7919 Sentinel Circle

San Angelo, TX 76904

October 1, 2002

Paula Short

Director of Operations

Better Business Bureau

2210 Washington Avenue

Waco, Texas 76701-1019

Subject: Expanded Summary of Key Points of Complaint to BBB Over

Farm Bureau's Failure to Pay Claim No. 163921

Ms. Short,

Please find below an expanded version of the summary that I sent to you yesterday (30 September). I decided to add several points. . . .

1. The local Farm Bureau claims rep, Mr. Calvin Boatright, still has not done a bumper-to-dent comparison with our car and the truck of the Farm Bureau insured, Mr. Cleve Moore.

2. Mr. Boatright still has not interviewed, or even talked with, the two witnesses who were in our car when the accident occurred, both of whom can confirm that my wife saw Mr. Moore start to back up, that she stopped, that she tried to honk her horn, that they watched Mr. Moore's truck continue to back up toward our car, that they saw Mr. Moore's truck hit our car and felt the impact of the collision.

3. Mr. Boatright has thus far been vague about why he is denying our claim. In his two letters to me and my wife all he has said is that he's concluded that based on the damage to our car and based on my wife's taped interview, Mr. Moore is not legally responsible for the accident, that it's not clear what happened, and that there are supposedly inconsistencies in the taped statement that he took from my wife. Mr. Boatright hasn't explained WHY Mr. Moore's not legally responsible. He hasn't explained WHY it's not clear what happened. He hasn't explained WHY the damage to our car supposedly casts doubt on what occurred. And he hasn't explained what statements in my wife's taped interview are supposedly inconsistent. (I might add that when he spoke with my wife on the phone, Mr. Boatright said Mr. Moore wasn't responsible for the accident because "he didn't know he had hit you." In reply, my wife asked him if a person would be found "not legally responsible" for running over someone just because he or she didn't know they had done so. Mr. Boatright answered, "Well, uh, no." I was standing right next to my wife during this phone conversation.)

4. Mr. Boatright initially told my wife that an analysis of Mr. Moore's taped statement and of her taped statement showed that both vehicles "may" have been moving when the accident occurred, and he said he would send us a copy of both statements. However, to date, he's only sent us a copy of my wife's statement, and he only did that about a week ago, after we called repeatedly and asked why he still hadn't sent us the promised statements.

5. When I spoke with Mr. Boatright's boss, Mr. Joe Drabek, Mr. Drabek expressed surprise when I told him that Mr. Boatright had not done a bumper-to-dent comparison with our car and Mr. Moore's truck. Mr. Drabek then said he'd call Mr. Boatright and arrange to have this done. However, about an hour later, Mr. Drabek called me back and said he'd decided to uphold Mr. Boatright's decision not to pay our claim.

6. When my wife initially spoke with Mr. Boatright, she asked him about the fact that Mr. Moore had apologized on the spot for hitting our car after she showed him the damage he had done, Mr. Boatright replied that she hadn't mentioned this in her statement to him. My wife insisted she had mentioned this to him, and that was when my wife asked for a copy of the transcript of her taped statement from Mr. Boatright. (It was later in this same conversation that Mr. Boatright then claimed that an analysis of BOTH her statement and Mr. Moore's statement would show that both vehicles "may" have been moving at the time of the accident. I should further observe that when I heard that Mr. Boatright had told my wife that in her taped interview she didn't mention that Mr. Moore had apologized, I called Mr. Boatright and reminded him that a few days after the accident I had mentioned to him in our phone conversation that Mr. Moore had done so.) In point of fact, the transcript of my wife's taped statement does show that she mentioned that Mr. Moore apologized on the spot.

7. A word about the estimate that my wife submitted to Mr. Boatright. On the day that my wife drove around town to get estimates, two of the three places she visited were having computer problems and thus could not give her an estimate. The one place that did give her an estimate gave her one for about $1,800. When my wife took the estimate to Mr. Boatright, she mentioned why she had only been able to get one estimate, she said she thought the estimate was a little high, and she volunteered to get more estimates the very next day. Mr. Boatright replied that the estimate she had gotten would be ok.

8. On the very next day, Mr. Boatright told me on the phone that the estimate was fine and that he didn't see any problem with our claim, that he just needed to contact Mr. Moore to take his statement. Mind you, this was AFTER he had examined and photographed the damage to our car. Yet, now, for some reason, he says the damage to our car raises questions about how the accident occurred. Mr. Boatright certainly didn't seem to think this when I spoke with him after my wife had given him the estimate.

9. We have repeatedly asked Farm Bureau claims personnel to interview the two witnesses who were in our car when the accident occurred. Since they still have not done so, we will obtain notarized statements from these witnesses and will be happy to provide these statements to you and to Farm Bureau Insurance.

10. We have repeatedly asked Farm Bureau claims personnel to do a bumper-to-dent comparison with our car and Mr. Moore's truck, but so far they have declined to do this rather standard procedure.

11. After my wife began to back out of her parking space, she saw Mr. Moore start to back up from his parking space as well.

12. When my wife saw Mr. Moore's truck backing up toward her, she stopped, completely stopped, and tried to honk the horn to alert Mr. Moore that he was about to hit our car.

13. Mr. Moore backed up without looking into his mirrors (and without turning his head to look behind him) as he was backing up. He only looked into his rearview mirror after he began to pull away after he had hit our car. (If it turns out that Mr. Moore claimed in his taped statement that he was looking behind him, either in his mirrors or by turning his head, then I would ask him to explain how he could have failed to see our car at any point while he was backing up.)

14. My wife flagged down Mr. Moore and showed him the damage he had just done, and he apologized on the spot for having hit our car.

15. I might add that both of the witnesses who were in our car during the accident heard Mr. Moore apologize. Those witnesses were my daughter and a friend of hers. I realize my daughter's value as a witness is somewhat diminished by the fact that she's a family member, but I think anyone who talks to her will quickly conclude she is a truthful person and that she did in fact hear Mr. Moore apologize. Furthermore, as mentioned, my daughter's friend, whose name is Courtney Mooney, also heard Mr. Moore apologize for hitting our car. Last night I was finally able to interview Courtney, and she mentioned that she did in fact hear "the man in the truck" apologize. Until last night I had assumed Courtney had not heard Mr. Moore apologize. I assumed this because about two weeks ago I asked my daughter if she thought Courtney had heard Mr. Moore apologize. She replied that she didn't know. I tried calling Courtney a couple times after that, but was unable to reach her. So, to be on the safe side, I assumed Courtney had not heard Mr. Moore apologize. Now, it turns out that she did hear him do so. I will have notarized sworn statements from my daughter and from her friend by the end of this week.

16. There are visible black streaks in the dent that Mr. Moore made in our car, and Mr. Moore's truck has a black rubber strip on the rear bumper. I have digital photos of the dent, which I took on 5 August, just two days after the accident.

17. After my wife went into the mall to call the police, Mr. Moore decided to leave his insurance information with our daughter, and then he left the scene before the police arrived.

18. As mentioned, there were two Junior High School students in our car when the accident occurred, one of whom was our daughter, the other of whom was a friend of my daughter, both of whom can verify that my wife completely stopped our car well before Mr. Moore backed into it.

19. Concerning Mr. [Steve] Williams' claim th