the award seems high, but odds are there is an firm opinion in their file they chose to ignore when they denied the claim. If they shopped for opinions, and rested their file on the one that said deny…
it\’s one thing to dispute an injury, but shopping for an opinion to justify a non payment aint\’ kosher. Again, it\’s only a guess, but it seems pretty stiff for an award for bad faith and punitives.
I hope we do get to learn what the transgression was here. Maybe the jury overstepped, maybe they didn\’t, but it would be very helpful to the industry to know what they were thinking when they awarded the amounts in question.
Travelers previously had another work comp bad faith case in South Dakota where it was discovered that Travelers had set up a bonus system for claims handlers. They were paid bonuses…up to 100% of base salary, in return for reducing claims payments. The bonus pool was funded by reductions in payments made to injured workers. The bonus pool itself was larger than the verdict in this case…$10 MM. Perhaps the jury here found out the same information. Here is some info about the Travelers bonus plan. http://www.kevinquinley.com/nlstory.cfm?ID=453&NLID=2231
There is a lot more to this than meets the eye…and the jury should be given credit.
To: Mjolnir
My comments are valid, I am a liberal conservative, you seem to be an extreme liberal. It seems you have already chosen to condem the Insurance company. That is usually my position, but not in this case.
How can we say the jury is right, wrong or otherwise given the amount of information we all seem to possess, which is little to almost none? Before passing such value judgments, wouldn\’t we all need to spend a little time reviewing the evidence? From what I\’ve learned, and I expect to be learning more over the next week, there was a basis for the jury to consider bad faith, and if the jury was wildly excessive, the trial judge has remittur or a new trial…all before an appeal is considered
Let\’s let the judicial system play out, and the rest of us obtain more information, before we condemn or exalt anyone…
Sheryl,
Just so you know, Mjolnir is anything but an extreme liberal. I have read his posts on several topics, and that just isn\’t the case. His point seems to be that you cannot comment on the frivilous nature of the lawsuit as you don\’t have the appropriate information.
For example, you don\’t know what his salary was, and you don\’t know what his benefit package was like. I really don\’t think he was necessarily taking the plaintiff\’s side, he was just saying we don\’t know.
CONGLADUATION FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE FOUGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS HAVE WON. i ON THE OTHER HAND HAVE BEEN OFF SINCE 1999. mY EMPLOYER IS NOW STATING i CANNOT RETURN TO WORK BECAUSE I AM TOO INJURED HOWEVER THEY WILL NOT GIVE ME ANY DISABILITY RETIRMENT OR BENEFITS.I HAVE HAD TO HIRE BOTH A WORKER COMP LAWYER BECAUSE I WAS INJURED ON THE JOB BECAUSE THEY HIRED AN UNINSURED TRUCKER AND A EMPLOYMENT LAWYER WHO IS HANDLING THE FACT MENTIONED. NEITHER HAS BEEN ABLE TO GET ME ANYTHING. I AM SAID TO A CHRONIC PAIN IN WHICH CASE I HAVE TWO DOCTORS PHYSICAL/MENTAL TO STATE THAT I CAN NO LONGER WORK BUT MY EMPLOYER WILL NOT EXCEPT THIS WITHOUT A SUBSTANTIAL TEST TO CONFIRM THIS INFORMATION.IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME PLEASE E-MAIL ME THANKYOU!
If Sheryl were abused by work comp, I\’ll bet no amount of money could satisfactorily compensate her for her losses. The award is always frivolous when someone else gets it. Everyone is a fake and fraud, except \”me.\” I\’m not like those other people, I REALLY was hurt. People have been brainwashed by the insurance industry. It\’s unfortunate.
if the claim did not have merit it would have never made it to the jury. These days Judges heavily screen these cases. Way over 90% of cases that are without merit get dismissed in the earliest stages. of the cases that make it to a jury, the majority come back fr the defendant. If a case makes it this far and the jury comes back for the plaintiff you can be virtually assured that the evidence supported their verdict. $10 million is like a penny to these big insurance companies. They will not blink an eye. They will not raise rates (although they will tell you that they are doing so). The insurance industry has the game down pat. Fight everything- win most of the time, when they lose appeal until the plaintiff has to settle for less, etc. DO NOT BELIEVE THE SCAM. These insurance companies execs are millionaires. They deny legitimate claims every day and spend vast amounts of their resources on convincing the public at they are not the problem. They are.
Really, no, its not like that. The people making these decisions are not millionaires. They are claims examiners and claims adjusters who come to work every day and try to do the best they can. I\’ve worked in the industry for 20 years, and I\’ve encountered very few of those people you describe, and they have not been in management roles.
Believe it or not, most claims have a reasonable basis for the decision. The ones that don\’t, we read about with headlines like \”Jury awards $10 million dollars\”.
