Geico can't end class action claiming its Covid savings plan didn't cut rates enough

A federal judge rejected Geico’s attempts to put the brakes on a class action complaint accusing the insurer of offering insufficient recompense during the early days of Covid-19.

At issue in the complaint is the company’s Geico Giveback promotion, through which the company applied a 15% premium reduction on new and renewed auto insurance policies while lockdown-style orders issued by Gov. JB Pritzker significantly reduced many drivers’ mileage and crashes related to driving across the state. In July 2020, James and Roxanne Thomas sued Geico, alleging the deduction was insignificant compared to its customers’ risk profiles, which they said constituted a violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

Attorney Antonio Romanucci and others from the firm of Romanucci & Blandin, of Chicago, filed the class action lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, and filed similar complaints on behalf of other clients against others insurers, including American Family, Allstate and Progressive. All the lawsuits said the actual miles driven dropped as much as two-thirds compared to pre-pandemic norms, so a 15% reduction or rebate was insufficient.

Read reporter Scott Holland's reporting on the ruling with the Cook County Record.