This question is best answered by the drastic change in the business plan under which insurance companies operate. Over the last ten or fifteen years, insurance companies have made every attempt to decrease their overhead and increase their profits. Certainly, the recent economic crisis has added fuel to this fire and as a result, many adjusters seem to have lost contact with their claims.
Gone are the days where insurance adjusters received company vehicles to get on the field and inspect the claim themselves in a manner which was much more personal and humane. Instead, the new operational guidelines as well as all the personnel cuts in the insurance companies attempt to cut overhead have forced these same adjusters to be glued to their desks to handle an ever increasing case load. In turn, the use of independent contractors to undertake the same tasks which have been traditionally handled by claim adjusters has skyrocketed. These adjusters are not employees of the insurance company and are hired only to gather facts and report back to the claims adjuster who is often thousands of miles away from where the claim arose. To make matters worse, these independent adjusters are often times employed by small independent insurance adjusting firms that do not pay very well and do not offer the same benefits compared to the insurance companies. This has resulted in having field adjusters who have little incentive to thoroughly and fairly adjust these claims.
Nowadays, insurance adjusters have been rendered into expensive paper pushers who only respond to phone calls and e-mails instead of being out in the real world and investigating their own case to find out what really happened and meeting the claimants and policyholders face to face and listen to their real life story. When the adjusters attempt to negotiate a settlement for a personal injury claim, they rely on telephone recorded statements and cold narrative medical reports instead of making an attempt to find out what hardships the claimant really went through in their day to day lives because of the accident.
This streamlined and impersonal way of handling claims has led to a general lack of trust in the claims process. Gone are the good old days when adjusters used to contact their policyholders within 24 hours of the claim being reported to make their insured feel secure. In fact, many of these claimants have very little contact with their insurance company’s supervising adjuster. To make matters worse, some insurance companies have gone a step further and consolidated claims departments into mega regional departments, where the claimant is obliged to deal with a team of adjusters and there is no specifically assigned adjuster. Instead, a different adjuster from the assigned team assists them each time they call. To top things off, the claimant has to incur the expense of calling long distance to find out the status of the claim.
Certainly, Insurance fraud is a very serious problem and must be punished to the full extent of the law, insurance companies have been extreme;y attentive and responsive to these crimes. What we need are insurance companies to care as much about the legitimate claims as they do for those they believe are fraudulent. A recent Liberty Mutual Insurance Company advertisement in Business Insurance Magazine has an adjuster stating: “I love dissecting humans. It is my job to be an excellent judge of character… to determine when someone is telling the truth and when they are committing insurance fraud. Of course, most people are honest but the ones that aren’t cost businesses and workers $25 billion a year. That is why I am available at a moment’s notice to throw my gear in the trunk and discover the truth. I talk to witnesses, follow tire tracks down many roads… whatever it takes to make sure the good guys and the bad ones get exactly what they deserve.” If an adjuster can be “available at a moments notice” to go after potential insurance fraud then it should be equally important for insurance companies to be “available at a moment’s notice” to investigate legitimate claims and make sure that the individuals who were harmed are made whole.
Having a personal injury attorney represent a claimant from the very first moment the accident occurs puts a lot of pressure on the insurance adjusters to deal as quickly and as fairly as possible with the claimant because they do not want to have to deal with unnecessary lawsuits. It is highly advisable that a personal injury attorney be contacted immediately to ensure that your rights are protected and to receive the assistance necessary to make a full recovery.
For additional information on the news that is the subject of this article, contact John Abassian Esq. or visit http://www.personalinjuryattorneysla.com/.
About Abassian Marrache LLP:
We are a boutique personal injury law firm with offices in Encino and Downtown Los Angeles. Our primary focus is to fight for our clients’ rights regardless of the type or magnitude of the case.
