JACKSBORO, Tenn. (CN) - A police officer sued Tennessee Farmers Insurance Co., claiming its agent doubled the premiums on his homeowner's policy to retaliate for the cop's having given him a speeding ticket.
Ricky Ford, a patrol sergeant for the LaFollette Police Department, sued Farmers and its agent James Daniel Arnold in Campbell County Court.
Ford ticketed Arnold for going 60 in a 40 mph zone, and Arnold "admitted this violation and thereafter paid a fine for speeding," the complaint states.
Ford says that after this, "the defendants sought to cause economic damages to the plaintiff by threatening to discontinue his homeowners insurance coverage, amending his homeowners coverage, which he had had for nearly 11 years, and thereafter doubling the plaintiff's insurance premiums, all for which the defendants sought to retaliate against the plaintiff for having performed his public duty functions and to otherwise cause serious economic consequences to the plaintiff."
Ford claims that the defendants willfully violated state law by retaliating against him for doing his public duty.
Ford seeks $75,000 in compensatory damages and $225,000 in punitive damages, for unfair trade and interference with contract.
He is represented by David Dunaway, of LaFollette and Knoxville.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A spokesman for Farmers Insurance Group told Courthouse News that Tennessee Farmers Insurance Co. dba Campbell County Farm Bureau is not associated with the national company Farmers Insurance Group, and that the defendant James Arnold does not work for the nationwide Farmers Insurance Company.
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