How to get sued for $1.5 million for personal injury while taking a shower.

[Laelth]

82. Well-presented post. Thanks for this response.

I would add a few things, however.

Over 90% of all cases filed in all Courts in the United States settle (or are otherwise disposed of) before they reach a trial. So, it's not like the insurance industry is unique in its willingness to settle (or otherwise dispose of) cases. Everybody does that. The insurance industry isn't especially prone to settlement--no more than any other person or industry. At least, that has been my experience.

Speaking for myself and for all the Plaintiffs' personal injury attorneys I know, it's useless to send a demand letter to an insurance company (the usual step before filing suit) unless there are some medical records supporting a client's claim to be injured. I'm no doctor. I can't tell if a client has been injured or not, but if a doctor has declared that a client has been injured, and I have that in writing, and if I believe the insurance company is, at least, partially liable, I will send a demand. The insurance company would laugh at my client's demand (and would ignore it) without some medical records showing an actual injury. If the AMA wants to blame tort attorneys because some doctors produce flimsy, or unsupportable, or even fraudulent medical records, that's not the attorneys' fault. Blame the doctors. Because the doctors don't want to blame themselves, and because it's easier and more popular to blame attorneys, I am very suspicious of anything they have to say about tort law. (This is in reference to your first citation.)

Georgia also has a provision that "encourages" settlement, in the same way that the Rhode Island case sited above does, but it's not exactly a boon to Plaintiffs. It's not like you can waltz into court and expect a jury to give you a big verdict without some medical evidence supporting the injury claim. How this rule usually plays out is like this. Say the defendant has a liability policy with a $25,000.00 limit (the minimum in GA). My client is uninsured and has $30,000.00 in medical bills related to the injury. Under those facts, I have to file a "Holt demand" (that's what it's called in GA) so that, if the jury awards meds., lost wages, and pain and suffering beyond $25,000.00, then my client's doctors, at least, can get paid (their bills alone often exceed minimum liability coverage). When trying to settle these cases, I usually have to negotiate with the doctors to see what they'd be willing to take so that I and my client can get paid something. Without this provision, the insurance company would just fork over their limits ($25,000.00) after the trial and tell us all to have a nice day ... win a big jury verdict for $100,000.00, but you only get $25,000.00 to split three ways (client, doctors, attorney). Instead, this rule encourages the insurance industry to just go ahead and fork over their limits, in a case like this, in order to avoid a trial. If client, attorney, and doctor can all agree to reduce their expectations and divide up just $25,000.00 and avoid a trial, settlement may be reached. If not, we go to trial, and, if a Holt demand has been filed, the insurance company, if they lose, is on the hook for whatever amount the jury awards. For smaller cases, a Holt demand is no threat to the insurance company ... no way the jury is awarding more than $25,000.00 on an injury case where there are only $1,000.00 in medical bills. I've never encountered such a thing, in any event, here in GA. Either way, this rule does encourage settlement of some types of cases, but it does not really work with a frivilous one or one with low meds.

I agree with "law dot com" that "[t]here are many deficiencies in liability insurance and in tort law cases," but frivolous filings are not the problem. Of course, frivilous lawsuits do get filed (usually one big company suing another big company--the majority of the truly frivolous lawsuits I have seen), but, from my experience, it's really rare in the field of personal injury. We need medical records. If you think these cases are frivolous, blame the doctors, not us. Most of us can not afford to work without getting paid.

-Laelth