Considering AI Demand Letters for Settlement?

With more than 99% of all personal injury cases being settled prior to verdict, writing demand letters is the primary financial activity of most personal injury law firms.  Settlement Intelligence has recently released an extensive overview of these AI Demand Letter programs, the pros and cons of using these systems in your legal practice, and how they are already being successfully used by solo lawyers to large high volume personal injury law firms.
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10 Ways to Improve Your Car Crash Demand Letters

10 Ways to Improve Your Car Crash Demand Letters

According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 98.2% of all civil cases settle prior to filing a lawsuit.  Of the 1.8% tort claims that are filed, most of those resolve prior to trial. This means that nearly 100% of tort insurance claims will settle or terminate prior to a jury trial.

While many lawyers know Trial Guides as the leader in books, audio and CLEs on trial methods, the company started with a book about how to obtain maximum settlement value in auto cases. The groundbreaking book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know, featured Trial Guides founder Aaron DeShaw’s insights from years of researching the insurance company’s bodily injury software, and how lawyers could use the information to obtain maximum settlement offers for their clients in motor vehicle cases.

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How do Duties Under Duress Claims Impact Settlement Offers?

How do Duties Under Duress Claims Impact Settlement Offers?

If you settle most of your personal injury cases, you need to know the specific factors that are provided value by insurance companies. One of the Top 5 value drivers is a claim for Duties Under Duress.

"Duties Under Duress" is a unique term used within insurance company bodily injury software Colossus used to evaluate bodily injury claims in auto claims.

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Spinal Injury Cases - Demand Letters

Handling Spinal Injury Cases - Sessions 3 and 4

As America's leading litigation publisher, Trial Guides knows that the most successful personal injury attorneys focus on mastering the medicine in their practice area. To support lawyers in improving their skills in handling spinal injury cases, Trial Guides has created the most comprehensive and advanced educational series in the legal profession for spinal injury lawyers hosted by trial lawyer and retired doctor Aaron DeShaw. This educational series will help lawyers achieve better insurance settlements, arbitration awards, and trial verdicts for their spinal injury claims. This blog post discusses the content of Sessions 3 and 4 in the Spinal Injury Cases series.
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McKinsey & Co. scandal Allstate State Farm

Media Cites Trial Guides' From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves in Questioning McKinsey & Co.

In an article about McKinsey & Co.'s impact on business and society published in "In These Times" the media continues to cite Trial Guides' From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves.

"The McKinsey-designed insurance strategy was major news through the 2000s. This was thanks to numerous lawsuits by both private attorneys and state officials like Foti, who went to war with Allstate and State Farm on behalf of consumers railroaded by the companies after not just auto collisions and fires, but natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes.

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Trial Guides 15th Anniversary, a word from our Founder

Fifteen years ago this month, I turned down offers from three major legal publishers and published the first two books for Trial Guides. The books...
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Writing Demand Letters in Auto Cases Live Webinar CLE

Writing Demand Letters in Auto Cases Live Webinar CLE

In this webinar, Sinclair discusses how to improve your demand letters by basing your format and the information in the demand on the software that the insurer is using to evaluate your client’s claim. This presentation draws upon her expertise developed by seeing case files from all over the country, involving hundreds of different insurance adjusters and thousands of different health care providers.
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Announcing a New Version of the Colossus Forms CD for Doctors

Announcing a New Version of the Colossus Forms CD for Doctors

A new version of our popular Colossus Forms CD for doctors is being released today. It is an update to one of Trial Guides' earliest products.

The majority of all auto insurers in the U.S. use computerized assessment software to determine bodily injury settlement offers. Most of them conceal its use or allege they no longer use the software. The most widely used bodily injury claim software is called Colossus, but there are others regularly used by large insurers including Liability Navigator, and ClaimIQ. Colossus and other bodily...

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Mastering Motor Vehicle Cases CLE Aaron DeShaw

Mastering Motor Vehicle Cases - CLE Seminar with Dr. Aaron DeShaw Esq.

Trial Guides is pleased to present an intensive two-day seminar on handling motor vehicle cases with Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.

The seminar will cover advanced topics in how to handle motor vehicle cases in a modern insurance environment. As author of the definitive text on Colossus, DeShaw will discuss how claims are segmented at auto insurers, and how each of these claims is handled.

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AAJ Lists Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America, Cites Trial Guides' Books and Authors for Uncovering Insurance Bad Faith Practices

AAJ Lists Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America, Cites Trial Guides' Books and Authors for Uncovering Insurance Bad Faith Practices

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has named the Top 10 Worst Insurance Companies in America.  In doing so, it cites Trial Guides' book From Good Hands to Boxing Gloves and articles arising from publicity around that book as the basis for naming Allstate the #1 worst insurer in America.

The 29 page report has a section for each of the ten worst insurers.  The section on Allstate notes at footnote 11 "There is no better analysis of [Allstate's] McKinsey documents than the book, 'From Good Hands’ to Boxing Gloves,' by David Berardinelli, Michael Freeman, and Aaron DeShaw.  Many of AAJ's citations to articles about Allstate's institutional "Deny, Delay, Defend" policy cite the book as the authoritative source on Allstate's policies and procedures as well as the way they have impacted the rest of the insurance industry.  These include the feature articles by BusinessWeek, Money magazine, CNN and others.

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Bloomberg Details Widespread Insurance Claim Denials and Delays

Bloomberg Details Widespread Insurance Claim Denials and Delays

The following article is published in Bloomberg Markets [Since removed from the internet] It provides one of the most comprehensive public media stories covering the serious problems in the insurance industry in America caused by programs of defense, delay and denial of claims.

The Insurance Hoax

By David Dietz and Darrell Preston

Julie Tunnell remembers standing in her debris-strewn driveway when the tall man in blue jeans approached. Her northern San Diego tudor-style home had been incinerated a week earlier in the largest wildfire in California history. The blaze in October and November 2003 swept across an area 19 times the size of Manhattan, destroying 2,232 homes and killing 15 people. Now came another blow.

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CNN Expose on Allstate and State Farm features Trial Guides Authors David Berardinelli and Dr. Michael Freeman

CNN Expose on Allstate and State Farm features Trial Guides Authors David Berardinelli and Dr. Michael Freeman

Below is a Transcript of CNN’s Expose on Allstate and State Farm [since removed from CNN and all web video services.] Wed., Feb. 7, 2007

Insurance companies fight paying billions in claims

"ANDERSON COOPER: Traffic accidents, of course, are a fact of life. So is dealing with insurance companies. You pay them to protect you. That’s the idea. But some accident victims say they’re being forced to settle or go to court because
the claims are denied.

We wanted to know the facts, and in a CNN investigation, we looked into
whether some big name insurers are more interested in profit than
policyholders..."

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Colossus Lawyer Forms CD Duties Under Duress Loss of Enjoyment of Life

Maximizing Auto Accident Settlement Offers

Nearly 70% of auto accident cases in the U.S. are evaluated by bodily injury claims assessment software.

Now there is a guide that helps you and your clients - triggering thousands of "value drivers," and helping you ethically maximize settlement offers based upon the facts of your clients' cases.

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Colossus Text Helps You Ethically Maximize Settlement Offers

Colossus Text Helps You Ethically Maximize Settlement Offers

Nearly 70% of auto accident cases in the U.S. are evaluated by claims assessment software. But the insurers have kept these programs, and how they evaluate claims, secret from their own policyholders.  But, Aaron DeShaw has consolidated three years of research into these programs into a book disclosing the way these programs evaluate your claims, as well as how they fail to properly value your case. 
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Chiropractic Economics: Aaron DeShaw's Article on Bill Review Software in Personal Injury Cases

Chiropractic Economics: Aaron DeShaw's Article on Bill Review Software in Personal Injury Cases

Article in Chiropractic Economics:

An Excerpt from Billing and Procedure Denials: What Every Physician Needs to Know, by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.

"Have you ever played a game without knowing the rules? It’s difficult to win. Over the last 10 years, chiropractors have been playing a “game” with personal-injury insurers without knowing the rules.

Sometimes they win and get paid for their personal-injury (PI) and healthcare claims; sometimes they lose.

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Nebraska Association of Trial Lawyers Publishes Excerpt of Aaron DeShaw Colossus Text

Nebraska Association of Trial Lawyers Publishes Excerpt of Aaron DeShaw Colossus Text

The Prairie Barrister, publication of the Nebraska Association of Trial Lawyers, published the article "Negotiating a Non-Demonstrable Case - A study in Colossus" in its Fall 2005 edition. The article is based on Trial Guides' book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know, by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq., the definitive text on settling automobile claims with insurers that use bodily injury claims software for the evaluation of claims.  The book is supplemented by the Colossus: Legal Forms CD.
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Chiropractic Economics Reviews Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know

Chiropractic Economics Reviews Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know

Book Review by Chiropractic Economics:

Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know
by Aaron DeShaw, DC, JD. Loose leaf, 465 pages.

According to the author, approximately 70 percent of auto injuries are evaluated by computer assessment software. The best known assessment software is known as Colossus.

