Progressive Northern Insurance stepped waaaaaay over the line in investigating claims, when its investigation included infiltrating and taping private, church sponsored, support groups where people unrelated to any litigant were confidentially bearing their souls.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a pair of detectives hired by Progressive became members of the Southside Christian Fellowship Church in August 2005 in order to get damaging information on two church members involved in a 2004 traffic accident.
The detectives talked their way into a private support group where members discussed abortions, sexual orientation and drug addiction, and taped the sessions, the newspaper said.
The CEO of Progressive then apologized after they were caught red-handed by the newspaper.
Under the label of “Insurance Industry” at the right, I have chronicled some of the misconduct in the insurance biz over the last year, but this story has to take the cake.
(hat tip to California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog via Bob Kraft’s P.I.S.S.D.)
It might have been fun to see Progressive try to introduce those tapes in court. The foundation testimony might have made for great theatre.