Two years ago, an adjuster was assigned an auto injury claim involving one of our insured’s ambulances. Nothing like large commercial policy limits to whet an attorney’s appetite.
Our driver admitted fault, actually offering to pay for the damage himself. It seems our ambulance caused a little damage – $530 worth – to the Prius. But that did not prevent the lawyer in the car from claiming not minor, but major injuries.
The adjuster wasn’t convinced and assigned the case to Investigation Solutions to review the ambulance’s and Prius’ damages to determine if our insured caused the injuries.
With photos of both vehicles in hand, our bio-mechanical expert determined that the impact was at less than two mph, with a change of velocity to the claimant of less than half the force of gravity; way below what would normally cause an injury. We also found records from multiple prior claims.
The plaintiff attorney demanded $2 million, claiming diminished earnings capacity of $1.2 million. She had $46k in medical specials, with an “eggshell” argument. Medical records show a severe disability, but causation was at issue.
With evidence at hand, our investigator was able to settle the claim for just a fraction of the demand. Our secret? Get the evidence right away, even though it was months later that the bodily injury claim was filed.