stewshe@comcast.net
Senior Member
Posts: 1381
Joined: Jun 2002
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Thursday February 19, 2009 6:35 PM
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50cal7,
A little over 27 years ago I left The Hartford A & I to work for an Applicant's firm in Fresno...and still am. At the time I was supervising Fresno w/c claims and two other smaller offices.
The established policy was to not wait for or insist upon a demand, but rather fairly evaluate a claim and make an offer as soon as we were able to do so. The idea was to move cases to a conclusion as soon as practicable.
In appropriate cases, not all, I would send the AA C&Rs awaiting signatures. I won't say I never increased offers, but absent an omission on my part of an element increasing case value, I don't believe I did. Certainly not where I thought it was a simple negotiating ploy on the part of the AA to increase case value.
I recall one time an AA, since deceased, who refused an offer. A year later he wrote to say the offer was still refused, but he countered within about 15 - 20% more than I'd previously offered.
I wrote back saying the prior offer was no longer on the table...I reduced it by a $2,000 or so, explaining the earlier offer was based on a "Life Expectancy" which was now a shade lower because the EE was a year older!
As I recall, the original signed C&R came in the mail a couple of weeks later and I signed, filed and served it.
Sometimes I'd send a C&R and a Stip, asking one be signed and returned.
I know today most defendants have a policy of never making an offer unless there has been a demand. This is apparently done out of fear they may offer more than an AA would demand? IMHO, this only encourages high "initial" demands.
If I received a ridiculously high demand, I would simply send stips, explaining a C&R would be considered but not at, e.g., roughly twice my evaluation of the case. The only time I would negotiate was when we were "in the same ballpark," i.e., a demand no more than 20 to 25% higher than than what I considered the most I would pay.
Many wanted to play the "split the split" game where there is a high demand, a low offer and then the other side waits for you to offer to "split the difference." They then wait to reply a bit and finally offer to "split the split." This results in a settlement 25% lower than the original demand.
Good luck!
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Stew (James T. Stewart) e-mail: stewshe@comcast.net
Author: Work Comp Index & Tables & Schedules in "The Labor Code Book," by LexisNexis/Matthew Bender.
7th ed. Work Comp Index (912 pgs), $119.00 ea; next ed. summer, 2010 {Discounts for orders of 12 or more}
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James T. Stewart; 1937 Santa Ana; Clovis, CA 93611
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