Getting familiar with IMEcentric & IMEBASE

Have you or your client been sent to Dr. Thomas W. Grossman for a so-called "Independent Medical Examination"? If so, you may not realize that Dr. Grossman was likely hired by the defense insurer or lawyer through Crawford Evaluation Group by way of IMEBASE.  Dr. Grossman is in Crawford's stable of doctors earning huge sums of money reporting and testifying for insurers.  IMEcentric and IMEBASE are software programs that connect physicians who want to earn those huge sums with insurers.  Interestingly, Dr. Grossman has worked for both ExamWorks predecessor, Verity Medical, and Crawford, and probably may other IME companies.

In any event, IMEBASE's website explains:
"Are you running IME management software owned by your largest competitor? Two years ago, ExamWorks acquired IME Software Solutions, the creator of IMEcentric. If you’re using IMEcentric, you’re trusting your largest competitor to secure all of your case information, physician lists, and any other data you enter into their system.
imebase is the independent IME management solution. imebase and its parent company, Innova Partners, are exclusively dedicated to software development. We do NOT perform IMEs, manage the IME process, or anything that competes with your business. Our sole focus is to provide software that makes you more successful."

You may remember ExamWorks from the post ExamWorks - IME's are Big Business.  Today, ExamWorks is almost a $1 billion company and IMEcentric is how its stable of physicians are connected with insurers.  In fact, it's website shows "profitability reports" citing huge insurers like Geico and State Farm.

Lawyers practicing personal injury law should familiarize themselves with this software and discover as much information as possible about the "independent" doctor's earnings and work for insurance companies.

By the way, other Wisconsin IME "brokers" that may utilize these software systems include: EvaluMed, Integrity Medicolegal Enterprises, Medical Consultants Network, Medical Systems, Inc., and Woodlake Medical Management.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Buy your teen the same amount of car insurance you buy yourself

The day has arrived when you drive your teen to the DMV to get his or her learner’s permit and then driver’s license.  Scary.  But the scariest thing for a parent is being asked to sign for your child’s driver’s license as a “sponsor.”

Wisconsin law requires that children under 18, with some exceptions, have an adult sponsor in order to get a learner’s permit and driver’s license.  The sponsor is typically a parent. The sponsorship application for a child’s driver’s license requires that a parent agree to be jointly and severally liable for damages caused by the negligence or willful misconduct of the child.  This means that if an accident were to occur, the parents would be held liable as if they caused the accident.  Note too, one parent’s signature typically puts both parents on the hook even if they are divorced.  As a result of Wisconsin’s “sponsorship statute” it is important to protect your family and your assets by purchasing your teen drivers as much car insurance as you buy for yourself. 

A recent appellate court decision shows why adequate insurance is so important.  In Progressive Northern Ins. Co. v. Jacobson, 2011 WI App 140, a minor child caused an accident killing his two passengers.  He owned his car and carried his own car insurance, but it appears it was minimal.  However, since Wisconsin requires a sponsor for a minor’s driver’s license, his mother was his sponsor.  Due to the severity of the damages, the deceased passengers’ estates looked to the mother since she was equally liable under the sponsorship statute. 

The mother sought coverage with her insurance company, Progressive Insurance.  However Progressive sought to escape responsibility arguing that it had no duty to cover her son’s accident, even though she was her son’s sponsor.  Progressive’s insurance policy, like most auto policies in Wisconsin, had a “relative” exclusion and the Court agreed with Progressive and found that the mother had no insurance coverage for her son’s accident.  As a result of being liable for her son’s negligence, she could now be forced to use her own assets (money, home or other property) to pay a judgment.

As a result of the sponsorship statute, my typical recommendation for families is that all cars in a family’s household be insured with the same car insurance company and that each car has liability, uninsured (UM), and underinsured (UIM) limits of at least $250,000 per person.  In addition, I strongly advise anyone with any assets, like a home, to purchase an umbrella insurance policy with UM and UIM coverage for $1 or $2 million. 

Sometimes people ask why UM and UIM coverage is important.  The answer is that such coverage protects you and your family from irresponsible drivers with little or no insurance or assets.  Added coverage is not nearly as expensive as you might think, and if you are sponsoring one or more teen drivers, you are at risk and must protect yourself and your assets.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Governor Doyle's Car Insurance Proposal

In 1995, insurance companies in the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance conned state legislators and the governor into believing that if they changed the law Wisconsin citizens would pay less in car insurance rates. Well, the bill became law and car insurance rates never went up. Oh, does that sound to good to be true? Exactly. What really happened was that Wisconsin citizens LOST many rights they had under their insurance policies and of course, car insurance rates WENT UP.

