Score another protest for social media: Progressive Insurance has been forced to respond and may have to take further action after just two days of negative attention from a Tumblr post. Matt Fisher, a comedian in New York by profession, took to his blog to tell the story of how Progressive has denied his sister’s benefits for years following her fatal car accident, even defending in court the motorist who killed her to dispute the claim.

In the post, Fischer describe a hellish maze of bureaucracy:

…Progressive was now on the hook for the difference between the other guy’s insurance and the value of Katie’s policy.

At which point we learned the first surprising thing about Progressive: Carrying Progressive insurance and getting into an accident does not entitle you to the value of your insurance policy. It just pisses off Progressive’s lawyers…

Fischer’s family then learned that in the state of Maryland (where the case took place), they could not directly sue Progressive for not paying out a policy. They first had to sue the man who had caused the accident to prove that he was actually negligent.

At the trial, the guy who killed my sister was defended by Progressive’s legal team.

If you are insured by Progressive, and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy.

Progressive issued a statement, saying they had “properly handled the claim within [their] contractual obligations.” They later denied that they provided a lawyer for the defendant, but court documents seem to prove that they did.

It’s seems terrible to joke about this, but perhaps out of solidarity for one of their own, comedians have taken to twitter with fictional tweets from the “Progressive Twitter Team,” constantly justifying bizarre denials of coverage:

Yeah but was JFK wearing his seat belt? #ProgressiveTwitterTeam

— Steven Amiri (@StevenAmiri) August 14, 2012

Our deepest sympathies to those on the Titanic, but we simply cannot pay out, as their hearts will go on.#ProgressiveTwitterTeam

— Cole Stratton (@colestratton) August 14, 2012

We do not condone the actions of the Manson family; we also recognize the “stabbiness” of the Beatles’ music. #ProgressiveTwitterTeam

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) August 14, 2012

What do you think? Should Progressive have challenged the policy so much?

 [via Gawker]

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