A massive civil trial in Kentucky is taking place that might bring about huge changes in the way Allstate denies and fights low impact claims [ MIST].

Plaintiffs argued that Allstate’s adjusters are trained to assume that minor impact crashes cannot possibly cause injuries.

Testimony emerged that Allstate hired McKinsey and Co to “re-design” Allstate’s claims handling, i.e. reduce payments.

McKinsey proposed a 90% - 10% rule. That 90% would settle quickly, by inducing claimants to accept paltry offers. In McKinsey’s proposal, it showed a slide of “good hands” for these claimants. For those who chose to litigate, the slide showed a pair of “boxing gloves”.

Key testimony came from epidemiologist scientist Michael Freeman, from Oregon Health and Science University that the assumptions in Allstate’s claims handling manual about how much force passengers endure in low-speed wrecks have no scientific basis. Art Croft must be joyous.

“These numbers are impossible and they are just made up” said Michael Freeman. Allstate’s manual estimated the G-force placed on passengers and the speed of a crash based on the type of property damage is significantly underestimated and scientifically impossible.

“This is obviously a bogus document.” testified Freeman.

Readers of the PI Email Alert will be kept informed about this case.

Contact JohnTawlian@shawnsteel.com
for the complete article.

Do Higher Bills make a better case?

Thanks to those of you who participated on our monthly teleconference last month. This is our 5th month and our participation is now in the hundreds.

We received many questions. But a classic question is stated above. Higher bills always bring on the litigation spotlight. There has to be a good reason for aggressive billing:

Too often you might hear from some DC’s and attorneys that to guarantee a good settlement and to get paid a fair sum, you must have a large bill.

In fact, the opposite is true. High billers: always have a lot more litigation, slower payments, much greater reductions, more intrusions into their practice by attorneys, med pay denials ---ultimately starving your practice. Insurance companies do it deliberately, to the highest billers.

Do not needlessly make yourself a target of insurance carriers. Just do good work and stay in the middle of the road. Scouts are the first to get whacked.

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All DC’s Welcome
SHAWN STEEL IS SPEAKING AT:
CCA-CHIROPRACTIC DISTRICTS:
“PI Billing that gets you Paid”