STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANY Legal Counsel for State Farm Insurance Company, Timothy Smith and Asssociates Failed to provide adgqueate legal representation; failure to be prepared for court; inabilty to process information ellicited at trial; failure to object; inabilty to settle a case when the parties ar Greenbelt, Maryland

Dear Members of the Public:

I am writing to warn you about the incompetent and unprofessional investigation of auto accident claims and the subsequent legal representation provided by the Legal Office for State Farm Insurance Company. This company fails to adequately investigate cases in terms of gathering all of the statements, documents, and 911 tapes about the accidents in question. One attorney in particular tried a case and sat there during the course of the entire trial and did not object to numerous questions and inappropriate statements made by opposing counsel. This is not legal representation. This is malpractice and misrepresentation. This is sitting there at trial doing absolutely nothing. Under these circumstances, one would do better to just settle all of the cases.  

Counsel for State Farm's performance was deficient at trial beyond a reasonable doubt. Counsel was not prepared for Court. Counsel failed to object to numerous comments made by Opposing Counsel wherein he asserted inadmissible facts not in evidence and which were never testified to at trial.  This would include the repeated misrepresentations made by Plaintiffs Counsel about what a missing witness would testify to. In short, Plaintiffs Counsel was testifying to facts that were never introduced into evidence. Counsel for State Farm failed to request the appropriate jury instructionsand had to be reminded to do so. Counsel for State Farm cancelled an  expert witness in a case where an expert would have been helpful. Plaintiff had pre-existing degenerative conditions.  Plaintiff had a prior accident which could have contributed to his injures. These conditions probably stemmed from his prior accident where he slammed his truck into someones car. Plaintiff also had several subsequent accidents after mine. Plaintiff turned over his company dump truck and conveniently did not injure his right shoulder, the shoulder he claimed he injured in my accident.  This is preposterous and unbelievable. In addition, marijuana was found in his dump  truck. Counsel for State Farm failed to inquire about this fact at trial.   In addition, no photographs were presented of Plaintiffs vehicle to show damage. On that basis, an argument could have been made indicating  that no damage to his vehicle translated into no damage to his person. Furthermore, no testimony should have been introduced into evidence about damage to his vehicle because there was absolutely no proof of any such damage. No photos or diagrams were taken of the scene. Plaintiff's drivers license was suspeded on the date of the accident. No inquiries were made about this fact.  I believe that if the appropriate arguments and objections had been made, the case could have been won. If this type of conduct and behavior is indicative of the type of representation that State Farms Legal Office provides, a serious audit and investigation is in order to avoid throwing away State Farms money.

                Quiet Storm

    Clinton, Maryland