I spend a lot of time bashing insurance companies and the folks who deal with injury victims— adjusters.
It is a funny title.
I really have no idea where the title comes from or what they adjust.
Most of the time I have a different name for them, but one not suitable for publication on the web!

It is, however, important to be fair.
Over the years I have developed some pretty good relationships with insurance adjusters, and am on a pretty friendly basis with some of them.
As with injury lawyers or any other group, there are good ones and bad ones.

I am reminded of this today.
I started the day negotiating a $60,000.00 settlement with an insurance adjuster I have known for a long time.
As with most negotiated settlements, it was a win-win.
Everybody needs to win something.
It would be dishonest for me to tell you we took advantage of the insurance company.
That is very hard to do.
It has highly trained professionals– adjusters and lawyers– to look after the shop.
One does very well to achieve fair treatment, indeed.

Nevertheless, it is important to have an eye on even the best intentioned adjusters.
They are trained to evaluate injury cases through a different lens.
I come at it from a different perspective, one much more favorable to the injured person, the victim in a personal injury case.
The two sides clash.
Hopefully the result is justice.

Make no mistake about it, the insurance company as an institution is out to tuck it to the little guy.
It does it to its own people for crying out loud.
But within the injury law field there are good folks, and I know who they are.
if I don’t, it does not take me too long to figure out who we can deal with and who we can not.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving 2011.

Charlie Donahue