Here are WIA's members:

A I G
Allied Insurance
Allstate Insurance
American Family Insurance
Ameriprise Auto & Home Ins
Auto Club Insurance Assn
Badger Mutual Insurance
Capitol Indemnity Corp
C N A
Church Mutual Insurance
CUNA Mutual Insurance Group
Farmers Insurance
1st Auto & Casualty Insurance Co
General Reinsurance Corp Kemper Auto & Home
Germantown Mutual Insurance
Homestead Mutual Insurance Co
Integrity Mutual Insurance
Ixonia Mutual Insurance Co
Jewelers Mutual Insurance
League of Wisc Municipalities Mutual
Liberty Mutual Group
Manitowoc Mutual Insurance
Maple Valley Mutual Insurance
McMillan/Warner Mutual Ins
Mount Morris Mutual
Nationwide Indemnity
Old Republic Surety Co
Partners Mutual Insurance Co
ProAssurance Progressive Northern Insurance Cos
QBE Regional/General Casualty
Racine County Mutual Insurance Co
Rural Mutual Insurance Co
SECURA Insurance
Sentry Insurance
S F M
Sheboygan Falls Insurance
Society Insurance
State Auto Insurance Cos
State Farm Insurance
Sugar Creek Mutual Insurance Co
Travelers
United Wisconsin Insurance Co
Waukesha Cty Mutual Insurance
WEA Property & Casualty Co
West Bend Mutual Insurance
Western National Mutual Ins Co
Wilson Mutual Insurance
Wisconsin American Mutual Insurance Co
Wisconsin Assn of Mutual Insurance Cos
Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Co
Wisconsin Mutual Insurance Co
Wisconsin Reinsurance Corp

Recall Insurance Company Tricks and my recent Car Insurance post.

The Governor's bill, which is in the budget, reverses the insurance companies' 1995 nonsense giving back Wisconsin citizens the rights that were taken away and raises car insurance limits from the 25-year-old $25,000 minimum to $100,000. Who's looking out for you? It's not Wisconsin’s property and casualty insurers. Here, it is absolutely Governor Doyle!

Contact your legislator and let him or her know that you SUPPORT Governor Doyle's Truth in Auto Insurance Law.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

BUY Uninsured & Underinsured Car Insurance!

Today's news had a scary story about how the bad economy is causing drivers to let their car insurance lapse. On my firm's web site, we talk about Wisconsin Car Insurance & Umbrella FAQs.

In light of today's news, I can't impress on you enough the urgent need to have Uninsured Motorist Coverage (“UM”) as well as Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“UIM”) in case you are in a Wisconsin car accident (or car accident elsewhere for that matter). I've seen some horrible car accident injuries and the worst accidents are very frequently caused by someone who has minimal car insurance limits of say $25,000 or $50,000. Often my clients think their agent gave them "full coverage," but that's far from true.

UM and UIM car insurance protects you! Buy it for yourself to protect you from Wisconsin drivers who have no car insurance or little car insurance. I tell friends to carry UM and UIM car insurance limits of at least $250,000. With the increased cost of medical car and horrible changes in Wisconsin law (lobbied for by companies like American Family, State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, Sentry, etc.), limits of $100,000 are not enough. In fact, if your family income is more than $100,000, it certainly makes sense to have an umbrella insurance policy with UM and UIM coverage for $1,000,000 or $2,000,000.

Why so much? If your family is driving to Grandma's for Christmas and an uninsured driver crosses the center line and hits you head on, which I've seen, you can easily have insurance claims that amount to $1,000,000 or $2,000,000. And if such a horrific car accident should happen, don't trust the good hands of your insurer to pay your family fairly because as Allstate Claims Manual shows those represented by personal injury lawyers settle claims for about 3 times more than those who do not have reputable personal injury lawyers.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Insurance Company Tricks

I've blogged on insurance companies discussing their ways, but a new report from the American Association for Justice formalizes and confirms some of what I've said. Check out Tricks of the Trade.

Here's the executive summary (minus the footnotes) of behaviors:

"The U.S. insurance industry has trillions of dollars in assets, enjoys average profits of over $30 billion a year, and pays its CEOs more than any other industry. But insurance companies still engage in dirty tricks and unethical behavior to boost their bottom line even further.

The current economic turmoil affecting the insurance industry onWall Street has only made the outlook bleaker for consumers living on Main Street. Insurance companies are likely to demand huge rate hikes and
refuse more claims than ever.

Some of America’s most well-known insurance companies—the same ones that spend billions on
advertising to earn your trust—have endeavored to deny claims, delay payments, confuse consumers with incomprehensible insurance-speak, and retroactively refuse anyone who may cost them money.

This report describes some of the most egregious ways the insurance industry attempts to make money at the expense of consumers. These are some of the tricks of the trade:

Denying Claims
Some of the nation’s biggest insurance companies—Allstate, AIG, and State Farm among others—have denied valid claims in an attempt to boost their bottom lines. These companies have rewarded employees who successfully denied claims, replaced employees who
would not, and when all else failed, engaged in outright fraud to avoid paying claims.

Delaying Until Death
Many insurance companies routinely delay claims, knowing full well that many policyholders will simply away in safes. Undoubtedly, the most shameful use of delay tactics has been by long-term care insurers, who often take advantage of their policyholders’ age and ill health. In the words of one regulator, "the bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims…They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die."

