Travelers Insurance Co. hit with bad faith claim by Bucks County motorist

A Bucks County woman has filed a bad faith claim against her auto insurer over

allegations that the company has failed to pay out wage loss benefits the plaintiff contends she is owed following injuries she sustained in a 2009 motor vehicle accident.

Cynthia Thurman, who resides in Trevose, Pa., and works as a caregiver for JEVS, a human services company based in Philadelphia, filed suit last week in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court against Blue Bell, Pa.-based Travelers Insurance Company over claims that the defendant has thus far refused to compensate the woman for first party benefits she says she is entitled to under the insurance policy held by herself and her husband, Robert Thurman, who is listed as a co-plaintiff in the litigation.

Cynthia Thurman alleges that she suffered back injuries, including a herniated disc, after she was rear-ended by another vehicle along Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia back on Dec. 7, 2009.

Following the auto collision, Thurman gave “timely and reasonable” notice of her claim for benefits to Travelers, requesting that the defendant compensate her for wage loss under the terms of the insurance policy, the suit states.

The plaintiff even had her attorneys from Jeffrey R. Lessin & Associates P.C. on occasion send various medical records and bills she incurred for the treatment of her injuries, as well as wage salary verification and documentation of her disability and wage loss, but despite the “repeated demands” made by the plaintiff, the insurer has yet to provide coverage for the wage loss benefits to which Thurman is entitled, reads the complaint, which was filed May 30 by lawyers Jeffrey R. Lessin and Thomas A. Karpink.

Thurman’s attorneys wrote that the suit was properly filed in Philadelphia because the plaintiff was employed in the city at the time of the accident, the collision itself took place in Philadelphia, and Thurman received medical treatment in Philadelphia.

The suit says that Thurman’s insurance policy with the defendant provides for wage loss benefits of up to $2,500 per month with an aggregate limit of $50,000.

Thurman’s aggregate wage loss is now in excess of that $50,000 figure, the suit states.

In addition to $50,000 in compensatory damages, Thurman seeks punitive damages against Travelers not to exceed $50,000.

The case ID number is 130503203.