Michigan Attorney Will Not Be Silenced from Warning Public About CURE Auto Insurance

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CURE Insurance Company didn’t like a fact-based blog about their high customer complaints. On November 13, 2024, CURE filed a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to intimidate and silence an attorney and consumer protection advocate who has been warning the public about CURE Insurance and to suppress the blog post.

Michigan Auto Law attorney Steven M. Gursten was sued on November 13, 2024,

by CURE Auto Insurance. But the lawsuit will not stop Gursten from continuing to speak out and warn the public about many of the disturbing things he sees CURE doing in Michigan.

“The CURE lawsuit is an absurd abuse of the legal system. It is being used as a tool to suppress damaging information about CURE, specifically about its very high rates of customer complaints, and CURE’s aggressive use of rescission to cancel the insurance policies of its own customers after they make claims,” states Gursten. “The lawsuit is being used to hide accurate information about its own troubling claims handling practices from the public. The lawsuit also has larger First Amendment implications and strikes at the very heart of free speech. It also shows the lengths that CURE will go in order to attempt to hide information it doesn’t want the public to know about.”

In a February 2024 blog post entitled “Is Cure Auto Insurance Good In Michigan?,” which was posted on the Michigan Auto Law website, Gursten shared important information with consumers to help drivers make informed decisions about their auto insurance. Many of the facts included in the blog are sourced directly from information published on the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services website and from CURE Insurance’s own website.

Gursten has been writing about insurance companies for over a decade.

He writes based upon his own first-hand experiences as an auto accident attorney and consumer advocate, which provides a unique insight into which insurance companies he recommends and which he tells people they may want to avoid. Although Gursten has written about many of the biggest insurance companies in Michigan during this time, CURE Insurance is the first one to file a lawsuit seeking to suppress his blog.

But that’s exactly what CURE Auto Insurance has done now, filing a lawsuit against Gursten and his law firm, Michigan Auto Law, in an obvious attempt to suppress damaging but true information from the public and to try to intimidate Gursten to take down the blog post he wrote critical about the New Jersey-based insurance company.

Both Gursten and Michigan Auto Law…

intend to defend their First Amendment right to inform the public about CURE, including that it is the 20th largest insurance company in Michigan but is the 3rd highest in customer complaints, that 76% of these complaints involve claims handling, and that according to sworn testimony under oath by a CURE representative, it is rescinding (canceling) insurance coverage of an average of 1.5 CURE customers a day.

The Michigan Auto Law blog post, which was aimed at providing auto insurance consumers with important information, addressed the following issues:

• CURE Auto Insurance’s complaint ratio i.e., the total number of complaints from its insureds divided by the millions of dollars collected in premiums from its insureds, is among the highest in Michigan, according to data reported by the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS).

• 76% of the consumer complaints against CURE Auto Insurance in Michigan had to do with claims handling.

• CURE requires drivers to pay a 25% deposit on top of their auto insurance premiums.

• When CURE refused to pay for a spinal surgical procedure for its insured after a car accident because the auto insurer claimed it was “not medically necessary to treat” the insured, the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services ordered CURE to pay because the surgery was in fact “medically necessary” and it was “justified and in accordance with the standard of care.”

• CURE is sending a dangerous message to its insureds, many of whom live in Detroit, that unlimited PIP medical coverage is unnecessary. This leaves many of these customers dangerously vulnerable to losing everything if they are ever seriously injured in an automobile accident.

Michigan Auto Law stands behind the accuracy of every word of its blog about CURE Insurance.

The law firm’s blog has been recognized as one of the nation’s best on insurance issues and as one of the very best in the nation by Justia. It has been a trusted source of legal information for more than a decade, providing consumers guidance on auto insurance and other issues that can affect their legal rights.

The post in question was part of Michigan Auto Law’s ongoing efforts to ensure that Michigan drivers are fully informed about the options available to them, particularly after the 2019 changes to the state’s auto insurance laws.

“We believe that providing transparent, fact-based information to consumers is essential in helping them make informed decisions about their auto insurance and so they can better protect themselves and their loved ones,” said Steven M. Gursten, lead attorney at Michigan Auto Law. “The blog post was written to provide honest and accurate information about Cure Auto Insurance and its practices under Michigan’s No-Fault insurance laws. We stand by every word and remain as committed as ever to consumer advocacy and protecting the public.”

After Gursten was sued in August, Gursten and Michigan Auto Law launched a new website called “whencurewontpay.com.” That earlier August lawsuit was dismissed by CURE who then refiled the lawsuit in federal district court last Wednesday. On the website, consumers will learn:

• In 2023, CURE Auto Insurance had the third highest number of consumer complaints among Michigan’s 85 largest auto insurers – even though it was only the 20th largest auto insurer!

• CURE revoked more than 1 policy per day between October 2023 and mid-February 2024, according to the sworn testimony of a CURE employee.

• Passing Michigan’s new No-Fault law in 2019 was part of CURE Auto Insurance’s business growth plan to enter the Michigan insurance market.

• CURE’s CEO Eric Poe was “involved in actually writing the law” that imposed limits on family attendant care and created the No-Fault fee schedule, which has so harshly affected the lives of so many car crash victims and their families.

• CURE waited to come to Michigan until the law included medical fee schedules and caps on No-Fault medical coverage.

The lawsuit from CURE Auto Insurance alleged that Michigan Auto Law’s blog post caused harm to its reputation. However, Michigan Auto Law asserts that the information shared in the post was based on public records, client experiences, personal observations of Gursten and the 25 other auto accident and insurance lawyers who represent clients harmed by CURE’s claims handling, and analysis of CURE’s practices.

“We will vigorously defend our right to provide this publicly available information to consumers, and we will not be silenced or bullied,” Gursten continued. “Our top priority is providing the information that people need to protect themselves.”

Gursten and Michigan Auto Law remain committed to upholding the law firm’s right to share accurate information about CURE Insurance and other insurance companies with the public.

The blog post “Is Cure Auto Insurance Good In Michigan?” can be viewed here. For more information about Michigan Auto Law, visit Michigan Auto Law’s website or follow them on social media.

About Michigan Auto Law

Michigan Auto Law is Michigan’s largest law firm in auto accident cases. For more than 50 years, the firm has litigated thousands of motor vehicle accidents and personal injury lawsuits, securing more multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts throughout the State of Michigan than any other law firm. Michigan Auto Law has been listed for 17 consecutive years with top reported settlements and trial verdicts in Michigan. Michigan Auto Law attorneys are nationally recognized leaders in auto crash litigation, and the law firm has been called  “the best in the business” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly newspaper and has been named to “The Best Lawyers in America” for 10 years in a row.  Michigan Auto Law’s mission is to put people first, help those in need, and help make Michigan a better and safer place. For more information about Michigan Auto Law, visit our website, or connect with us on social media at Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok.