Leif Christopher Hansen (b) 1957) is the founder and owner of the chain of auto body shops, Leif Auto Collision Center .
Video Leif Hansen (businessman)
History
Leif Hansen was born in Bellingham Washington and raised on Oahu Hawaii. In 1986, he opened an agency and Honolulu reparation shop called Pristine Coachworks. In 1990, Hansen moved to Portland to invest in a new type of auto repair shop. In 1991, he opened Olympic Auto, the one-person car-body company that serves about 80 cars per year. In 1999, the company has grown so much that the organization splits into two separate entities - Olympic Auto Body and Paint and Leif's Auto Collision Centers.
In 2005, Leif's Auto Collision Centers mainstay at Tigard was one of the largest in Oregon, employing 70 people and handling more than 4,000 cars per year.
Maps Leif Hansen (businessman)
Political Action
In 1994, Hansen acknowledged that some auto repair shops pay bribes to insurance companies in exchange for referrals. This "congestion" of consumers by insurance companies is seen by some as a problem - especially since business owners like Hansen feel that insurance companies are pressuring them to take shortcuts in exchange for increasing steering traffic.
This inspired Hansen to go directly to the Oregon Legislature to protect consumers from illegal steering practices. In 2005 Hansen established a consumer focused consumer action committee, Oregonians for Safe Auto Repair (OSAR) to encourage legislative change. In June 2007, OSAR made it through the Senate Bill 523-A Oregon. On June 20, 2007, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the bill with Hansen's prize. On January 1, 2008, Senate Bill 523-A officially became an Oregon law. The law requires insurance companies to inform consumers that they have the legal right to choose where their vehicle is repaired. Under the law, insurance companies should inform consumers of their rights before making recommendations to repair providers. The law also prevents insurance companies limiting reimbursement when consumers choose repair providers without referrals from insurance companies.
Legal Action Action Class
Clark v. Mutual Insurance Farm Country
Although law, consumer and auto repair shops like Leif's Autobody feel the continuous pressure from insurance companies to provide incentives for customer rearing - especially in the insurance company's requirements to do the job of reconditioning instead of the new section. Hansen took additional action as part of a class action lawsuit against State Farm in 2007 to directly combat this type of pressure. At Clark v. State Farm Mutual Insurance Company in 2007, the judges revoked the case, claiming that they did not deserve class-action status since the original plaintiff Ricky Eugene Clark accepted the verdict before additional claims were filed (including Lief Hansen). Assessment by the US Court of Appeal, the Tenth Circuit reinforces the preliminary verdict.
Automatic Collision Center Leif v. State Farm et. al
In this case, the Hansen company went to court against Oregon Mutual and Grange Insurance due to antitrust activities in relation to pricing requirements on repairs. The case was referred by the United States District Court for the District of Oregon to become part of the national antitrust lawsuit (A & E BODY SHOP INC. Et al v. 21ST CENTURY CENTEN INSURANCE INSURANCE COMPANY et al) against some of America's largest insurance companies including Progressive , Hartford, and Allstate.
Impact
These two major class action claims may play a role in motivating other autobody shops to take action, as evidenced by the increasing number of cases being referred to the A & amp; E Body Shop in Florida. These cases may also be a boost to a recent demand by Mississippi Governor Jim Hood for US Attorney General Eric Holder to "investigate allegations that some insurance companies" are "directing" auto policy holders to certain workshops and forcing shops -the store to use the lower replacement parts. In addition, these early cases may have inspired increased media attention recently from high-level news sources such as CNN , USA Today , and The Insurance Journal
Community Engagement
Leif Hansen is an advocate for members of his community as well as his customers. In 2011, Autobody and Collision Leif were the main sponsors for the 20th Annual G. Komen Race for the Cure in Portland, Oregon. Hansen's efforts helped the foundation collect over $ 2.5 million dollars in just two days
References
External links
- Company website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments