Insurers Stalling Accident Claim Settlements
Attorneys More Important Than Ever Many of the insurance carriers facing claims from motorcycle riders injured by unsafe automobile drivers have increased the extent to which they stall on paying claims. Always slow pay, the recession seems to have caused an epidemic of delay. Part of the problem can be traced to a continued downsizing in the claims departments of many automotive insurance carriers. Some claims departments have been moved to less expensive out of state locations, some even have claims people working from home. Combined with the economy, the claims people remaining with the carriers are ever more reluctant to step up to the plate and evaluate cases. The result has been ever more reliance on attorneys to perform the claims function by recommending settlements. There are a number of problems with this approach. The first problem, of course, is that most attorneys are reluctant to evaluate a case until they have done everything they can to look for an out. This means getting duplicate copies of medical records, taking unnecessary depositions, and having biased defense oriented medical doctors prepare defenses to the medical claims being made. All of this is expensive for everyone, and seriously delays bringing the case to an end. The situation is that much worse, however, because the carriers are now squeezing the attorneys even harder. That makes the attorneys fear losing the business, and results in the attorneys being afraid to recommend a reasonable settlement. Even cases where the defense admits fault (a rarity, for sure), and the injuries are serious enough to require surgery, are going without any settlement offer until shortly before trial. I don’t yet see a solution, although I am seeing the insurance companies being hit with verdicts that exceed their policy limits. Hopefully, at some point, the insurance commissioner will step up to the plate. Of course, this isn’t likely while he is running for governor and looking for campaign money. In the meantime, the best course of action is to press the carriers with a good lawyer, filing suit early, and pushing the cases through the courts.
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Insurers Stalling Accident Claim Settlements