05/24/2026
Sharing a post from my LinkedIn page from another attorney.
State Farm made $13 billion in profit last year.
Progressive made $11 billion. Allstate, $10 billion.
These aren't revenue numbers. That's PROFIT.
Last October, Utah changed its laws to make it harder to recover full settlements in personal injury cases. The insurance industry said it would lower premiums.
Nobody's premiums went down.
These companies have spent millions — here and across the country — pushing the story that personal injury settlements are out of control, that attorneys are the problem, that reform is necessary to protect consumers.
It's a three-part strategy:
1. They go to the public first, calling Pl attorneys ambulance chasers and making every injury claim look like a scam.
2. They lobby legislators with armies of full-time attorneys and lobbyists - and campaign donations.
3. Then they find the perfect case, appeal it through the courts, and file amicus briefs until the law bends their way.
And who's on the other side?
Me. And a few thousand other small law firm owners who have bills to pay and clients to serve, and can't leave the office to go testify in front of the legislature every time the insurance industry rolls out a new campaign.
Companies with billions of dollars at their disposal are operating against attorneys dealing in the thousands. That's not a fair fight - it's pay-to-play.
It makes me angry, especially because the people who really lose here aren't the lawyers.
The people who lose are the ones who get hit by a negligent driver, don't have enough insurance, and now find out the law was changed to make their recovery smaller.
The general public doesn't know this is happening.
A lot of medical providers don't, either.
So it's vital that we keep raising awareness.
