Insurers seek gag order to silence Ray Gunder

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) has followed State Farm’s lead in efforts to impose a gag order to keep Ray Gunder from sharing his legal journey with other repairers across the country, Gunder said.

Gunder, owner of Gunder’s Auto Center, the 44 year-old central Florida collision repair business, has been involved in multiple lawsuits to stop what he says is insurer abuse against his customers and employees by combating intentional short pays by insurers. Gunder has been sharing his efforts about his often- successful battles with insurers since 2008.

Last month State Farm filed a motion to the local court to stop Gunder from sharing information relative to the numerous lawsuits that he has filed on behalf of his customers, including deposition transcripts, results of hearings and discovery, Gunder said. Such activities have allowed a peek into their activities and often have resulted in Gunder getting paid for procedures that the insurers did not initially agree to reimburse him for.

On Feb. 15, GEICO brought in additional legal counsel from Arizona as co-counsel who sent notice to Gunder's attorney, Brent Geohagan, that they would be seeking a delay/continuance for several depositions scheduled in the days ahead and to request the court to issue a gag order to stop Gunder from sharing his legal journey and its findings.

"Because no “Trade Secrets” (i.e. policy premiums, methodology to set or determine pricing, demographics etc.) will be part or parcel of the discovery in these cases, and because the terms of the insurer’s policy/contracts are readily available to all, as are their marketing efforts, I can see no viable or “legitimate trade secret” concerns that would warrant the courts to issue such an order to silence Ray," says Barrett Smith, of Auto Damage Experts (ADE), Gunder's industry consultant, coach and friend.

"Based upon what has been learned through discovery thus far, I can fully understand why these two insurers would not want the information relative to their conduct exposed! As such, Ray’s actions and successes have been extremely beneficial to other repairers and consumers and to the collision repair industry at-large and may encourage some insurers to change their business practices.”

“I’m not overly concerned,” says Gunder, “I have excellent legal counsel and I am confident that Brent will do what he can to defend against the insurers efforts to silence me. My only concern is not being able to show what goes on and how other repairers can be successful in properly and thoroughly serving their customers (and their employees) in receiving proper compensation. I believe this is what the insurer’s fear most and why they are trying to shut me up! Regardless, until I am ordered to keep quiet, you can bet I will continue to share my journey with others."