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Defending Insureds in No or Low Medical Bill Cases: Options When Liability is Clear and Future Damages Are High

A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Tuesday, March 11, 2025 (Tomorrow)

1:00pm-2:30pm EDT, 10:00am-11:30am PDT

or call 1-800-926-7926
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This CLE webinar will offer guidance to attorneys defending insureds where liability is clear and medical expenses are relatively low, but the plaintiff does not seek damages for past medical expenses but instead seeks high future medicals and pain and suffering. The panel will review the risks these types of cases create and recommend approaches to reduce the likelihood of an unbridled verdict.

Description

For insurers, some of the scariest cases involve clear liability (especially if the insured defendant behaved badly), low or no past medical expenses, and claims for huge future medical expenses and/or emotional damages. When these elements converge, the plaintiff's strategy is often to forego what might be modest medical expenses in order to focus on categories of damages that are subjective, based on prediction, and not easily quantifiable. If possible, plaintiffs may seek to discover and introduce evidence of other unrelated, adverse incidents with the hope of obtaining a runaway verdict or extraordinary settlement.

One strategy for counsel representing the insured-defendant in these cases may be to admit liability and focus on medical causation. Such a strategy is not without risk and may require numerous discovery fights over access to the plaintiff's medical history. Plausibility, temporality, and alternative explanations for injury must be explored. With complex injuries, plaintiffs may rely on a chain of causation.

Listen as our seasoned panel discusses best approaches when resolving lawsuits where the defendant's liability is clear and plaintiffs elect not to seek past medical expenses but to focus on recovery of future medical expenses and pain and suffering.

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Outline

  1. Introduction: identifying when the insured's liability is clear
    1. Type of injuries
    2. Covered and uncovered claims
    3. Multiple defendants
    4. Changing facts
  2. Reasons plaintiffs forgo past medical damages
  3. Admitting liability
    1. Advantages/disadvantages from insurer's perspective
    2. Advantages/disadvantages from insured's perspective
    3. Consequences for discovery: past similar incidents
    4. Keeping evidence out at trial
  4. Challenging medical causation
    1. Goals of challenging medical causation
    2. Standards for determining medical causation
    3. Causation chains
    4. Challenges when seeking discovery of plaintiff's medical history
    5. Developing a theory of alternative causation
    6. Experts and treating physicians
  5. Pitfalls to avoid

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • Why do plaintiffs often want to avoid introducing evidence of modest medical expenses?
  • What are the risks of admitting liability, and why would the insured agree?
  • To what issues other than medical expenses is past medical treatment relevant?

Faculty

Alfini, David
David J. Alfini
Partner
Hinshaw & Culbertson

 Mr. Alfini provides results-oriented counsel and legal representation to assisted living and skilled nursing...  |  Read More

Jensen, Amy
Amy Kathryn Jensen
Attorney
Hanover Law Office

Ms. Jensen oversees the Staff Counsel operations at the Hanover Insurance Company, where the focus is on defending...  |  Read More

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You may pre-order a recording to listen at your convenience. Recordings are available 48 hours after the webinar. Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

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