Confusing Consumers
Insurance contracts are some of the most dense and incomprehensible contracts a consumer is ever likely to see. More than half of all states have enacted "plain English" laws for consumer contracts, yet many Americans still do not fully understand the risks they are subject to. After Hurricane Katrina, insurance companies used obscure "anti-concurrent" clauses to get out of paying claims. Consumers who purchased hurricane insurance and thought they were covered suddenly found the coverage eliminated by an obscure clause they could not hope to understand.

Discriminating by Credit Score
Increasingly, insurance companies are using credit reports to dictate the premiums consumers pay, or whether they can even get insurance in the first place. The practice penalizes the poor, senior citizens with little credit, and those who have suffered financial crisis through no fault of their own. Insurance companies have denied fiscally responsible people who paid their bills in cash, but refused renewals because of a lack of credit history. Others have seen auto rate hikes near 600 percent despite clean driving records after falling on economic troubles.

Abandoning the Sick
Health insurers looking to cut costs have taken to canceling retroactively, or rescinding, the policies of people whose conditions have become expensive to treat. Some insurance companies have even offered bonuses to employees who meet "cancellation goals." Rescission targets patients in the midst of treatment when they are at their most vulnerable—even cancer patients in the midst of chemotherapy have been targeted.

Canceling for a Call
Many people are rightly reluctant to make small claims on their home insurance for fear their insurance company will raise their premiums. But few realize that insurance companies often refuse to renew a policy because the policyholder did as little as inquire about the possibility of making a claim. Many times an insurance company will count an inquiry over the phone
as the same as a claim, and then they will do everything in their power to drop the policyholder."


Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Accident insurers put on the boxing gloves

I saw this from the American Association for Justice and it says what you need to know about Allstate and car accident insurers listed as the worst insurers, like Farmers, Liberty Mutual and State Farm. I might add Progressive, American Family and Sentry Insurance. Car accident insurance companies really want:

~ Premiums not claims
~ To deter valid lawsuits
~ The public to think lawsuits are bogus
~ You to feel guilty for making legitimate claims
~ You to say "I'm not the kind of person who files a lawsuit"
~ Jurors to think plaintiffs are dishonest
~ Your rights minimized and theirs preserved
~ Verdicts for damages to be less than fair
~ Caps on damages
~ And judges who won't hold them accountable.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Worst Insurance Companies

No surprise here that Allstate tops the list of the Worst Insurers for Consumers. Among others listed are Farmers, Liberty Mutual, and State Farm. The report described in the news article confirms much of what I've said about insurers. Buyer beware.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Allstate's Obstructing Justice

Allstate guarding profits scheme is the title of an article in the Miami Herald today. Seems pretty consistent with what I've said about insurance companies before. Some highlights: "Allstate is facing contempt charges in Missouri -- with a $25,000-a-day fine -- and now it can't sell new auto policies in Florida, in part, because it wants to protect a report written by a corporate consultant." "According to an attorney who has seen the report from consultant McKinsey & Co., it advises Allstate on how to improve profitability: pay less on claims and take a longer time to pay those claims."

No Surprise. CNN exposed Allstate. Sentry Insurance sued an 81-year-old woman for failing to shovel snow. State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate and USAA have been accused of trying to take advantage of Katrina Hurricane victims. And American Family Insurance has extreme profits, denies claims, is pro-tort reform, and pays "when pigs fly.".

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney

Insurance Companies again

Ex-Insurance Company Commissioner, Herb Denenberg, writes in his August 01, 2007 column, his opinion that Allstate Insurance Company has plead guilty to a six-count indictment alleging it is the leading insurer when it comes to anti-consumer insurance practices.

I wrote before on how CNN exposed Allstate and I've never been a fan of Allstate. I wrote too about how Sentry Insurance sued an 81-year-old woman for failing to shovel snow, State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate and USAA being accused of trying to take advantage of Katrina Hurricane victims, and about American Family Insurance. Personally, and this is strictly opinion, I think too that Progressive Insurance has become overly aggressive in fighting legitimate claims. Whatever the case, whether it's Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Progressive, Sentry, USAA, or another insurance company, this is all consistent with my long held opinion about what insurance companies want:

~ Your premiums but not your claims
~ You not to file lawsuits against them that are valid
~ Voters to think they constantly fight bogus lawsuits
~ Everyone to hate lawyers so they never hire one to get justice
~ People to feel guilty for making legitimate claims
~ You to have guilt so you tell your attorney "I'm not the kind of person who files a lawsuit"
~ Jurors to think a person who files a lawsuit is a sham or dishonest
~ Juries minds made up before evidence is heard
~ Your legal rights minimized or removed
~ Their legal rights maximized and preserved
~ Wrongdoing on their part to go unchecked
~ People to feel juries give money away in a lottery jackpot justice system
~ Verdicts for damages to be far less then what is fair
~ Caps on damages to minimize how much justice a person can get
~ And judges who will avoid holding them accountable

Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney