The Truth about Colossus: Are You Just A Magnetic Image?Written by SettlementCentral.Com
The Truth about Colossus: Are You Just A Magnetic Image?What is Colossus? Colossus is software licensed to about twenty-five insurance companies to aid in predicting settlement value of claims. The insurance industry maintains it is a useful tool because it considers a great many factors, and settlement values are just a range for use in any way insurer wishes. The claimants’ attorneys, on other hand, maintain that software is only so good as data input, and we never know what adjuster has input; that it does not consider interference with normal life activities, or other valid indications of pain and suffering normally proved by lay testimony instead of medical testimony (as required by Colossus); and that it is NOT merely a beginning point, but is instead FINAL WORD ON VALUE that adjuster has to adhere to, or else risk unfavorable management reviews. How would you like to know that only a part of all you are suffering will be compensated? Unless data are input, how can a computer quantify your emotional distress, or loss of enjoyment of life because you no longer can take long walks with your spouse, or pain and despair you suffer each day because your work hurts you and interferes with your healing? Unless all of your circumstances are included, is it fair to quantify all you have suffered and reduce to a dollar value based upon some factors that may or may not reflect your condition? That is essence of Colossus software. It is an attempt by some insurance companies to value claims with no consideration at all given to whether or not a jury might award you more than “average” claimant. They plug in such things as damage to vehicles and expected length of treatment and allowable cost of treatment and many other variables and then come up with a number for value of claim. No consideration whatsoever is given to extent of your actual pain and suffering. Nor is any consideration whatsoever given to fact that you might have a job where your injuries cause continued pain, or which slows your healing (consider, for example a waitress, or a person who has to stand all shift). They do not know, nor do they care, that you cannot hold your baby because of pain in your neck and back. There is no room in formula for such information. But problem is that in our system, it is jury that is supposed to be basis for determining value of a claim, and juries do tend to listen to and consider many of factors that Colossus ignores. Juries do make a distinction based upon whether or not they think plaintiff is believable, or has attributes we value in our society, such as virtues of honesty, perseverance, humility, or patience, for example. Colossus has no way to evaluate those positive traits, so if you are possessed of anything positive that is likely to bring you a larger jury verdict, it will not be included in Colossus valuation. You will have become a magnetic image, no different in regard to your positive characteristics than magnetic image of any other of thousands of claimants with injuries similar to yours. The real problem with Colossus is that adjuster for your claim is just about stuck with results that come out of computer. Of course insurance company will deny this, and will tell media and state insurance commissioner that Colossus is nothing more than an evaluation tool. It just gives a starting point, they say, from which adjuster can move up if facts of case merit it. That is not at all true. The Colossus result is a position that is increasingly locked in, and adjuster who wishes to vary from it because of facts of an unusual case, had better be ready to justify it. Furthermore, how many times do you think any adjuster trying to make cut at an insurance company is going to go to her boss and ask for permission to exceed Colossus determination of value? Considering that her evaluation and merit pay will be based upon how “efficiently” (read that to mean cheaply, or “hard-line”) she settles her cases, do you think she will ever go to her boss to ask for more money than allowed by Colossus? Not very likely. Colossus is a well-kept secret by insurance companies that use it, and they will likely not tell you if they have licensed software. It is market leader bodily injury claims-handling software used by an increasing number of insurance companies in world. According to Computer Sciences Corporation, company which produces Colossus, it is used by more than 50 per cent of nation’s claim adjusters and by more than 300 insurance companies. Out of top 20 US Property and Casualty Insurers, 13 are using Colossus. Most claims insurance adjusters use computer software to appraise any insurance claim that you make. CSC claims that Colossus can evaluate more than 600 type of injuries based on 10,000 different rules. This way, adjusters will obtain a figure from Colossus software and then offer it to you to settle your claim. Insurance companies claim that their adjusters are not required to settle within suggested Colossus calculations, but that is truly nonsense, and should be investigated by nation’s insurance commissioners. How does it work? Neither insurance companies nor CSC will divulge exactly how they determine Colossus baseline value. Most of Colossus' calculation of your claim is based on insurance data to which you don't have access, and insurance companies certainly do not want former insurance adjusters to tell anything about it either, see article from Seattle Post-Intelligencer (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/93800_insurance01.shtml). However we do know that