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Malvern, PA (PRWEB) December 28, 2011

New findings from an Insurance Research Council (IRC) study of auto injury claim trends indicate that insurance claim costs countrywide have recently increased, reversing previous trends of declining or relatively stable costs. The report, Trends in Auto Injury Claims, 2011 Edition, documents important auto injury claim trends, both countrywide and by state, using private passenger auto claim data from national and state-level statistical reporting agencies.

Although injury claim severity (the average cost of injury claims) has been increasing steadily in the last several years, much of the increase has been offset by declining claim frequency, which produced relatively stable injury claim costs per insured vehicle. However, recent data indicate that claim frequency, on a countrywide basis, is no longer decreasing. In the case of personal injury protection (PIP) claims, the effect of rising claim severity has been magnified by a simultaneous increase in claim frequency. PIP claim costs per insured vehicle countrywide increased more than 18 percent from 2008 to 2010. For bodily injury (BI) liability claims, the effect of rising claim severity has been mitigated somewhat by stabilization, rather than an increase, in claim frequency. However, 2010 marks the first year since 1994 that BI claim frequency did not decline.

Much of the deterioration in PIP trends has been concentrated in three of the largest states with no-fault approaches to compensating auto injuries?Florida, Michigan, and New York. In Florida, the average PIP claim cost per insured vehicle in the state jumped 62 percent in just two years (2008-2010). PIP costs per vehicle in Michigan have been increasing rapidly for several years now?rising more than 120 percent over the last decade. The New York system has been on a roller coaster of rising and falling costs driven by a surge in suspected claim abuse in the New York City area.

?These are not encouraging findings for insurers or drivers,? said Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president of The Institutes. ?While we hope these findings represent temporary conditions, we can?t be sure that is the case and can?t afford to ignore the factors driving rising claim costs.?

For more detailed information on the study?s methodology and findings, contact David Corum at (484) 831-9046, or by e-mail at irc@TheInstitutes.org. Copies of the study are available for $ 300 for an electronic version or $ 400 for a printed copy. Visit IRC?s Web site, http://www.insurance-research.org, for more information. The IRC recently published an in-depth analysis of PIP claims in New York, New York?s No-Fault System: Final Report on Closed Auto Injury Claims, which provides additional detailed information about recent trends and current conditions in New York?s automobile insurance system. The study is available now from the IRC Web site. A similar study of Michigan?s system will be published by IRC in early 2012.

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NOTE TO EDITORS: The Insurance Research Council is a division of the American Institute For Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (The Institutes). The Institutes are the leader in delivering proven knowledge solutions that drive powerful business results for the risk management and property-casualty insurance industry. The Institutes? knowledge solutions include the CPCU designation program; associate designation programs in areas such as claims, risk management, underwriting, and reinsurance; introductory and foundation programs; online courses; research; custom solutions; assessment tools; and continuing education (CE) courses for licensed insurance professionals and adjusters through its CEU.com business unit..

The IRC provides timely and reliable research to all parties involved in public policy issues affecting insurance companies and their customers. The IRC does not lobby or advocate legislative positions. It is supported by leading property-casualty insurance organizations.

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West Palm Beach, FL (PRWEB) November 03, 2011

If the promise of insurance is to protect — not just those injured in automobile accidents but those who may have been responsible for the harm — then insurers have a strange definition of ?protection,? says Florida insurance attorney Patrick J. Tighe of X1LAW.com. The veteran trial lawyer is calling for important changes to Florida?s no-fault insurance law, requiring full disclosure of the process — and risks and inconveniences — an insured may face as a lawsuit defendant.

?I see it all the time in the courtroom — a defendant who never realized that when he or she was sued it would be them, and not the insurance company, sitting day after day in court, having to defend the suit and potentially be on the hook for any judgment in excess of policy limits,? says Tighe, who has been assisting Florida residents in insurance lawsuits and other claims for more than a decade. ?When the lawsuit is filed, every one of these defendants gets a letter from their insurer reassuring them, telling them that the company will protect them. But these letters — no matter who the insurer — almost never spell out everything that will be required of the defendant if the case goes to trial. Instead, they give a false sense of security and it?s time that we change that.?

The problem, says the Florida insurance lawyer, is that the defendant rarely realizes — until they are actually in the courtroom — what time, effort, and ultimately expense being named in a lawsuit entails. As a result, says Tighe, the insured is less apt to push for a settlement, which often can prove a faster, less expensive way to resolve an automobile accident lawsuit.

?If insurance customers knew that it would be them, and not the insurance company, sitting alone in that courtroom, missing work, potentially a judgment that goes over their policy limit, we would see a lot more customers pushing their insurers to resolve cases outside the adversarial context of a courtroom,? says Tighe. ?That would work in all parties? favor, as it would be a lot less time consuming and costly all around.?

Instead of cursory assurances of ?protection,? insurance companies should be required to send a uniform disclosure notice whenever a customer is sued as a result of an auto accident. ?It?s a simple step that would result in defendants better understanding what lays in front of them, and able to have a voice in whether a case goes forward or not,? says Tighe. ?In the end, we don?t just get faster, fairer results that are less taxing on everyone, but we free up increasingly stressed court resources for the cases that truly need to be resolved before judge and jury.?

A uniform disclosure requirement would be easy to implement, too, says Tighe. ?It?s a simple change to Florida?s no-fault insurance law,? the trial lawyer notes. ?But the results would be significant: Defendants who are better informed plaintiffs who have a simpler path to recovery, and court time that is freed up for those who truly need it. This is a reform with no downside — and one that should have been implemented long ago. Fortunately, it?s never too late to do the right thing. So let?s do it now.?

About X1LAW P.A.

For over a decade, Florida personal injury and insurance lawyer Patrick J. Tighe has been protecting the rights of consumers, and those who have suffered catastrophic injury in automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, and other life-changing events. In that time, he has represented — and come through for — thousands of individuals in insurance claims that were wrongly denied, delayed, or undervalued. Earlier in his career, Tighe spent nearly ten years working on ?the other side,? defending insurers in injury lawsuits. That experience gave him invaluable insight on how big insurers approach and handle insurance claim cases — insight that is leveraged every day to bring results, and justice, for clients.

CONTACT:

Patrick J. Tighe

X1LAW, P.A.

(561) 537 5059

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