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Seven Months Later, GetEQUAL To Protest Insurance Company That Won’t Pay For Lesbian Couple’s Arson Stricken Home

04/12/11-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Seven months ago, Laura and Carol Ann Stutte’s home was burned to the ground because of a homphobic attack upon them. The couple and their daughter were out of town when it happened, and so far, their home owner’s insurance has refused to pay on their policy. To that end, GetEQUAL will be protesting at the 14 April Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) Conference in Washington, DC. American National Property and Casualty is a member of the group. The protest is something of a double whammy since House Speaker John Boehner will be there to try and get his supporters in the Insurance Industry to help keep him in the Speakership so that he can help screw over the poor some more.

According to the press release:

After the fire, the couple filed a claim with their insurance company — American National Property and Casualty (ANPAC), a subsidiary of the giant insurance firm American National Insurance Company, based in Galveston, Texas. To date, the company continues to make the couple’s life a living nightmare — refusing to pay their claim, insisting that they continue to pay on their policy, refusing to pay the couple’s living expenses as detailed in a policy rider, and continually insisting that their paperwork has been lost and must be sent in again and again.

“The lengths that this couple has gone to simply to ask ANPAC to honor their fully-paid insurance policy are horrifying,” said Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEQUAL. “No insurance company should treat people the way the Stuttes have been treated, and we’re asking ANPAC’s peers and colleagues to dissociate themselves from such a soul-less and discriminatory company.”

The couple, with the help of GetEQUAL, has been pressuring the company privately and publicly to honor their policy, while the local community has chipped in to help the couple make ends meet and to provide a new insulin pump for their diabetic daughter. They have created an online petition asking the insurance company to pay the claim, which has garnered close to 50,000 signatures from across the country. (The petition can be found at http://bit.ly/f8POvz.)