The Valley Breeze has reported that David Miller, a Rhode Island collision repair center owner who was accused and subsequently cleared of defrauding insurers 10 years ago, won a multi-million dollar judgment against Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company and Amica Mutual Insurance Company on May 29.
According to the Valley Breeze, from Amica, Miller was awarded $949,544.66 plus interest of $559,405 for a total of $1,508,950. From Metropolitan, he was awarded $1,199,544 plus $559,405 for a total of $1,758,950. The award covers legal costs plus $600,000 from each company in damages for emotional distress.
After three weeks, the jury returned a verdict that Metropolitan and Amica intentionally withheld vital information during Miller’s prosecution and that the insurers were "liable for an abuse of process," as Miller’s attorney told the Valley Breeze.
In 2002, Miller was charged with several counts of obtaining money under false pretenses and insurance fraud. The charges were eventually dismissed by the Rhode Island State Police, and then Miller filed his lawsuit against the insurers in 2006.
According to the Valley Breeze, Miller was outspoken about insurers short-changing body shops, which led to an adversarial relationship between him, Metropolitan and Amica. The article also stated that Miller was quoted in a November 1999 Providence Journal article as saying that business relations between body shops and insurers "border on racketeering."
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