Lose It Or Lose Big: Anger And Defensiveness Cost Insurance Companies Millions

When it comes to so-called “nuclear verdicts”—or “social inflation” in the insurance industry—hindsight is 20/20, as a survey of the highest payouts in motor vehicle accident and premises liability cases across the Southeast U.S. reflects.

When the defendant in one Georgia premises liability lawsuit dug its heels in on a $1 million settlement offer before trial, it probably wasn’t expecting an $81 million verdict from DeKalb County jurors, who sided with a U.S. Navy veteran who’d been robbed and shot outside a Kroger shopping center.

And although that verdict was reduced to reflect 14% liability by the shooters, the final amount was still a bruising $69.6 million.

It’s an example of how insurance litigation can become explosive, with multimillion-dollar consequences for defendants’ insurers, as seen in a cloud-based settlement and verdict database from CaseMetrix, which collects information from law firms in the Southeast U.S., including Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and Virginia.

And that tension comes at a steep price for insurers, say consultants and other experts who work with attorneys.