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Greg Coccaro Wins Significant Appeal from Progressive Insurance, Changes Case Law
In a fifteen page decision, the court went into great lengths explaining the history of “Business Law Section 349, Deceptive Business Practices” and the intent of it, writing: “This case presents us with the question of whether a business entity [North State] has stated a valid cause of action for violation of General Business Law §349(h) where it alleges that another business entity [Progressive] deceived and misled prospective customers, causing it to sustain direct economic loss in the form of more than $5 million in lost business sales. We conclude that
NACE 2012 in New Orleans
Dick Cross, keynote speaker at the opening session, demonstrates the pyramid top of the organization. See story p. 24.
A New Orleans-style National Anthem kicked off the keynote address. New Orleans appears to have recovered its pre-Katrina spirit.
CARS chair Bill Moss (l) and NACE chair, Ron Nagy, address the opening session. See p. 24.
Mike Dolabi (l) of National Autobody Parts Warehouse and Terry Fortner of LKQ on the Parts Panel discussion.
See Steve Plier, Page 18
Attendance was down on the show floor but some booths attracted record business. p. 26.
ALLDATA’s Dan Espersen imparts his 37 plus years of experience in “OEM Best Practices.”
Change Service Requested
North State Autobahn Inc., a Westchester-NY-based body shop owned by Greg Coccaro, has won an important victory in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division against Progressive Northeast Insurance Company, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, Progressive Direct Insurance Company, Progressive Specialty Insurance Company, and Nicholas Stanton. The result likely creates a case law basis for deceptive acts and practices claims against auto insurance companies that divert policyholders away from repair shops outside their DRP networks.
VOL. 2 ISSUE 8 NOVEMBER 2012
AEII’s Tony Passwater presented on designing and implementing a complete repair plan.
The Autobody News staff doing its part to cover the industry.
See Greg Coccaro, Page 48
Former State Farm Claims Rep, Steve Plier, Now Consultant, Talks ‘PartsTrader’
earlier this month. Plier worked for State Farm for more than 22 years, starting out in 1987 as a property damage claim representative handling auto claims, and in 1993, he moved into a supervisory position where he spent the last 13 years of his State Farm career as an estimatics team manager. Today, Steve Plier is president of Consumer Auto Repair Excellence, Inc. (CARE).
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
Autobody News asked former State Farm Estimatics Team Manager Steve Plier about his thoughts on PartsTrader
ABN: Why did you quit State Farm? Plier: I resigned my position at State Farm because my responsibilities were being defined as ‘manage in a
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