Hulk Hogan Sues His Lawyers: What consumers need to know about car insurance

Ben Glass
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 320
Posted by Ben GlassSeptember 18, 2009 8:44 PM

Terry Bollea's (aka "Hulk Hogan") recent lawsuit against his former lawyers at Zuckerman Spaeder, has several very important teaching points for consumers.

Here's the short version of the story. Hogan's son, Nick, was involved in a very serious car crash when he was 17. In fact, his passenger was permanently injured. The Hogan family had car insurance with Progressive Insurance Company. Progressive carried $250,000 of coverage (way too low!!).

According to the a lawsuit that has recently been filed in Florida, after the accident, Hogan did not notify Progressive of the case. Instead, the family hired the Zuckerman Spaeder firm to represent young Nick in any civil claim and any criminal claim that might arise from the accident. The family agreed to pay an astonishing $550 per hour and began to deposit large amounts of money with the law firm, which worked the case to the (ultimate tune of) about $1,500,000 in fees and costs.

Now Hogan is suing is son's former firm alleging, essentially this: you never told me that Progressive would have provided me a defense that would have cost me nothing.

Teaching point #1: yes, that's true...if you cause an accident your car insurance company will pay for your defense.

Teaching point #2: if you cause an auto accident call your insurance company and report it.

What kid graduating from high school in America today doesn't know that??

This will be an interesting case because if the allegations are true these lawyers could be in a heap of trouble.

2 Comments

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Mike BryantInjuryBoard Attorney Member
Posted by Mike Bryant
September 19, 2009 10:10 PM

I hadn't heard about this, but amazing that the firm would just miss that little point. It's amazing that a person like Hogan would have so little coverage. Seems with the types of cars they drove on Hogan Knows Best, they got very poor advice from their agent also.

Cary White
Posted by Cary White
September 22, 2009 6:27 PM

Excellent points all to which I would like to add:

- the value of an independent broker - if Terry Bollea's (aka "Hulk Hogan") purchased his insurance from Progressive, it is quite possible that he did so directly without an agent or broker - what recourse would he have against Progressive for underinsurance?

- personal umbrella insurance is very inexpensive and should be considered by any person worth more than $250,000 or earning more than $250,000 annually.

- not all personal umbrella policies are the same, only a select few include coverage for Uninsured Motorists/Underinsured Motorists. All families should consider carrying UM/UIM coverage equal to their Auto/Umbrella limits, or as high as possible - if liability insurance is essential to protect yourself from lawsuits from third parties, it stands to reason that you need to protect yourself from injuries caused by third parties with no insurance or insufficient insurance.

- when was the last time your carefully reviewed your own coverage? - As insurance brokers specializing in providing insurance coverage for lawyers and law firms, many of whom represent victims of automobile accidents, it blows my mind how many fail to procure sufficient insurance to protect their own family in the event of a catastrophic accident.

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