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the award seems high, but odds are there is an firm opinion in their file they chose to ignore when they denied the claim. If they shopped for opinions, and rested their file on the one that said deny…
it\’s one thing to dispute an injury, but shopping for an opinion to justify a non payment aint\’ kosher. Again, it\’s only a guess, but it seems pretty stiff for an award for bad faith and punitives.
I hope we do get to learn what the transgression was here. Maybe the jury overstepped, maybe they didn\’t, but it would be very helpful to the industry to know what they were thinking when they awarded the amounts in question.
Travelers previously had another work comp bad faith case in South Dakota where it was discovered that Travelers had set up a bonus system for claims handlers. They were paid bonuses…up to 100% of base salary, in return for reducing claims payments. The bonus pool was funded by reductions in payments made to injured workers. The bonus pool itself was larger than the verdict in this case…$10 MM. Perhaps the jury here found out the same information. Here is some info about the Travelers bonus plan. http://www.kevinquinley.com/nlstory.cfm?ID=453&NLID=2231
There is a lot more to this than meets the eye…and the jury should be given credit.
To: Mjolnir
My comments are valid, I am a liberal conservative, you seem to be an extreme liberal. It seems you have already chosen to condem the Insurance company. That is usually my position, but not in this case.
How can we say the jury is right, wrong or otherwise given the amount of information we all seem to possess, which is little to almost none? Before passing such value judgments, wouldn\’t we all need to spend a little time reviewing the evidence? From what I\’ve learned, and I expect to be learning more over the next week, there was a basis for the jury to consider bad faith, and if the jury was wildly excessive, the trial judge has remittur or a new trial…all before an appeal is considered
Let\’s let the judicial system play out, and the rest of us obtain more information, before we condemn or exalt anyone…
Sheryl,
Just so you know, Mjolnir is anything but an extreme liberal. I have read his posts on several topics, and that just isn\’t the case. His point seems to be that you cannot comment on the frivilous nature of the lawsuit as you don\’t have the appropriate information.
For example, you don\’t know what his salary was, and you don\’t know what his benefit package was like. I really don\’t think he was necessarily taking the plaintiff\’s side, he was just saying we don\’t know.
CONGLADUATION FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE FOUGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS HAVE WON. i ON THE OTHER HAND HAVE BEEN OFF SINCE 1999. mY EMPLOYER IS NOW STATING i CANNOT RETURN TO WORK BECAUSE I AM TOO INJURED HOWEVER THEY WILL NOT GIVE ME ANY DISABILITY RETIRMENT OR BENEFITS.I HAVE HAD TO HIRE BOTH A WORKER COMP LAWYER BECAUSE I WAS INJURED ON THE JOB BECAUSE THEY HIRED AN UNINSURED TRUCKER AND A EMPLOYMENT LAWYER WHO IS HANDLING THE FACT MENTIONED. NEITHER HAS BEEN ABLE TO GET ME ANYTHING. I AM SAID TO A CHRONIC PAIN IN WHICH CASE I HAVE TWO DOCTORS PHYSICAL/MENTAL TO STATE THAT I CAN NO LONGER WORK BUT MY EMPLOYER WILL NOT EXCEPT THIS WITHOUT A SUBSTANTIAL TEST TO CONFIRM THIS INFORMATION.IF ANYONE CAN HELP ME PLEASE E-MAIL ME THANKYOU!
…particularly for not hammering my political stances while defending my statement.
That is exactly what I was saying.
If Sheryl were abused by work comp, I\’ll bet no amount of money could satisfactorily compensate her for her losses. The award is always frivolous when someone else gets it. Everyone is a fake and fraud, except \”me.\” I\’m not like those other people, I REALLY was hurt. People have been brainwashed by the insurance industry. It\’s unfortunate.
if the claim did not have merit it would have never made it to the jury. These days Judges heavily screen these cases. Way over 90% of cases that are without merit get dismissed in the earliest stages. of the cases that make it to a jury, the majority come back fr the defendant. If a case makes it this far and the jury comes back for the plaintiff you can be virtually assured that the evidence supported their verdict. $10 million is like a penny to these big insurance companies. They will not blink an eye. They will not raise rates (although they will tell you that they are doing so). The insurance industry has the game down pat. Fight everything- win most of the time, when they lose appeal until the plaintiff has to settle for less, etc. DO NOT BELIEVE THE SCAM. These insurance companies execs are millionaires. They deny legitimate claims every day and spend vast amounts of their resources on convincing the public at they are not the problem. They are.
someone\’s been watching Rain Maker too much…
Really, no, its not like that. The people making these decisions are not millionaires. They are claims examiners and claims adjusters who come to work every day and try to do the best they can. I\’ve worked in the industry for 20 years, and I\’ve encountered very few of those people you describe, and they have not been in management roles.
Believe it or not, most claims have a reasonable basis for the decision. The ones that don\’t, we read about with headlines like \”Jury awards $10 million dollars\”.