RockyTop
Enthusiast
You can tell my the emoticon that I won, but it took almost two years ! Some of you may recall that at one of the Panoz Racing School's "Track Days" programs I went through Turn 1 too fast, intentionally drove over the rumble strips into the run off area on the side of the nearby hill. When I did my airbags popped out, completely obstructed my vision and by the time they deflated I hit the wall a glancing, but frame bending, blow.
Track Days is NOT a racing event. It is primarily instructional in nature, complete with instructors at the important corners of the track who give advice after the each session. Racing can result in being expelled.
The costs of repair were about $26,000, which as I have come to learn is about the average repair ticket on a Viper wreck ($25,000). After about two and one-half months, Progressive denied my claim saying I was either racing or in "practice or preparation" to race. My policy uses that phrase in its exclusion. The most damming fact for me was that not three weeks before I had just completed a three-day road racing school and about 5 days before completed and submitted an application for an SCCA regional competition license (which I later received and let lapse due to my failure to use it. That I had to get a physical to get the license and had put as one of my hobbies "race car driving" was introduced as to my intent.
The jury awarded me, due to the excellent representation of my counsel, (i) the full costs of repair (appx. $26,000), (ii) diminution in the value of my car ($12,500), (iii) bad faith penalties ($7,000), and (iv) $25,000+) in legal fees and costs.
Progressive (they're not) argued that in addition to the above facts and due to the following factors, I must have been intending or preparing to race:
(i) My car is one of the fastest made and I modified it to go even faster;
(ii) that I had driven in timed events in the past;
(iii) that I had a competition license;
(iv) that I had 5 point harnesses; and
(v) that I had modified the factory proportioning valve.
Witnesses that we called were my mechanic at Marietta Dodge (Joe Cross) who did a great job, particularly when he pointed out that disabling the proportioning valve would make the rear brakes apply faster/stronger. Many thanks to Marietta Dodge ! My usual mechanic J.D. Farmer there would have been called but he had been recovering from a bad car accident and has just now arrived back on the job.
Our other witness, besides me, was Cass Whitehead from the Panoz Racing School. He instructs there and races a Porsche for a team in the Midwest. He's an awesome guy and his testimony was favorable, impartial and informative.
After the trial the parties got to interview some of the jurors, including the foreman, and boy wasn't hat interesting ! Most simply didn't believe the insurance company’s reasons for denial. They felt it was a smokescreen and thus awarded the bad faith penalties. If they hadn't, I would have had to pay 1/3 of any award to my lawyer and would have been out of pocket yet having won the case !
The female jurors were the hardest to convince. The Viper track experience is a "guy thing" to be sure (sorry Rhonda and Janni). In impaneling the jury I asked my attorney to use any legal and proper means to minimize the number of women. Not to discriminate but to get the most favorable panel. It worked !
Some things that hurt me with the jury were (i) the Porsches for Breakfast; Ferraris for lunch license plate border. I quipped after the trial that it was merely a diplomatic dining invitation my fellow car enthusiast who drive different marques and that I just placed it in the most likely place it could be seen - - my rear license plate.
Aside from having a competition license (Skip, stop issuing these. They may be cool to carry, but they WILL NOT help your students should they have an incident.
The timing of laps at Viper Days and other vents is VERY damning. I convinced the jury that this is done for safety reasons to prevent bunching of cars and drivers with differing speed and capabilities - - which is absolutely true, but the giving of trophies etc. at events is a BAD fact.
In retrospect it would have been easier to have towed my car home and pushed it into a ditch, but I could not bring myself to commit insurance fraud and risk my own license to practice law.
I hope that my two-year ordeal gives other some ammunition to deal with their track incidents. If you are here in GA, I can recommend a great trial lawyer - - Bill Strickland. He was masterful.
Now, its time to get back up on that horse... er, snake !
Track Days is NOT a racing event. It is primarily instructional in nature, complete with instructors at the important corners of the track who give advice after the each session. Racing can result in being expelled.
The costs of repair were about $26,000, which as I have come to learn is about the average repair ticket on a Viper wreck ($25,000). After about two and one-half months, Progressive denied my claim saying I was either racing or in "practice or preparation" to race. My policy uses that phrase in its exclusion. The most damming fact for me was that not three weeks before I had just completed a three-day road racing school and about 5 days before completed and submitted an application for an SCCA regional competition license (which I later received and let lapse due to my failure to use it. That I had to get a physical to get the license and had put as one of my hobbies "race car driving" was introduced as to my intent.
The jury awarded me, due to the excellent representation of my counsel, (i) the full costs of repair (appx. $26,000), (ii) diminution in the value of my car ($12,500), (iii) bad faith penalties ($7,000), and (iv) $25,000+) in legal fees and costs.
Progressive (they're not) argued that in addition to the above facts and due to the following factors, I must have been intending or preparing to race:
(i) My car is one of the fastest made and I modified it to go even faster;
(ii) that I had driven in timed events in the past;
(iii) that I had a competition license;
(iv) that I had 5 point harnesses; and
(v) that I had modified the factory proportioning valve.
Witnesses that we called were my mechanic at Marietta Dodge (Joe Cross) who did a great job, particularly when he pointed out that disabling the proportioning valve would make the rear brakes apply faster/stronger. Many thanks to Marietta Dodge ! My usual mechanic J.D. Farmer there would have been called but he had been recovering from a bad car accident and has just now arrived back on the job.
Our other witness, besides me, was Cass Whitehead from the Panoz Racing School. He instructs there and races a Porsche for a team in the Midwest. He's an awesome guy and his testimony was favorable, impartial and informative.
After the trial the parties got to interview some of the jurors, including the foreman, and boy wasn't hat interesting ! Most simply didn't believe the insurance company’s reasons for denial. They felt it was a smokescreen and thus awarded the bad faith penalties. If they hadn't, I would have had to pay 1/3 of any award to my lawyer and would have been out of pocket yet having won the case !
The female jurors were the hardest to convince. The Viper track experience is a "guy thing" to be sure (sorry Rhonda and Janni). In impaneling the jury I asked my attorney to use any legal and proper means to minimize the number of women. Not to discriminate but to get the most favorable panel. It worked !
Some things that hurt me with the jury were (i) the Porsches for Breakfast; Ferraris for lunch license plate border. I quipped after the trial that it was merely a diplomatic dining invitation my fellow car enthusiast who drive different marques and that I just placed it in the most likely place it could be seen - - my rear license plate.
Aside from having a competition license (Skip, stop issuing these. They may be cool to carry, but they WILL NOT help your students should they have an incident.
The timing of laps at Viper Days and other vents is VERY damning. I convinced the jury that this is done for safety reasons to prevent bunching of cars and drivers with differing speed and capabilities - - which is absolutely true, but the giving of trophies etc. at events is a BAD fact.
In retrospect it would have been easier to have towed my car home and pushed it into a ditch, but I could not bring myself to commit insurance fraud and risk my own license to practice law.
I hope that my two-year ordeal gives other some ammunition to deal with their track incidents. If you are here in GA, I can recommend a great trial lawyer - - Bill Strickland. He was masterful.
Now, its time to get back up on that horse... er, snake !
