Before the New Year kicks off, let’s review the top five stories that created the most traffic on glassBYTEs.com™ throughout 2019.
This year’s most read story involved the Safelite Group’s acquisition of the combined businesses that made up TruRoad in August. The acquisition added: JN Phillips Auto Glass, TechnaGlass, Windshield Centers, Carolina Windshield Centers, and Harmon AutoGlass service brands and StrategicClaim software and services business unit to Safelite.
In January, State Farm agreed to pay $250 million to settle an ongoing lawsuit in Illinois. The auto insurance company originally agreed to pay millions to end the Halve v. State Farm case in lieu of continuing with court proceedings. Prior to the ruling, a fairness hearing was held to allow the court to continue deliberating on whether or not the agreed upon settlement was fair, reasonable and adequate as well as answer any possible objections.
May began with a preliminary settlement in the Yadir A. Ontiveros v. Safelite lawsuit. The auto glass company agreed to pay roughly $8.2 million to settle its labor violation suit, which claimed the company “shortchanged” California workers on wages and breaks, according to court documents.
June began with news of a fatal accident in Safelite’s Braselton, Ga., distribution center. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Atlanta East division’s supervisor, a report of the incident was filed in a timely manner.
In the first week of May Geico filed a complaint against an auto glass shop and its owner. The insurance company alleged Advantage Auto Glass, LLC, (AAG) and its owner, Jeremy Solheim are responsible for submitting thousands of fraudulent glass repair claims.
