Facts About Insurance Claims

1. The National Center for State Courts tracks the number of tort filings in state courts. Of the 35 states for which they report data, Colorado ranks as state number 31 from the top. In other words, only four states have citizens less litigious than we are. In Colorado, our 1999 tort caseload statewide was 120 cases per 100,000 residents. Nationally, the average was 274 cases.

Take home message: There is no race to the court house in Colorado.

2. The judicial branch in Colorado keeps track of personal injury filings. In fiscal year 2001 there were 4,794 personal injury lawsuits. Fifteen years before (in 1986) there were 5,793. Personal injury lawsuits have declined sharply despite our population growth. Of these 4,794 personal injury suits that are filed, the vast majority settle. There are less than 120 of such cases that get tried every year in the entire state.

Take home message: There is no litigation explosion in Colorado.

3. Not only are fewer cases filed, personal injury claims are a shrinking share of all cases filed. Over the same 15 year period, court data shows they have fallen from 4.5% of all cases filed to 3.2%.

Take home message: Personal injury cases aren't clogging the court dockets.

4. Despite this decline, Colorado's courts are busy because of the growth of criminal and juvenile cases. Over the same 15 year period these cases grew from 37,280 filed in 1986 to 70,981 filed in 2001.

Take home message: We need more judges to handle the rising tide of crime and juvenile delinquency.

5. The whole picture is quite revealing. The following table clearly shows state trends: lots more criminal and juvenile matters with actually fewer of the other kind of cases.

Take home message: Newly built courthouses are for crooks not civil litigation.

*only case type with fewer cases filed

Note that "Civil" cases include many types of cases other than personal injury suits. The topic includes evictions, foreclosures, claims by creditors and bill collectors for money owed as well as many other types of claims.

Most of the personal injury suits filed get settled before trial. There are still only about two personal injury trials per week in the entire state (less than 120 per year)!

6. If you might think that some kinds of cases may be declining but that certain important kinds of cases are still far too frequent, think again. Let's look at just 2 types of cases: medical malpractice claims and auto accident cases.

The State Legislature reports that over the last five years there have been fewer than 200 medical malpractice lawsuits filed statewide per year. With the US Census Bureau showing more than 40,000 doctors and nurses in our state, this is remarkably low number of cases. In fact, Colorado's cost of medical malpractice insurance is significantly lower than the national average. The cost per caregiver in Colorado is $880 while nationally it costs $1,740 according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. That same source shows Colorado's medical malpractice insurers are making out handsomely. Insurers $33.5 Million in Colorado profits and dividends for the year 2000 were almost as large as all the payments they made to people injured by substandard, shoddy care. While insurance companies are doing handsomely off the system, the consequences of malpractice cost all of us – in additional health care costs, lost income and welfare expenses to support people and their families grievously harmed by malpractice. Dr. Eric Thomas, M.D., reported data showing that the economic consequences of malpractice in Colorado would be over $300 Million in 1998. And malpractice insurance pays only a small share of those costs.

Are your car insurance rates and mine being driven up by litigation after a car accident? In 2001 only 2,440 people filed lawsuits after a car wreck. With more than 4.2 Million licensed vehicles in Colorado, that's not very many lawsuits. Car injury litigation has declined in the last decade dropping from 3,451 in 1991 to only 2,440 ten years later in 2001. (Compare that to the around 250,000 drivers in accidents every year in Colorado.) That helps explain why the average Coloradan pays so little for the personal injury liability part of his or her auto insurance premium. For every $8 you pay in premiums, this part is barely more than $1. What costs is repairing cars, all the fancy new cars we've bought in Colorado in the last decade – SUVs, luxury sedans and fancy trucks. They cost you $5 out of every $8 you pay. Let's not forget the $1.3 Billion in profits the car insurers made in the last decade – just in Colorado.

Take home message: Lawsuits don't produce higher insurance premiums.

Car Accidents & Lawsuits in El Paso County

It is simply impossible for 422 cases and 5 trials to impact the cost of car insurance significantly in El Paso County – especially when the average PI auto settlement in the county is under $15,000.

Sources: Colorado Department of Revenue, 2001
Insurance Research Council, "Trends in Auto Injury Claims" (1995–97)
Colorado Judicial Branch, 2001 annual report
Jury Verdict Reporter of Colorado, 2001 issue

El Paso County District Court Caseloads – 1990–2001

("caseloads" are different from "suits" as "caseloads" are the total of open cases, not just the ones filed that year)

In the last two years there have been only 12 professional negligence cases filed against doctors, lawyers, engineers or architects in the county. Given the tremendous population growth in El Paso County the fact that personal injury and negligence cases have dropped almost 50% is astonishing.

Insurance companies want you to believe myths they have created about a litigation crisis and insurance crisis. Whether because of their advertising dollars or otherwise those companies have been very good at getting the media to broadcast their myths, but they never discuss the facts. Now you know the truth!

Source:Colorado Judicial Branch annual reports
"All Other" includes all civil, probate& mental health cases
Personal Injury and Tort cases are included in civil totals

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