Difficulties with Personal Injury Cases: How the Insurance Defense Industry is Making Recovery Harder for Injured Victims

            A large part of our personal injury practice at Parnell & McKay deals with injuries people sustain in motor vehicle accidents. Bringing those claims to resolution now, more than ever, is a complicated and difficult task. Dr. Arthur Croft of the Spine Research Institute of San Diego (SRISD) is familiar with this difficulty, as he has had many patients of his become overwhelmed by the personal injury claims and litigation process.

            In his article, titled “Study Confirms Flaws in Standard Defense Strategy for MVC Injury”, he touches on how automobile insurers are doing everything they can to avoid paying personal injury claims. You can read Dr. Croft’s article here. Dr. Croft calls the position All-State Insurance, and others, take as the “three D’s – delay, deny and defend”. As a result, bringing claims has become more difficult because, as he says, “they traded good hands for boxing gloves” in their claims handling. Unfortunately, this strategy has become a successful financial choice for auto insurers because a lot of Plaintiffs have given up on their claims due to that difficulty.

            Dr. Croft also addresses how jurors are being misled by the auto insurance industry’s practice, relying on their biases and naiveté to achieve results. The first defense he addresses is when they argue that low velocity accidents (under 25mph) should not cause injury. However, Dr. Croft relies on a few studies that demonstrate objectively that this argument has no basis in science or fact. Research concluded that the velocity of the accident does not control the injuries suffered. While this seems like common sense to you and me, it is easy for a jury of our peers to get bogged down in the ‘pseudo-science’ of the auto insurer’s argument. Other factors like position of the head, the angle of the accident, the type of car involved, the greater susceptibility to injury of an older person, etc., all have major influences on the nature of the injury each person suffers. Dr. Croft’s article provides a great summary of how the nature of insurance defense has changed over the years, and how best to combat such aggressive tactics.

            At Parnell & McKay we have over 30 years of combined experience handling personal injury cases of all kinds. Dr. Croft’s article underlines why personal injury lawyers have become so integral to reaching a fair result for injured persons. In fact, he talks about how the difficult nature of injury cases has resulted in fewer lawyers handling personal injury files. At Parnell & McKay we are undeterred by these difficulties, and have adapted our practice to address these tactics and discredit them as thoroughly as possible.

            If you are injured and need help, please call the Law Offices of Parnell & McKay today. You can contact us here.