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How Allstate and Colossus Low-Ball Injury Victims

| Jun 11, 2012 | Insurance Industry

A new report has been released by a consumer protection agency outlining exactly how Allstate Insurance and programs like Colossus lower the value of your personal injury settlement. I will discuss the prominent points of Colossus below, but you are welcome to read the entire report here.

Most injury victims, particularly those with soft tissue injuries from automobile accidents, are unaware that insurance adjusters rarely determine the settlement value of your case. Instead, a highly sophisticated computer program named Colossus, pre-programmed with tons of data, is the ultimate decision-maker. This software, however, is designed to keep your settlements low.

How Allstate and Colossus Manipulate Settlement Figures

  • Insurance adjusters, with no medical training, are told to contradict and ignore determinations made by licensed and educated doctors. If they believe that a diagnostic test was unnecessary or that a given diagnosis was inaccurate, the adjuster can choose to ignore that information and choose not to enter it into the system;
  • Colossus uses hundreds and thousands of similar cases to determine the value of your particular case. Allstate, however, can choose not to input settlements on the higher end of the spectrum into the system, so that Colossus continues to keep settlement ranges low and ignores high end settlements;
  • Many soft-tissue injury victims seek treatment with a chiropractor for relief of their pain and symptoms. Despite chiropractors’ education and training, there is no doubt that Colossus discriminates against chiropractors. Their opinions and medical documentation is given less weight than that of a neurosurgeon, or orthopedic, for example.

What you can do about Allstate and Colossus

  • Your personal injury attorney can make a big difference. Colossus is designed to consider the attorney of record for the victim. If the attorney files lawsuits frequently against Allstate and refuses to settle for low money, then Colossus will increase the offers for that particular attorney. Before hiring your car accident attorney, ask him or her how many times he or she files suit, in particular, against Allstate. I file suit on roughly 50% of Allstate cases because I refuse to talk my clients into a low settlement to avoid the work of a lawsuit;
  • See a specialist or other medical professional. Because Allstate discriminates against chiropractors, it may be helpful to have your condition evaluated by additional medical professionals, such as your primary care physician, an orthopedic surgeon, etc. Even a trip to the emergency room at the beginning of the case may increase the value. In other words, personal injury claims with ONLY chiropractic treatment are ensured the lowest possible offer from Colossus.
  • Don’t delay in treatment. If you were injured, seek medical help. Even if you feel the pain may go away in a couple of days, it is important to seek help quickly. Your pain may persist for several months, but if you wait too long for the initial doctor’s visit, it may negatively affect the value of your claim.

Don’t allow Allstate or insurance companies that use similar software to undervalue your claim. You deserve fair compensation for your injury claim and that starts by hiring the right personal injury attorney.

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