Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
In my article last week, I talked about personal injury law as a type of law that should be regarded as a specialty if specialties were allowed. I wrote about trial work and how historically there has been recognition that trial work is also a specialty. Obviously, a jury has a tough job in that they are hearing a case for the first time with two different versions and they have to make a very important decision to make. Juries want to know the truth and they want to know that the decision they make is correct.
I also mentioned that most people don’t want their case to go to trial. They shouldn’t want their case to go to trial. Trials are hard work. But consider that approximately 98% of all cases settle before they are ever filed. Of the roughly 2% that are filed, 98% also settle.
Starting in 1995, large auto insurers began dividing auto bodily injury claims into different divisions in a practice called claims segmentation. Some of these claim systems called Claim Core Process Redesign (CCPR) and resulted in such substantial profits that other insurers hired the same consultant (McKinsey & Co.) to create similar systems for them. Others simply copies this method to increase their profits.
Some insurers began to substantially reduce their offers on Minor Impact Soft Tissue Cases (MIST) and started spending more money to defend them than the claims were worth. The idea to substantially decrease settlement offers on these claims and then litigate a high percentage of them originated with McKinsey and spread throughout the industry.
If you are interested in researching this matter there is a book titled From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves: How Allstate Changed Casualty Insurance in America written by D. Berardinelli & M. Freeman.
People who study open files on insurance companies invariably find that your attorney must go to trial, understand the injuries involved with their client’s case and write quality demand letters to adjusters. The one true consistency is that the lawyer must go to trial if necessary. Even if the lawyer loses, that lawyer will get still get higher settlement offers. An attorney poses no threat if they settle every single case. There is no reason for the insurance company to make a viable offer if they know that the lawyer will settle no matter.
One thing that has always troubled me about lawyer advertising is when an attorney advertises that they settled a case for a large sum of money. I’ve been a lawyer a long time and I can tell you that that gives you and I no information. The old joke is: How do you make a million dollars practicing law? Answer: Get a two million dollar case and settle it for a million dollars.
The point is that unless a person really understands the case and what impression the plaintiff would make and what impression the defendant would make, how the accident happened and how the doctor testified about the injuries and numerous other facts a dollar figure of settlement doesn’t give you any information.
Buckle up and drive safely.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-764-1124
