you exclude yourself, you give up any right to sue Allstate for the claims that this settlement resolves. You must exclude yourself from the Class to sue Allstate over the claims resolved by this settlement.

No. If you exclude yourself you will not receive a payment from this settlement.

The Court appointed the following law firms to represent you and other Class Members as Class Counsel:

Class Counsel
Erik D. Peterson (pro hac vice) Erik Peterson Law Offices, PSC 110 W. Vine Street, Suite 300 Lexington, KY 40507 > 1-800-614-1957  erik@eplo.law	Stephen G. Whetstone (OH# 0088666) WHETSTONE LEGAL, LLC 2 North Main Street, Suite 2 P.O. Box 6 Thornville, OH 43076 > 1-740-785-7730 Fax: 740-205-8898  steve@whetstonelegal.com
James A. DeRoche (OH #0055613) GARSON JOHNSON LLC 2900 Detroit Avenue Van Roy Building, Second Floor Cleveland, OH 44113 > 1-216-696-9330 Fax: 216-696-8558  jderoche@garson.com	Patrick J. Perotti (OH # 0005481) DWORKEN & BERNSTEIN CO., LPA 60 South Park Place Painesville, OH 44077 > 1-440-352-3391 Fax: 440-352-3469  pperotti@dworkenlaw.com

You do not have to pay Class Counsel. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, and potentially have that lawyer appear in court for you in this case, you may hire one at your own expense.

Class Counsel will ask the Court for up to $5,000,000 for attorneys’ fees and reasonable litigation expenses, and will ask the Court to award the Class Representatives $7,500 each for their efforts in representing the settlement class (called service awards). Defendants have agreed not to oppose the request for fees, expenses, and service awards up to these amounts. The Court may award less than these amounts. Defendants will separately pay these fees, expenses, and service awards that the Court orders. These payments will not reduce the amount distributed to Class Members. Defendants will also separately pay the costs to administer the settlement.

If you are a Class Member, you can object to the Settlement if you don’t like any part of it. If you want to object, you must do so by the postmark deadline of June 26, 2023, submit a written objection to the Court, and send a copy to the Administrator as noted below. You must include the name and number of the case (Perry et al. v. Allstate Indemnity Company et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-01522); your full name, current address, telephone number, and signature (or signature of your Legally Authorized Representative); the name, current address, telephone number, and bar number of all lawyers or other persons working with, representing, or advising you in connection with your objection; a statement of your membership in the Class, including all information required by the Claim Form; the specific reasons why you object to the Settlement; a statement as to whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing in person or through counsel; and a detailed list of any other objections to class action settlement filed by the you, the objector, in any court, whether state or federal, in the United States, in the previous five (5) years.

If you do intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing to object to the settlement, you must also provide with your written objection a detailed statement of the specific legal and factual basis for each objection; a list of any witnesses you will call at the hearing with each witness’s address and summary of their testimony; a detailed description of all evidence you will offer at the hearing with copies of the documents attached; and documentary proof of your membership in the Class. You or your lawyer may appear at the Final Approval Hearing if you have filed a written objection as provided above.

If you wish to object to the settlement and you do not serve a written objection containing all of the information listed above, you may not be permitted to object to the Settlement and may be foreclosed from challenging the Settlement by any means, including potentially through an appeal. Members of the Settlement Class who do not timely make their objections in this manner may be deemed to have waived all objections and may not be entitled to be heard at the Final Approval Hearing. If you have a lawyer file an objection for you, he or she must follow all of the Court’s rules.

Objecting is simply telling the Court that you don’t like something about the settlement. You can object only if you stay in the Class. Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you don’t want to be part of the Class or the settlement. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object because the case no longer affects you. If you object, and the Court approves the settlement anyway, you will still be legally bound by the result.

The Court has scheduled a Final Approval Hearing at 2:00 p.m. on July 25, 2023, at the The Howard M. Metzenbaum US Courthouse, East Chambers - Room 328, 201 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114. At this hearing, the Court will consider whether the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there are objections, the Court will consider them at that time. The Court may listen to people who have asked to speak about their objection. The Court may also decide how much to award Class Counsel for fees and expenses for representing the Class and how much the service awards should be for the Class Representatives. At or after the Final Approval Hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the settlement. It is not known how long this decision will take.

Check this website to make sure the Final Approval Hearing hasn’t been rescheduled, and to see whether the Court has scheduled the hearing to proceed by video conference or teleconference only instead of in person.

You are not required to attend, and Class Counsel will answer any questions that the Court may have. If you wish to attend the Final Approval Hearing, you may come at your own expense. You may also pay your own lawyer to attend, but it’s not necessary, unless you choose to have a lawyer appear on your behalf to object to the settlement.

If you submitted a proper and timely written objection to the settlement, you or your lawyer acting on your behalf may speak at the Final Approval Hearing. You cannot speak at the Final Approval Hearing if you exclude yourself.

If you do nothing, you’ll get no payment from this settlement. But, unless you exclude yourself from the settlement, you won’t be able to individually sue for the claims resolved in this case.

The notice summarizes the proposed settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement. If you have questions you can consult the Settlement Agreement, which provides more information, or call 1-888-906-1552.

PLEASE DO NOT CALL OR WRITE THE COURT, THE JUDGE OR HIS STAFF, OR ALLSTATE OR DEFENDANTS’ COUNSEL FOR INFORMATION OR ADVICE ABOUT THIS SETTLEMENT