July 20, 2005

A Madison County judge gave preliminary approval Monday to a class-action settlement in which consumers would get $5 to $132, while plaintiff attorneys would get $9.5 million.

Associate Judge Ralph Mendelsohn gave preliminary approval in lawsuits against CCC Information Services Inc. of Chicago and several insurance companies that used software made by CCC.

The plaintiffs alleged their cars, when wrecked beyond repair, were undervalued by insurance companies who used CCC's software.

Richard Burke, an attorney representing the plaintiff class, said the total amount that will be paid to class members is not yet known.

"We're not going to know until we get all of the data collected," he said.

But Burke, of Lakin Law Firm in Wood River, said he expects the payout to customers to be more than $50 million.

Consumers seeking reimbursement through the settlement will be able to file for claims later. Information about how to make a claim will be made in advertisements in more than 1,000 publications. Notices will also be mailed to customers of the insurance companies, using lists the insurers will provide of customers' last known addresses.

Mendelsohn asked Burke about customers' average losses. Burke said that isn't known yet.

Burke said if the defendants paid out more than they should have to a customer whose car was wrecked beyond repair will receive about $5.

If the defendants paid out too little, the amount the plaintiff can receive, up to $132, will be based on a formula. If the car was valued at more than $5,000, the plaintiff will receive 2 percent of the total worth of the car. If the car was valued at less than $5,000, the customer can receive 3 percent of the total worth of car.

"We want to give them a greater benefit over the people with over-$5,000 cars," Burke said. He said the people with lower-value cars would have had harder times battling insurance companies.

The class includes any of the insurers' customers who had the value of a wrecked vehicle calculated by CCC since January 1989.

Other plaintiff attorney firms in the case are Freed & Weiss LLC of Chicago; William J. Harte of Chicago; Much, Shelist, Freed, Denenberg, Ament & Rubenstein of Chicago; and Foot, Meyers, Mielke & Flowers of Geneva.

The insurance companies named as defendants are CGU Insurance Co. of Illinois, Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Co., Country Mutual Insurance Co., Progressive Premier Insurance Co. of Illinois, Economy Preferred Insurance Co., Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Co., Hartford Insurance Co. of Illinois, Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest, National General Insurance Co.,Travelers Property Casualty Co. of Illinois, Travelers Property Casualty Co., Atlanta Casualty Co., Infinity Property & Casualty Corp., Colonial Penn Insurance Co., Allstate Insurance Co. and National-Ben Franklin Insurance Co. of Illinois.

A hearing on final approval of the settlement is scheduled at 9 a.m. Dec. 20.