Romano

Background

While driving a 1995 Pontiac Firebird, Katherine Romano was rear-ended by a Toyota Camry driven by Alex Perez, who at the time was insured by a Pennsylvania insurance company (Legion Insurance Company) in financial trouble. The accident occurred in September 2001 and within six months a court in Pennsylvania put the Pennsylvania insurer into “rehabilitation.” While the court order of “rehabilitation” was expressly not a “declaration of insolvency” such as would “activate” Pennsylvania’s or any other state’s insurance guaranty laws, the order nevertheless made the payment of any claims a matter of the rehabilitator’s discretion

On December 30, 2001 (within four months of the accident), the Pennsylvania insurer filed financial statements with the California Department of Insurance showing that its net worth was a negative $293 million, and within another 16 months after that (in late April 2003), a California court actually ordered the Pennsylvania insurer into liquidation. Within 23 months of the accident, in late July 2003, a Pennsylvania court formally did the same thing.

Needless to say, Romano did not (and has not) received any money from the now-defunct…