Southern California residents say car insurance company is unfairly denying claims

Jennifer Darconte was driving her SUV at nighttime when an animal darted in front of her.

“Something came running across and I just tried to avoid it,” she said.

Darconte swerved and smashed into a light post in Corona. 

“I could tell right away the car was in really bad shape,” she said.

In fact, she totaled her 2011 GMC Yukon. 

Darconte called her insurance company, National General, and was stunned to learn that they weren’t going to pay up. 

“I was not expecting to be told, ‘We’re not going to cover this. You’re out a $10,000 vehicle,’” she said.

National General told Darconte that when she first applied for insurance, she failed to disclose that she had a 14-year-old son. 

“I said, ‘Are you kidding, what are you talking about? I can’t believe this is happening to me.’” she said. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m sorry, you failed to inform us.’ If they’re not driving, why do I have to inform you, if they’re not a person who’s going to be driving the car?” she said.

National General stood firm. It denied Darconte’s claim and canceled her policy.

In a statement to the I-Team, National General’s parent company, Allstate, said Darconte’s claim was “denied after thorough review.”

“In good faith, I paid my insurance bills every month. I made sure that insurance was there for this very reason,” said Darconte.

The Department of Insurance told the I-Team that it’s not unusual for an insurance company to require you to disclose other members of your household, even non-driving teenagers, so they can accurately underwrite the policy.

But attorney Justin King said there’s a bigger problem here. 

“They’ve set up a corporate process that allows them to get out of paying thousands and thousands of claims after the fact, based on information they never asked for at the beginning,” he said.

King said National General’s digital application isn’t clear. He said the application only asks you to list all drivers. But then later in the application, King said it asks you to confirm that you disclosed all members of the home who are older than 14, something you were never asked to do in the first place. King said this question auto-fills to “yes,” so people could be confused or don’t catch it. 

“The only thing I can assume is it’s done intentionally. Because it’s very easy to make a digital application clear and just have a question that says to please list all the members of your household over the age 14,” he said.

King said that loophole has allowed National General to unfairly deny claims, saving the company millions of dollars. He’s now suing National General. He has hundreds of customers on board, and he’s seeking class-action status. 

“These are significant amounts of money for people who are living day to day, trying to pay the rent, trying to put food on the table. And it can flip someone’s life upside down when this happens,” he said.

National General didn’t respond to our emails about the lawsuit. But in court filings, it’s denied all allegations. 

As for Darconte, this financial setback is devastating for her family. They can’t afford to buy another car. 

“We just don’t have the money, you know. We were in a hard place when it happened, and that just knocked us down even farther. It’s just devastating for us financially,” she said.