At one of the early meetings of American Legal Connections, Rich Henderson, a senior vice president for reinsurer TransRe, bumped into a concerned client from a hospital insurance company who brought his team members to the event.
Executive Summary
External fixes like tort reform and third-party litigation funding disclosures are some often-cited methods for reining in escalating jury verdicts and settlement values that continue to worry liability claims professionals and insurance industry executives. But Carrier Management asked several executives and a member of the defense bar to look inward instead—at adversarial claims handling tactics in place now that some say are working to inflate social inflation—and to identify industry best practices that will stem the tide of rising claims severity.The insurer was trying to get up to speed on the litigation landscape as it faced the near-term prospect of bringing a really big case to trial, reported Henderson, who co-chairs ALC, a group of claims professionals, defense lawyers and health care system executives—people that Henderson refers to as boots-on-the-ground fighters of social inflation trends. (Read more about ALC in the online article, “Defense Lawyer’s Perspective: Connecting Insurers, Promoting Plaintiff-Style Solidarity“)
“Who else is involved in the [medical malpractice] case with you?” Henderson recalled asking the company representative, who revealed the name of another carrier providing insurance to a co-defendant. “They’re in the room,” Henderson advised, also going on to reveal that claims professionals from an excess insurer were sitting at the next table.
