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10 Ways to Improve Your Car Crash Demand Letters
According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 98.2% of all civil cases settle prior to filing a lawsuit. Of the 1.8% tort claims that are filed, most of those resolve prior to trial. This means that nearly 100% of tort insurance claims will settle or terminate prior to a jury trial.
While many lawyers know Trial Guides as the leader in books, audio and CLEs on trial methods, the company started with a book about how to obtain maximum settlement value in auto cases. The groundbreaking book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know, featured Trial Guides founder Aaron DeShaw’s insights from years of researching the insurance company’s bodily injury software, and how lawyers could use the information to obtain maximum settlement offers for their clients in motor vehicle cases.
If you settle most of your personal injury cases, you need to know the specific factors that are provided value by insurance companies. One of the Top 5 value drivers is a claim for Duties Under Duress.
"Duties Under Duress" is a unique term used within insurance company bodily injury software (Colossus, ClaimIQ, Liability Navigator) used to evaluate bodily injury claims in auto, premises liability and workers compensation claims.
In an article about McKinsey & Co.'s impact on business and society published in "In These Times" the media continues to cite Trial Guides' From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves.
"The McKinsey-designed insurance strategy was major news through the 2000s. This was thanks to numerous lawsuits by both private attorneys and state officials like Foti, who went to war with Allstate and State Farm on behalf of consumers railroaded by the companies after not just auto collisions and fires, but natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes.
A new version of our popular Colossus Forms CD for doctors is being released today. It is an update to one of Trial Guides' earliest products.
The majority of all auto insurers in the U.S. use computerized assessment software to determine bodily injury settlement offers. Most of them conceal its use or allege they no longer use the software. The most widely used bodily injury claim software is called Colossus, but there are others regularly used by large insurers including Liability Navigator, and ClaimIQ. Colossus and other bodily...
Trial Guides is pleased to present an intensive two-day seminar on handling motor vehicle cases with Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.
The seminar will cover advanced topics in how to handle motor vehicle cases in a modern insurance environment. As author of the definitive text on Colossus, DeShaw will discuss how claims are segmented at auto insurers, and how each of these claims is handled.
The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has named the Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America. In doing so, it cites Trial Guides' book From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves and articles arising from publicity around that book as the basis for naming Allstate the #1 worst insurer in America.
The 29 page report has a section for each of the ten worst insurers. The section on Allstate notes at footnote 11 "There is no better analysis of [Allstate's] McKinsey documents than the book, 'From Good Hands’ to Boxing Gloves,' by David Berardinelli, Michael Freeman, and Aaron DeShaw. Many of AAJ's citations to articles about Allstate's institutional "Deny, Delay, Defend" policy cite the book as the authoritative source on Allstate's policies and procedures as well as the way they have impacted the rest of the insurance industry. These include the feature articles by BusinessWeek, Money magazine, CNN and others.
The following article is published in Bloomberg Markets [Since removed from the internet] It provides one of the most comprehensive public media stories covering the serious problems in the insurance industry in America caused by programs of defense, delay and denial of claims.
The Insurance Hoax
By David Dietz and Darrell Preston
Julie Tunnell remembers standing in her debris-strewn driveway when the tall man in blue jeans approached. Her northern San Diego tudor-style home had been incinerated a week earlier in the largest wildfire in California history. The blaze in October and November 2003 swept across an area 19 times the size of Manhattan, destroying 2,232 homes and killing 15 people. Now came another blow.
Below is a Transcript of CNN’s Expose on Allstate and State Farm [since removed from CNN and all web video services.] Wed., Feb. 7, 2007
Insurance companies fight paying billions in claims
"ANDERSON COOPER: Traffic accidents, of course, are a fact of life. So is dealing with insurance companies. You pay them to protect you. That’s the idea. But some accident victims say they’re being forced to settle or go to court because
the claims are denied.
We wanted to know the facts, and in a CNN investigation, we looked into
whether some big name insurers are more interested in profit than
policyholders..."
Article in Chiropractic Economics:
An Excerpt from Billing and Procedure Denials: What Every Physician Needs to Know, by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.
"Have you ever played a game without knowing the rules? It’s difficult to win. Over the last 10 years, chiropractors have been playing a “game” with personal-injury insurers without knowing the rules.
Sometimes they win and get paid for their personal-injury (PI) and healthcare claims; sometimes they lose.
Book Review by Chiropractic Economics:
Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know
by Aaron DeShaw, DC, JD. Loose leaf, 465 pages.
According to the author, approximately 70 percent of auto injuries are evaluated by computer assessment software. The best known assessment software is known as Colossus.
Trial Guides is proud to announce its new book Procedure & Billing Denials: What Every Physician Needs to Know by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.
The new book provides physicians & staff with the background necessary when dealing with a modern insurance company on a personal injury case. DeShaw describes procedures and codes frequently flagged by insurers, and insurance medical bill review software. The book also discusses coding methods and procedures which are flagged for audits, or rejected. DeShaw further discusses modern necessity for charting to substantiate treatment and reduce payment problems.
A new legal Colossus forms CD is released today, to supplement the new book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know.
Approximately 70 percent of all auto insurers in the U.S. use bodily injury assessment software to determine claim value. Most of them conceal its use. The most widely used bodily injury claim software is called Colossus, but there are others also used by large insurers including Claims Outcome Advisor. Bodily injury assessment programs require specific information in order to generate claim value in a client's case.
The Colossus Forms CD provides lawyers with the legal forms necessary when dealing with modern insurance companies on personal injury cases.
A new physician forms CD is released today, to supplement the new edition of Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know.
Approximately 70 percent of all auto insurers in the U.S. use bodily injury assessment software to determine claim value. Most of them conceal its use. The most widely used bodily injury claim software is called Colossus, but there are others also used by large insurers including Claims Outcome Advisor. Bodily injury assessment programs require specific information in order to generate claim value in a patient’s case. And often they use different terminology from treating doctors. The difference in terminology between health care professionals and the insurance industry can result in improperly low settlement offers to injured people.
Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know is the definitive resource for doctors who handle personal injury cases on the insurance claims process involving their patients.
The book provides physicians clear guidance on dealing with personal injury cases that will be analyzed by claims assessment software including Colossus.
Presently, nearly 70% of auto accident cases in the U.S. are evaluated by claims assessment software. The book provides physicians an insider’s view of the medical and legal defects in the programs used by 16 of the Top 20 auto insurance companies in the US.