According to the US Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are around 400,000 personal injury claims each year in the US, with only 4% going to trial, and the rest being settled out of court or in the pre-trial stage. Aside from the distress caused by the injury itself, settling personal injury claims out of court can also be a harrowing process for the claimant. As much as possible, the injured person will claim from the liable party's insurance rather than their own, to avoid causing their own rates to rise. On the other hand, the liable party's insurer employs an adjuster, whose job is to investigate the incident and figure out how much the claim is worth.
Oftentimes, claimants settle for less than the medical costs they've incurred just to get over with the process and get at least something in return. This often leaves them thousands of dollars out of pocket and dissatisfied with the outcome. The alternative is to fight it out in a protracted lawsuit, which places a huge mental and emotional toll on the claimant and congests the judicial system.
In order to help more personal injury claimants receive fair yet fast settlements, technology startup Claimbrite created an AI-powered personal injury mediation platform, which can be used by both claimants and liable parties.
Claimbrite's platform is an independent third party that seeks to provide impartial settlement analysis that is amenable to both parties' interests. Aside from providing the claimant with fair and fast settlement, it also helps prevent claims inflation, which contributes to everyone's insurance rates rising. Its AI has access to more than 30,000 data points via API with multiple insurers' systems, and it uses these data points to predict outcomes and settlement values.
According to Claimbrite co-founder Devin Bostick, large businesses pay out huge sums of money each year due to personal injury claims. For example, is it not uncommon for major nationwide grocery store chains to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on injury settlements from incidents in their stores, such as slip-and-fall accidents or shelves toppling over and hitting customers? By using Claimbrite's platform, businesses can track all of the claims they are liable for and the associated expenses. This helps auditors to more easily spot any outliers that could be signs of fraud. Using its API, Claimbrite can also plug into various existing third-party claims management systems, ensuring more robust data capabilities for companies.
Meanwhile, claimants can easily enter the nature of their claim into the Claimbrite platform, as well as upload supporting medical documents. There is also a tab for non-medical expenses, such as lost wages or having to miss an important life event like their wedding. A sentiment analysis feature also helps manage the social side, keeping in mind the differing emotional sensitivity, pain tolerance, and reactions among individuals.
Dave Delaney, a co-founder of Claimbrite who has been in the insurance industry for more than 20 years, found that the claims process is quite opaque and hard to navigate, which is why people would rather hire lawyers to help them out.
"I've found out that if you can get both parties to come to the table and go through the different aspects of the claim, it's much easier to get them to agree. This is what the current industry is missing, and everything feels like a black box. Claimbrite seeks to make the process clearer and more transparent," Delaney says.
Unlike personal injury lawyers who charge a contingency of around 30%-40% of the final settlement fee, Claimbrite charges a flat fee of between $500 and $1,500, depending on the severity of the injury. This means that Claimbrite does not have an interest in inflating the claims. By not representing both sides, but instead aiding the process by providing organization and transparency, Claimbrite is able to effectively mediate these settlements.
"Dealing with a personal injury claim is incredibly stressful due to competing interests from all parties involved," Bostick adds. "Claimbrite streamlines this process, allowing the injured person to focus on their recovery, while avoiding claims inflation, which negatively affects everyone in the end. We are looking to partner with businesses to help them manage their personal injury claims expense and save on legal costs, while providing a fair and fast compensation that allows the injured person to become whole again, which is the point of insurance."