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Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Publishes Excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Publishes Excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

Trial Talk, the magazine of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, published the article "Negotiating a Non-Demonstrable Case" in its August/September 2005 edition. The article is based on our book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know, by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq., the definitive text on settling automobile claims with insurers using bodily injury claims software for the evaluation of claims.  The book is supplemented by the Colossus: Legal Forms CD.
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ATLA Motor Vehicle Collision Section publishes on Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

ATLA Motor Vehicle Collision Section publishes on Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

The Association of Trial Lawyers of America ("ATLA") newsletter of the Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway & Premises Liability Section, published the article "Soft Tissue Cases in Colossus" in its Summer 2005 edition. The article is based upon our book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyers Needs to Know by Aaron DeShaw.
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Trial Briefs Publishes Excerpt on Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

Trial Briefs Publishes Excerpt on Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

Trial Briefs, the magazine of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, published an excerpt of our text Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know in the June 2005 edition. The book, by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq., is the definitive text on settling automobile claims with insurers using bodily injury claims software for the evaluation of claims.  The book is supplemented by the Colossus: Legal Forms CD.
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The Gavel Publishes an Excerpt of Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know

The Gavel Publishes an Excerpt of Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know

The Gavel, the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association magazine, published an excerpt of our text Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know in the Summer 2005 edition.
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The Verdict Publishes an Excerpt of Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know

The Verdict Publishes an Excerpt of Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know

The Verdict, the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers magazine, published a several page excerpt of our text Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know in the Summer 2005 edition.  The book was written by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.
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The Advocate publishes on Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know

The Advocate publishes on Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know

The Advocate, the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association magazine, published an excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's text Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know in the July/August 2005 edition.
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Louisiana Advocates Trial Guides Colossus Aaron DeShaw

Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association Reviews Aaron DeShaw's Colossus Text

This month, Louisiana Advocates, the journal of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association published an excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know.
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Montana Trial Lawyers Association Publishes on the Colossus Text

Montana Trial Lawyers Association Publishes on the Colossus Text

This month, the Montana Trial Lawyers Association Journal "Trial Trends" published an excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know.
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Idaho Trial Lawyer's Association - Colossus Aaron DeShaw

The Idaho Trial Lawyers Association Journal publishes on Colossus Text

This month, the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association Journal published an excerpt of Aaron DeShaw's book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know.
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Procedure & Billing Denials Aaron DeShaw Trial Guides

Trial Guides publishes "Procedure & Billing Denials: What Every Physician Needs to Know"

Trial Guides is proud to announce its new book Procedure & Billing Denials: What Every Physician Needs to Know by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq. 

The new book provides physicians & staff with the background necessary when dealing with a modern insurance company on a personal injury case. DeShaw describes procedures and codes frequently flagged by insurers, and insurance medical bill review software. The book also discusses coding methods and procedures which are flagged for audits, or rejected. DeShaw further discusses modern necessity for charting to substantiate treatment and reduce payment problems.

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New Colossus Form CD for Personal Injury Lawyers

New Colossus Form CD for Personal Injury Lawyers

A new legal Colossus forms CD is released today, to supplement the new book Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know.

Approximately 70 percent of all auto insurers in the U.S. use bodily injury assessment software to determine claim value. Most of them conceal its use. The most widely used bodily injury claim software is called Colossus, but there are others also used by large insurers including Claims Outcome Advisor.  Bodily injury assessment programs require specific information in order to generate claim value in a client's case.

The Colossus Forms CD provides lawyers with the legal forms necessary when dealing with modern insurance companies on personal injury cases.

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New book on Colossus for Lawyers Reveals Best Practices for Insurance Demand Letters

New book on Colossus for Lawyers Reveals Best Practices for Insurance Demand Letters

We are proud to announce the release of Colossus: What Every Trial Lawyer Needs to Know, by Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq.  The book is the definitive resource for lawyers who handle auto insurance claims practices, and how they impact both the writing of insurance demand letters, as well as insurance bad faith implications.  The book is the result of three years of research, including non-protected claim manuals from several insurers, non-protected Colossus manuals, original programming documents from Australia, as well as interviews with claims adjustors, claim supervisors and even Lee Fogle - director of bodily injury software at ISO who oversees the Claim Outcome Advisor program.  
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Colossus Physician Forms CD Now Available

Colossus Physician Forms CD Now Available

A new physician forms CD is released today, to supplement the new edition of Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know.

Approximately 70 percent of all auto insurers in the U.S. use bodily injury assessment software to determine claim value. Most of them conceal its use. The most widely used bodily injury claim software is called Colossus, but there are others also used by large insurers including Claims Outcome Advisor.  Bodily injury assessment programs require specific information in order to generate claim value in a patient’s case.  And often they use different terminology from treating doctors.  The difference in terminology between health care professionals and the insurance industry can result in improperly low settlement offers to injured people.

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Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know - Updated Version Available

Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know - Updated Version Available

Colossus: What Every Physician Needs to Know is the definitive resource for doctors who handle personal injury cases on the insurance claims process involving their patients.  

The book provides physicians clear guidance on dealing with personal injury cases that will be analyzed by claims assessment software including Colossus.

Presently, nearly 70% of auto accident cases in the U.S. are evaluated by claims assessment software. The book provides physicians an insider’s view of the medical and legal defects in the programs used by 16 of the Top 20 auto insurance companies in the US.

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