Why Did CURE Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe Lie To The Detroit Free Press?

Last Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press ran a front page story (view the article) about how my efforts to speak out about CURE Auto Insurance in a blog post on the Michigan Auto Law website have resulted in the auto insurer filing two lawsuits against me and my law firm.

As part of the story, the Detroit Free Press reporter JC Reindl interviewed both myself and Eric Poe, the CEO of CURE Auto Insurance.

There will be plenty of time during the lawsuit and legal discovery to examine Eric Poe’s excuses to the FREEP for why CURE Auto Insurance currently ranks 3rd in consumer complaints in Michigan – for example, why would Eric Poe’s excuses apply only to CURE, but NOT apply to Michigan’s 84 other largest auto insurance companies?

But here’s the question that’s been on my mind since I first read the story: Why did CURE Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe lie to the Detroit Free Press reporter?

For example, CURE Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe told the Free Press he asked me “politely” to take down the blog.

The FREEP reporter openly mocks this, noting that shortly after I wrote the blog post I received a “stern letter by certified mail from the insurance company’s own lawyer” which demanded:

“‘IMMEDIATELY REMOVE DEFAMATORY BLOG POST,’ it read in bold, capitalized and underlined letters. ‘CEASE AND DESIST ALL LIBEL, SLANDER, AND DEFAMATION OF CURE AUTO INSURANCE.’”

This “polite” letter is actually the nastiest letter I’ve ever received in my 30 years of practicing law. And that’s saying something!

But all this pales with what CURE Auto Insurance’s CEO Eric Poe says next. Eric Poe is quoted telling the FREEP reporter: “‘. . .  and you try to be courteous and they refuse and then threaten a campaign and then launch a campaign, what are you supposed to do as a reasonable business person?’”

Factually, Cure Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe is just making this up out of thin air. There was no campaign. In fact, after replying to the nasty cease and desist letter I received, I didn’t do anything at all until CURE sued me. This is a complete fabrication.

But WHY is CURE Auto Insurance’s CEO Eric Poe lying? Why is CURE really suing me?

My hunch is that there’s a combination of factors at play here.

First, Eric Poe is a skilled political operator. Eric Poe spending a lot of time and money lobbying lawmakers and attempting to create an image of CURE Insurance that portrays the company as helping Detroiters by offering lower insurance rates. My blog uses publicly available data from the State of Michigan to show that CURE may not be helping Detroiters as much as Cure Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe claims.

Instead of helping Detroiters (whom they sell 88% of CURE policies to), CURE is targeting a population of people who are the most vulnerable and who are the least able to fight back. In my blog, I wrote about how although CURE is brand new to the Michigan market, they’ve already skyrocketed to #3 in consumer complaints among Michigan’s 85 largest auto insurers (quite a feat, considering how new they are to Michigan). I wrote about how 76% of these complaints about CURE involve claims handling – meaning how CURE is treating its own customers. And on the “whenCUREwontpay.com” website, I also wrote about the sworn testimony under oath of a CURE representative that they are canceling their own insureds’ policies at a rate of 1.5 people per day – which is an astounding number.

I believe the real number of rescissions and attempted cancellations is actually much higher, but we’ll learn more once I begin legal discovery, because CURE was silly enough to sue me.

The second factor is arrogance. Whoever it was who green-lit this lawsuit against me must be feeling very foolish right now. And they should. All of this was a foreseeable result of CURE’s thin-skinned reaction to my blog. If CURE had done nothing, if they hadn’t filed two lawsuits against me, this would all be a non-story today. No one would be talking about it —let alone reading about it on the front page of the Detroit Free Press. My original blog would have quietly faded from search results.

Instead, CURE filed a lawsuit to suppress truthful and accurate information they didn’t like, and it has backfired spectacularly.

The lawsuit has brought far more attention to CURE’s claims handling practices in this state than my blog ever could. I have also had a flood of CURE customers reach out to me on my website: whenCUREwontpay.com. Lawyers around Michigan are sending me their motions and the orders they have on cases with CURE involving rescission and improper claims handling.

CURE thought they could use intimidation to get me to take the blog down.

They are wrong.

Confession and Projection: Who’s really in it for the Money?

Then there is CURE’s spin campaign. CURE’s lawsuit against me claims one reason I don’t like CURE is because lower insurance limits hurt my bottom line.

Actually, the exact opposite is true. I’ve always supported auto No-Fault insurance in Michigan, even though it is adverse to my own economic best interest. I support No-Fault because I feel it is the right thing to do for people. When CURE makes this claim, as they did in their federal court lawsuit, it is just wrong.

I’ve joked many times that even the really dumb lawyers in pure tort states can make more money than auto accident law firms can in Michigan. There’s actually a good reason for this. Lawyers in pure tort states can claim everything – all the harms and all losses – starting with the very first medical bill and lost wage check in states without No-Fault. They are taking an attorney fee on a larger amount than we can here in Michigan when wage loss checks and medical bills and other PIP benefits are being paid voluntarily by your own auto No-Fault insurance company. Much better for Michiganders, but worse for the accident lawyers. I support No-Fault because it is better for the people of this state – even if it isn’t better for me.

Contrast this with what Cure Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe has been doing. In his media interviews, Eric Poe states that a reason insurance agents recommend higher PIP levels and full (unlimited) PIP medical coverage is so they can make higher commissions. This is an incredibly reckless thing to say. If people rely on what Cure Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe is saying and as a result they are now driving underinsured without understanding how devastating this can be for them if they are in a terrible car crash, they are putting themselves and their loved ones at terrible risk if they suffer serious injuries.

I explain why this is in much great detail in the video on the whencurewontpay.com  homepage.

Who is recklessly putting profits over people and who is the one who is financially motivated here to sell more insurance policies – and make more money?

It isn’t me.

Was Your Car Accident Claim Denied by CURE Auto Insurance?

If CURE Auto Insurance has not been treating you fairly and is improperly denying your claim, you can file a complaint and share your experience in any of the following ways: