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Our Story Defending Free Speech: Farmers Insurance
alleges Trademark Infringement

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Our Story and Why I Created This Web Site

Farmers Insurance Group tried to quash free speech by suing me in the federal court to shut down this web site.  I don’t get Farmers Insurance, instead of fairly and decently dealing with claims which they should be doing (and are not) they would rather waste a bunch of money and resources trying to suppress Free Speech.  I would think a company of this size had some brains.   I think they are more driven by greed and deceit which overshadows any common sense and humanity they might have.  I guess when you are rated "worst" you can’t get any worse....well then again we are talking about Farmers Insurance here. Farmers Insurance's claims against FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com were frivolous, vexatious and were in bad faith.   Farmers Insurance  will do whatever it can to prevent public Free Speech criticism of itself, especially Free Speech exercised on the Internet which has the potential to reach thousands or millions of people. 

12/10/2001
My wife was in an auto accident, she was not at fault, here are two pictures (at right) of our totaled car after the accident.  A Farmers Insured person driving a 1997 Ford F150 (big truck) ran a stop sign with flashing red lights at an intersection and collided into her car on the left side door behind the driver’s seat.  It is imperative to mention that my wife had just given birth to our first baby six weeks prior to the time of the accident and was recuperating physically, mentally and emotionally from the birth experience itself.   Furthermore, the bonding between my wife and our baby during this crucial time was greatly affected due to the physical pain and emotional and mental suffering that was caused directly from the accident.  

My wife was bruised on the leg, had intense pain and discomfort in left-side of her ribs and a stiff neck. She was in a great deal of pain in her upper body, shoulders, ribs and neck. The emergency room doctor took x-ray’s to make sure the lungs had not been punctured. He also told her that a slight fracture to the ribs would not show up in the x-ray. If the ribs were broken, there was nothing but time that could heal them. The doctor said this type of injury would take 4-6wks. to heal the bruised bone or slightly fractured ribs and that the pain could last for months. He informed her that she would be very sore the next week or so, because the body was still in shock and that the aftermath was always worse the next few days. He told her to only see a doctor if there was any trouble breathing or if the pain worsened.

My wife was breastfeeding so she did not take any of the pain medication that was recommended for the welfare of our baby. She never went back to the doctor because she couldn’t take any painkillers, and because the doctor told her that time was really her only remedy.

My wife could not bond with our baby like all new-mother’s would want to. She could not lift or carry the baby, cuddle or rock her. She had pain when bending over to change her diaper. She had a lot of pain when breastfeeding and felt fatigued throughout the day.  She had nightmares of the accident the first month of recovery and woke up with fever, shakes, screaming, and intense anxiety.

My wife’s medical bill was $719 for the emergency room visit and xrays.

I did not know what price to put on all the hardship this accident caused us.  We were to go on vacation within the next two weeks driving the Toyota Camry that was just totaled in the accident.  My wife and I both had to take additional time off work to deal with this incident.

We hired a maid to clean our house every other week at $40 per visit, the cost of this for five and a half months was $440.

8/2002
At the request of Farmers, we sent a letter to them stating what we feel we should be compensated.  We would need to consider the accident itself, the trauma, the physical, mental and emotional pain and suffering, the nightmares, the lack of bonding with our child, the compensation for our child who was an innocent bystander, the reimbursement for maid service, the compensation for myself and my wife taking off work, the compensation for the inconvenience of having to purchase a car on top of all this at a time we are suppose to be going on vacation for the holidays as this accident happened fifteen days before Christmas.  It was hard to put a price on something like this. 

9/24/2002
Jeff Hickethier, the Farmers Claims Representative, sends us a letter offering $960.  After medical bills that is just $241 for the pain, suffering, maid help and punitive damages.  I was shocked and in disbelief!  What else could I expect, someone’s pizza party or $25 gift certificate may have been at stake.  Jeff and I talked on the phone multiple times before and after this offer.  Jeff had said this was the most he would offer us since it was directly based on the medical bill.  (Lesson Learned:  If after an accident you are in pain, go to the doctors office daily or weekly, this is the only way to be compensated for punitive damages without hiring a attorneys, expert witnesses, etc...well theoretically at least.  Farmers Insurance would probably have low-balled us anyway.)

12/6/2002
Jeff sends us another letter offering us $1019.

1/11/2003
I call a few attorneys and speak to them about our case.  I was told that Farmers generally gives low settlement offers knowing  that most people do not have the financial resources to hire an attorney to go after them. 

My only options were to:
1. Accept the $1019.
2. Spend thousands of dollars on attorney fees, expert witnesses and additional tests and pursue the case in hopes of winning.
3.  File a suit in small claims court where the max amount we could win is $4000.

1/22/2003
I filed a small claims suit against the insured.  A voluntary settlement/mediation (automatically scheduled by court) was scheduled for 2/24/2003, I later receive a postcard (2/4/2003) that Farmers is unwilling to mediate.  (Lesson Learned: Do not file suit against insurer, file against insured.  Only plaintiff, defendant and any witnesses may speak in small claims, no lawyers.) 

2/09/2003
On or around this day I exercise my Free Speech and build a web site critical of Farmers Insurance.  The site was originally located on a server administered by Michigan State University (MSU).

3/3/2003
Small Claims court.  Even though the rules state lawyers can’t speak on behalf of their insured, Farmers sends a lawyer and requests that the judge let him speak on behalf of the insured. The judge asked me if I would be OK with that, I told her absolutely not.   The judge denied their request.  The judgment was for us, we won the trial.   After the case, the judge recommended that we hire an attorney.  I feel she recommended this knowing if we put forth the time, effort and financial resources, we could get a lot more compensation for what we have been put through.  I am sure the insured doesn’t know if you lose a lawsuit and have to pay money your credit report is negatively effected.  As stated on FDIC’s web site, "What are the most important factors in determining my credit score?"... "a court judgment ordering you to pay money as a result of a lawsuit will negatively affect your credit score."  It should be required that Farmer Insurance warn their customers that they low ball victims and they could possibly be sued and hence their credit report affected.  

9/8/2004
The original name of this web site was "Avoid Farmers Insurance".  To try and prevent my criticism and supress Free Speech Farmers Insurance acquires the following domains:
AvoidFarmersInsurance.com
AvoidFarmersInsurance.net
AvoidFarmersInsurance.org
(Here is the whois records.)
 
10/20/2004

This is the day that Farmers Insurance begins unleashing a massive attack on my civil liberties.  I was contacted by Arent Fox Attorney Jason J. Mazur (an attorney out of Washington D.C. who is representing Farmers Insurance) via email.  He sends me a Cease and Desist letter with attached trademark info.  I am using my First Amendment Free Speech rights to criticize a company so they threaten me with trademark infringement! (This is not unusual for companies to try and bully gripe site owners into shutting down their web site.)   Shortly after I received this email, I removed the hyperlinks that went to other insurance companies. (Lesson Learned: Do not put hyperlinks on a gripe site to competitors. Even though the "hyperlinks" were not paid advertisement, Farmers Insurance later accuses me of "commercial use" because the links were to other insurance companies. I never made a penny off this web site, thus it was actually noncommercial. Unfortuneatley a case has not been decided that I know of if a gripe site can contain direct "non paid" hyperlinks to competitors. Because there was no precedence, my case would have been stronger if I had not done this.)

10/25/2004
I respond with an email requesting $8000 for what Farmers has put us through. (Lesson Learned: Later in the case Farmers also accuses me of "commercial use" because I asked for this $8K. At this point in the case I did not have a "domain name" with the word "Farmers" in it, if I did I am sure Farmers would have accused me of trying to profit on their trademark in violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Piracy Act (ACPA))

10/26/2004
This web site was originally hosted at Michigan State University.  Apparently Farmers Insurance lawyers contacted MSU probably with an intimidation letter that they may be liable for the content of my web site on their network.   I receive an email from Randall J. Hall, MSU Network Administrator, demanding that I remove Farmers Trademarks from this web site or they will disable the web site.  I decided not to get MSU involved or argue with them  (about the MSU Network Acceptable Use Policy) or remove partial content.   I moved the site from MSU to a Comcast account.  I felt it was crucial to my free speech message to include the Farmers name in the metatags (for search purposes) and the parody logo on this web site for identification.

10/27/2004
After receiving the email from MSU requesting I remove the Farmers content, I was furious with Farmers tactics and attempts to suppress my First Amendment rights.  I email them a letter stating I wanted more money due to them trying (via contacting MSU) to shut down my free speech web site that was critical of Farmers Insurance.

10/28/2004
Jason J. Mazur sends me an email requesting that I sign an attached agreement.  It is worded in a way that Farmers would like to compensate me and settle this.  

An attorney (Richard Ravin) calls Jason on my behalf and asks if Farmers is prepared to negotiate in good faith towards a settlement that will pay me a fair amount, but Farmers claimed this was not the case.

1/06/2005
A lawsuit is filed against me in United States District Court and I am served papers.  Amongst other things the lawsuit alleges Trademark Infringement, Unfair Competition, False Designation, Service Mark Dilution. 
(United States District Court Eastern District of Washington at Spokane)
Farmers Insurance is now represented by Sheldon H. Klein and Leo M. Loughlin of Arent Fox out of Washington D.C.  Locally they use William D. Symmes of the firm Witherspoon, Kelley, Davenport & Toole.  This is just three of the many lawyers that were used on this case.

2/03/2005
We file an Answer

3/02/2005
I get an email from the owner of FarmersReallySucks.com that he received a Cease and Desist letter from Farmers Insurance attorneys. Farmers Insurance is using its deep pockets to try and stomp on anyone who criticizes them on the Internet....anyone!

5/18/2005
Farmers Insurance wasn't going to hold back anything, they were on a mission to shut down this Free Speech web site down at any cost and intimidation.   As part of the Discovery process, Farmers Insurance subpoenas my computer hard drives.  The hard drives are duplicated (done by Paul French, Managing Director of Forensics E-Discovery Group at NTI Breakwater) and searched for any information pertaining to Farmers Insurance or anything that was deleted on my hard drives that pertain to Farmers (what an invasion of privacy!). Paul French spends about eight or nine hours in my basement copying hard drives, David Daggett (my attorney) and a Farmer's attorney are present the whole time also to witness the event. Only my lawyers and the court have a copy of the hard drives.  My tax returns were also subpoenaed later as part of the Discovery process.  A Protective Order was in place for confidentiality of certain Discovery information including the hard drives and Farmers "trade secrets".

7/12/2005-7/14/2005
I purchase BoycottFarmersInsurance.com and FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com. I had to be creative since Farmers Insurance already purchased AvoidFarmersInsurance.com, AvoidFarmersInsurance.net, and AvoidFarmersInsurance.org back in September of 2004.

9/8/2005
This evening I move my whole web site critical of Farmers Insurance from the Comcast servers (the site was on a user account on Comcast.net) to their new home at FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com a top level domain. I set BoycottFarmersInsurance.com to forward to FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com.

9/9/2005
Leo Loughlin of Arent Fox (another lawyer out of Washington D.C) takes my deposition (9am - 2:10pm). Leo looked quite "bewildered" during my deposition when I told him that the web site now resides at FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com.

9/28/2005
Even though this is a personal issue between myself and Farmers Insurance, Farmers contacts my employer and notifies them that I am affiliated with the Farmers Insurance Group Sucks web site.  Of course this tactic was to get me fired from my job.  I can’t believe how underhanded and deceitful Farmers Insurance is, well I actually can believe it scum that they are.  They have no conscious.

10/17/2005
Filed: DEFENDANT'S MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (my name is replaced with "FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com Admin".)

11/28/2005
Filed: DEFENDANT’S REPLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (my name is replaced with "FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com Admin".)

1/5/2006
HEARING ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (Scheduled)

 

In regards to this lawsuit:
"The parties have resolved the Lawsuit to their mutual satisfaction."

After thoughts
To my knowledge Farmers Insurance spent hundreds of thousands of dollars (I estimate between $500K-$900K), hired many attorneys (at least four or five) and experts in its aggressive no holds barred colossal attack on my Free Speech rights to shut down this web site.  Farmers Insurance hired one expert, Richard Siegel of Navigant Consulting Inc., to write a 48-page document of how this web site affected Farmers Insurance; his hourly rate was $500.  I held my ground in this lawsuit because I felt the need to defend and protect my Free Speech rights and I also felt the public needed to see this web site and start holding Farmers Insurance accountable for its actions.  Farmers Insurance is an evil-bad-faith-low-balling, claim denying insurance company that ruins people's lives.  I am reminded of that almost daily by the emails I receive and postings to the message board on this site others.

After,After
We have reason to believe Farmers Insurance has been contacting organizations hoping they will deter us from using their information to criticize Farmers Insurance.
7/18/2006 Cease and Desist from Consumer Reports
10/9/2006 Cease and Desist from Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Alternatives to Farmers Insurance

Thank You


I would like to thank the following people and organizations for assisting me in one way or another to protect and defend Free Speech:
* Country Insurance and Financial Services
* Pete Johnson of Johnson Law Group
* Dave Daggett of Preston, Ellis Gates
* Aaron Caplan of ACLU
* Paul Levy of Public Citizen
* Richard Ravin of Hartman & Winnicki

 

"The First Amendment protects consumer criticism and they can’t try to use the courts to silence the criticisms" - Arkush

Farmers Insurance Group v. Free Speech

 

Our vehicle after accident

Farmers Insurance Group Sucks!

Boycott Farmers Insurance!
 

Some thoughts while this site was being sued...
Interesting...look at  austinchronicle.com, it uses what Farmers claims are "Farmer's marks".  It has a "duplicate" of the Farmers shield logo and it has advertisements on the top and the right hand side of the page, why isn't Farmers Insurance suing them??  It doesn't even say anything about "Unauthorized" like this Farmers critical site does (and always has).  Someone might think that the Austin Chronicle web site  is the official Farmer's web site, according to Farmer's outlandish logic.  And the AC web site has been up since 2003.  Go figure!  Farmers claims against FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.com are frivolous, vexatious and are in bad faith, otherwise they would be suing all web sites with the word "Farmers" on it, starting off with all the web sites that have "Farmers" in their domain name that are not related to Farmers Insurance.  There are thousands of domain names that include "Farmers" in them many (MANY!) of them are unaffiliated with Farmers Insurance.  Farmers Insurance is using it size, power and financial resources to misuse the court system to stifle Free Speech, this is proven by the fact that Farmers has issued a Cease and Desist to FarmersReallySucks.com (a gripe site unrelated to this site) which is also a non-commercial free speech site that has not put any insurance links on its web site.  Farmers Insurance  will do whatever it can to prevent public Free Speech criticism of itself, especially Free Speech exercised on the Internet which has the potential to reach thousands or millions of people. 

Legal FAQ


Is this site legal?

Yes, we are expressing our first amendment rights of free speech.  See disclosure at bottom of web page.  (See First Amendment)

Can you use Farmer’s logo like that legally?
Yes, our web site states that it is "unauthorized" and contains the words "Farmers Insurance Sucks". No reasonable consumer comparing Farmer’s official website with ours would assume our site to come from the same source, or thought to be affiliated with, connected with, or sponsored by Farmers.  (See Bally Total Fitness Holding Corporation v. Andrew S. Faber)

How about those meta-tags on the web page?
"a party who builds a non-commercial website to promote consumer criticism of an entity can use that entity’s trademark in the meta tags of his site to attract users to it. (See Bally Total Fitness Holding Corporation v. Andrew S. Faber)

If you plan to build a Non Commercial Free Speech web site please see: 
Public Citizen’s Legal Perils and Legal Rights of Internet Speakers 

 

 

 

This site is published as a public service to warn consumers of the business practices of Farmers Insurance Group.  This site is in no way affiliated, connected with, or sponsored by Farmers Insurance Group or any of its subsidiaries. All content and information on this site is my opinion or the opinion of those referenced. This site is for educational purposes. The information in the Forums or from other people, blogs or web sites  are provided at face value, we have not confirmed  any of these stories/opinions.  Copyrighted material has been used for non-commercial purposes only.  By accessing this site you agree to immediately contact us to report any incorrect data or misrepresentations of facts. We are not responsible for accuracy in story content. Individuals, news organizations, companies or government agencies referenced on this web site do not endorse this web site and are not affiliated with it (copyrighted materials used without permission). Links to any other sites are for informational purposes only and should not be considered an endorsement of the site.
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