Doyle files suit against Sedgwick and Brigestone on behalf of adjuster wrongfully terminated for refusal to commit illegal claims handling practices
Kimberley Soukup is a licensed workers’ compensation adjuster who takes her responsibilities to injured workers under Texas law seriously. Unfortunately, her determination to adhere to the laws intended to assure fair administration of workers’ compensation claims got her in hot water with her employer, third-party administrator Sedgwick Claims Management.
After ten years in the industry, Ms. Soukup was forced out of her position with Sedgwick after she repeatedly resisted pressure from Sedgwick and large, self-insured client Bridgestone to engage in illegal claims adjusting practices for the purpose of making sure Bridgestone paid as little as possible in benefits owed to injured workers. Among other things, Ms. Soukup was asked to participate in sending workers’ compensation claimants’ medical records to an unlicensed physician for the purpose of trumping up bases for denial of necessary benefits, to set inadequate claim reserve amounts in order to block payments due for claims, and to give deposition testimony concealing key information from discovery in a workers’ compensation matter.
Doyle Dennis Avery LLP filed suit on Ms. Soukup’s behalf in Harris County District Court, seeking damages for Ms. Soukup’s wrongful termination under the Texas Supreme Court’s Sabine Pilot doctrine, which provides an exception to Texas’s at-will employment doctrine for employees terminated for refusal to commit an illegal act. The case is set to go before Judge Al Bennett.
