Hulk Hogan Sues Auto Insurance Company
Posted by Tom Carolan on Thu, Jun 10, 2010 @ 06:02 PM
Former professional wrestler and well-known celebrity Hulk Hogan has accused the staff of his
auto insurance company of not providing adequate information concerning the type of
auto insurance policy he needed to carry, before his son was involved in a car accident that nearly killed him. These allegations are the basis of a lawsuit against the insurance company.
Hogan's son, Nick Bollea, who is still a mere teenager, was imprisoned after he pled "no contest" to charges of reckless driving in 2008. The charges were in connection with a Clearwater, FL collision which occurred at high speed in 2007 and which caused permanent brain damage to the passenger of his vehicle, John Graziano.
Wells Fargo Southeast is the insurance company in question. They paid Graziano's family $250,000 following the crash, the amount of Hogan's bodily injury liability insurance coverage limit. However, a civil lawsuit caused Hogan to pay out additional funds to the family of Graziano for his and his son's negligent role in the crash.
In March 2009, the injured boy's family took Nick, Hogan aka Terry Bollea, Nick's mother Linda Bollea and a friend Daniel Jacob to civil court, stating that they all acted negligently leading to the crash that caused Graziano's serious injuries. The dispute was only settled in February of this year. The cost to Hogan has been undisclosed to the public.
Hulk Hogan is stating that this situation is the fault of bosses at Wells Fargo who failed to advise him to take out additional auto insurance coverage for teenagers drivers after they began using his vehicles. The increased financial risk posed by teenage drivers was never discussed with Hogan, nor was he advised to raise his liability insurance coverage in order to protect his assets. The paltry $250,000 liability limit put his own $30 million personal worth at tremendous risk in this case.
The suit Hogan has against Wells Fargo is for an amount that is yet to be disclosed.
If your net worth greatly exceeds that of your liability limit, it is advisable to take additional precautions in order to protect yourself, especially if you have inexperienced drivers using your vehicles. This may mean increasing your auto insurance liability limit greatly. You can also protect yourself by purchasing an umbrella liability policy which will extend coverage on multiple types of insurance policies. For more information on the best insurance policy for you, start by visiting an online quote tool.