Before explaining Pro Se, the question is: Why Litigate against Allstate, my big boss? I viewed Allstate as a big bully, who had appropriated my agency without providing a chance of appeal in a civic manner for me to exit the company without great financial losses. I wanted to punch back.
They did that to many agents – the number of the exclusive agent force had come down from the official figure of 10,800 in 2019[i] to the estimated figure of less than 8,000 in 2022 by Ted Paris.[ii] Among these 2,500 or so agents, some were able to sell their agencies and exit without too much financial harm done to them. However, for a thousand or so – this is a guess, since Allstate has not been transparent in their statistics – agents whose books had been confiscated or appropriated, must have had at least lost $100,000 and many sleepless nights – it had been brought up in our Facebook group that someone had committed suicide – a rumor I could not confirmed.[iii]
Allstate used production quota (e.g., Lyles v. Allstate) and minor infractions (e.g., Jourdan v. Allstate, et al.) of the rules and regulations of the company to rob agents of their agency, which each agent had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire. I paid a sum of $339,767.91 for a book which had a $1,445,906 premium income for Allstate annually (homeowner and commercial policies) or semi-annually (auto policies), among which Allstate would have paid me annually or semi-annually a sum of $144,590.60 to serve the book. Allstate owned the book but my payment of $339,767.91 entitled me a 10% cut (financial interest) of the incomes from those policies’ premiums. Once Allstate appropriated the book. They would pay an employee-agent in the Direct Sales Department to serve the book. If, say, the employee’s pay was $50,000, Allstate would be able to pocket a sum of $94,590.60 (=$144,590.60 – $50,000). Or they gave them free of charge to another agent and paid him/her 3.5% (= $43,377.18) of the premium to serve the book; in such a case, they pocketed a sum of $101,213.42 (=$144,590.60 – $43,377.18) into the corporate pocket. These increases of incomes mean the company was highly profitable, which boosted the value of the stocks. The higher echelons of the company could make a fast buck by cashing in their stock options. For example, CEO Tom Wilson netted more than 21 million dollars selling shares earlier this month (6/2022). (Steve Daniels, Chicago Business, June 7, 2022. Provided by ex-agent Collin Brennan.)
I wrote on 5/10/21 in the FB All Agents Page platform, “Up, up the wallet of Mr. Shapiro; Down, down the TPP of agents! I learnt from Collin [Brennan, now an ex-agent] that on 3-1-2021 Mr. Shapiro sold 18,000 shares at $109.18 per share to net $1,965,240. His total gain so far for the past 5 years is $8,673,479.00.” Mr. Glenn Shapiro moved five years ago to Allstate to downsize the agency forces as the president of the Allstate Personal Lines from Liberal Mutual, where he was the chief claim officer.
[i] From the Annual Report, provided to me by Collin Brennon.
[ii] Ted Paris, the executive director of NAPAA, stated on 1-23-22 in the FB All Agents Page, “From my data base of agency owners here are the numbers of agents at Allstate:
502 of the new work from home
656 EFS
7,000+ agency owners not including home from home
1,362 agents own more than one location
8,452 Exclusive agents office locations.
4,400+ Exclusive agents appointed since 1-1-2015
2.942 I A contracts
THESE ARE NOT OFFICIAL COMPANY NUMBERS. THESE ARF FROM MY DATA BASE. OFFICIAL NUMBERS COULD BE DIFFERENT.”
He also claimed, “last year from memory 10,500 locations. 8,100 agency owners, 900 EFS, 3,500 I A’s. Again from memory and these are not official from Allstate. It’s my data base”
He further stated, “In 2010/2011 it was reported as 13,000 by Crain’s.”
[iii] Agent Jane M. Doe on 10-27-2020 (SN) said, “[…] I remember a great guy owned two books, at the time he had paid 3.5x (the multiplier used by the company and agents to calculate the value of the book – this explanation is mine, please see terms under Acronyms of this Blog) for his books so he could be in a small town. The only he would survive Is if they allowed him to merg[e – mine]. He was a prior manage. They would not let him. He could face closing the doors [of his business – mine] so he did it.He committed suicide. Within six months TC allowed mergers. He was a good man backed into a desperate situation. I think about him all the time.
His wife was my best friend.
I just feel like it goes up it goes down sometimes way down and then back up. […].”
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