I had recently been retained as an expert by the attorney for a specialized staffing company that had been fighting with a major insurance company for about a decade over Large Deductible Workers Comp premium charges. Prior to my retention, the case had not been progressing well for the policyholder. It was now in arbitration, and in spite of repeated attempts at settlement by the attorney, all such offers had been rebuffed by the insurer.
Interestingly, this was an insurer that had retained me as their own expert over the years, in multiple cases also involving Large Deductible Workers Compensation insurance policies for staffing companies. So I had some significant experience with the unique aspects of these policies and how this insurer underwrote those kinds of policies.
But it had been years since I had last done any work for this insurer and so I felt free to accept this assignment, although I still had to treat all my prior work and documents with confidentiality.
Nonetheless, I was able to offer a preliminary report about issues with how these particular Large Deductible premium charges had been computed.
And interestingly, once I was disclosed as the expert retained by the policyholder, and the particular areas about which I would be testifying, a curious thing happened.
The insurer settled the case, on terms described as very favorable by the attorney who had retained me.
I don't know any more than that, really. I have no clue why the insurer elected to settle this case at this time, after having fought tenaciously for so many years. I would like to think my involvement in the matter played some part in this, but I will never really know.
Still, I believe a just settlement was reached, and that's what matters. Of course, because this case settled before I could provide any sworn testimony, it won't even appear on my CV. But still, I feel good about this case, and my involvement in it.