value of your claim will differ greatly from one region to another and also by baseline that your insurance company has set. For example, auto insurers using software select a number of closed, already-settled claims from each region in which they do business to provide "baseline" settlement value for each type of injury. For example, an insurer might pick 200 back injury cases from a particular region that previously settled for between $1,000 and $5,000 and enter them into Colossus program. Based on this past settlement data, Colossus calculates a settlement range for similar claims. Therefore baseline value will be different for each insurer. But who is there to ensure that closed claims selected truly represent norm? Wouldn’t it be in interests of insurance industry to “pad” research by holding back reports of high value settlements? There is no assurance whatsoever that Colossus represents anything other than what best serves interests of insurance industry. No one has certified that base from which data are drawn was fairly and objectively constructed. By using Colossus, most insurance companies will try to lower value of your claim, and will not take into consideration stress, or emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium (relationship), inability to participate in activities that you used to enjoy, or any number of other things that a jury will consider. These factors are not accounted for by Colossus software. What Should You Do? The first thing to do is to determine whether or not company you are dealing with uses Colossus for any purpose in its claims process. Here is a list obtained through media, of companies that will admit to using Colossus for some purpose in their claims valuation process. The following companies are known to license COLOSSUS: -Aetna -Allstate (since 1997) -American National Property and Casualty (since 1997 in 38 states) -American Family Group of Madison (since 1996) -Arrow Claims Management (since 1997) -AXA Insurance (based in UK, one of world’s largest insurance group) (2001) -Bishopsgate Insurance (since 2000) -Explorer Insurance Company (1997) -Farmers Insurance Group of Companies (2000) -Federated Mutual Insurance Company (1998) -General Casualty Insurance Companies (1998) -Grange Mutual Casualty Companies (1998) -Great American Insurance Company (1998) -Hartford Financial Services (2000) -Keystone Insurance Companies of Philadelphia -Metropolitan Group, Rhode Island Norwich Union -Motorist Mutual –American Hardware Insurance Group (1998) -Ohio Casualty Group of Insurance Companies (1998) -State Auto Insurance Companies of Columbus (1996) -20th Century Industries (1997) -Travelers/Aetna Property Casualty (1996) -United Services Automobile Association (USAA) (1997) -Utica Mutual Insurance Company (2000) -Zurich Personal Insurance (1998) Therefore, we recommend that you follow carefully our advice on this topic to avoid allowing insurance company an upper hand in resolution of your claim. How could this valuation software allow them upper hand? First, as documented above, this is a software program that will produce a result that is in favor of insurance industry. It does not include factors that may cause real interference with healing, or which may result in many nights of disturbed sleep. Be it tortfeasor’s company or your own insurance company, if company that you are going to deal with for a general damages award has licensed Colossus, we recommend that you consider that in your negotiations. For example, since Colossus produces only an “expected” result based upon an “average” from input verdicts and settlements, you would want to call to attention of adjuster any facts that put your situation outside of norm.
| | Avoiding Credit Card TrapsWritten by James H. Dimmitt
The next time you open your credit card statement, take a closer look at small insert titled “changes to your credit card agreement”. You know one I’m speaking about. It’s that small, folded paper written in legalese that you promise to read some other time (but of course that time never comes) or you just discard it with other “junk” inserts. First and foremost you must understand that using your credit card after you’ve received this notification results in your automatic “agreement” to new terms in notice. To prevent these new terms from affecting your account you must stop using that credit card immediately or by date given in notification statement. The most common modifications to credit card agreements include new APR’s (annual percentage rates), new fees and/or changes to existing fees, or a change to grace period on your account. The grace period is number of days during which any credit used for purchases may be repaid in full without incurring a finance charge. Not knowing or not keeping track of dollar amount limit on your card is another trap you should avoid. Credit card issuers will allow you to charge a small amount over limit set on your account. However, don’t be surprised when you get hit with an “over limit fee”, usually around $35.00 or higher, on your next statement. Also, be prepared for your APR to be increased if you go over your credit limit. You’ll also trigger an increase to your interest rate if you miss your payment due date. Some companies consider your payment late if not received by noon or 1 p.m. on date due. Along with higher rate, you’ll also pay a “late fee” of $29 on up. Be sure to use company’s preprinted envelope when sending your payment. These envelopes allow pre-printed bar code to be scanned by post office so that it can be delivered more efficiently.
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