Colossus

If you are proceeding with a personal injury case, it may be a good idea to familiarize yourself with Colossus. This computer program, used by insurance companies nationwide to assess fair claims value, may play a large role in your own claim. Speak with a qualified New Jersey accident law firm to determine how Colossus may affect the settlement of your personal injury suit.

How does Colossus work?

Colossus works by assessing various data related to your accident. A claims adjuster will use this program by feeding it data and studying the report it completes, which will predict the final settlement value.

Some of the data involved in its calculations include records of the plaintiff’s attorneys, and studying how often they accept an insurance company’s offer versus taking the case to court. It will also evaluate jurisdiction and types of objective and subjective injuries. Claims are assigned “severity points” utilizing an injury profile to assign a base rating. When all criteria have been examined by the program, it converts points accrued into an actual dollar value.

Bias in Colossus

Although this program is used by more than half of all U.S. insurance carriers, one may observe many worrisome flaws in this program. For example, claim settlements are often lowered by Colossus but usually never increased.

Your New Jersey accident law firm will most likely explain how Colossus may present a bias in your case. This will be particularly true should your accident involve “soft tissue” injuries, which the program considers a “subjective” category of injury. Although most injury cases involve soft tissue injuries, this program carries a large bias against any non-objective injury and the results can become even less appealing if the claims adjuster knows just what data to feed the program for a low-value result. Watch out for these biased results if your case involves treatment by a chiropractor or any other soft tissue doctor; Colossus offers few favorable results for these types of medical bills. Colossus can truly benefit insurance companies while leaving the insured without their due compensation.

Don’t let Colossus stand in the way of a satisfactory settlement. Call attorney Gerald H. Clark at (877) 841-8855 for experienced representation from a New Jersey accident law firm that understands the Colossus program.