Between the Lines

What should the industry’s claims- and litigation-related resolutions be for this year? 

“My proposed claims-litigation resolution is to find ways to add value in all you do. Think creatively and offer new ideas and solutions that can improve processes and outcomes. Recognize ways that your work can contribute to the profitability of your organization and that of your clients.” 

Alona Croteau, 
Partner and Director of Client Relations, Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP. CLM Member since 2017. 

“An industry resolution should have four parts: Strategic. Early. Comprehensive. Complete. Strategic because an insured relies on it. Early to reduce soft costs to the insured. Comprehensive to ensure it encompasses all potential and further claims. Complete and well-documented to ensure it does not have a future life in version 2.0 or 3.0.” 

Howard Franco, 
Partner, Collins + Collins LLP. CLM Member since 2015. 

“First, we need to collaborate more within the industry. From my perspective, carriers and defense counsel are collecting mountains of data, but do not appear to be sharing it. Meanwhile the plaintiff's bar is aggressively sharing information on carriers, adjusters, and defenses. Second, we should be supporting efforts to educate consumers that there is a very real cost to outsized verdicts and that those costs will be borne by the consumer.”   

Martin Block,  
Sr. Claim Account Manager, Arch Insurance Group Inc. CLM Fellow since 2012. 

“It is imperative that our industry work together on various fronts, now and in the future, to collaborate on effective strategies to combat legal system abuse. We are experiencing increased indemnity and legal spend driven by use of tactics that have case-specific and broader industry and societal implications.”  

Diana Dearmin,  
Home Office Counsel, Outside Counsel Management & Pricing, Liberty Mutual. CLM Fellow since 2014. 

9% 

Percentage of Americans who make resolutions and complete them. 

Source: Lead Read Today, OSU.edu   

3.74 

Number of months that the average resolution lasts.   

Source: Forbes Health/One Poll 

APPROXIMATELY  
4000 YEAR AGO 

When the Babylonians made  
the first New Year’s resolutions during a 12-day festival called Akitu in mid-March. 

Source: InsideOut Mastery     

53  
cents 

Amount that went to plaintiffs out of each dollar earned ($443 billion) in total cost and compensation paid in the U.S. tort system in 2020.  

Source: Institute for Legal Reform