CORSA
Elements of Litigation Management
Litigation management is one of the most important services a member relies upon from their liability pool. To successfully manage litigation and meet members’ expectations, the pool must provide expertise, oversight and consistently good outcomes.
Expertise is essential, both in the claims staff and in defense counsel. Public entity litigation, especially in federal court, can be complicated and should be handled by experienced claims professionals, with regular supervisory oversight and input. We use a process of “round-tabling” cases which are identified by claims staff as high risk. Several members of the claims and supervisory staff meet with defense counsel to review the case status and develop potential strategies. By involving several experienced individuals in a focused discussion we can test the defense strategy, strengthen the relationship with the client entity and verify appropriate reserving.
Expertise is also an essential element of the pool’s panel of defense attorneys. Public entity litigation involves a wide variety of divergent legal issues including law enforcement, employment, personal injury and civil rights. The pool must develop a defense panel based upon the specific expertise and experience of each attorney and assign cases accordingly. It is in the pools best interest to have a diverse panel of defense firms from which to choose the right attorney to defend each case.
Once the case is assigned for defense, the claims staff provides not only oversight but involvement. In order to make good decisions in managing the case, the claims professional must be directly involved. Our claims staff regularly attends initial client meetings and witness interviews as well as selected depositions in order to assess the individuals involved and actively participate in developing defense strategy.
As litigation progresses, there should be regular contact between claims staff and defense counsel. We ask defense counsel for a written suit report every 90 days which includes legal strategy as well as potential settlement and verdict estimates which are used for reserve evaluation. The claims staff is responsible for keeping defense counsel within budget and for the review of defense counsel fee bills.
The final essential element of litigation management is review and evaluation of both the process and case outcome. Once a case is concluded it is easy to move on to the next big case. However it is beneficial to take the time to gather claims staff to review the litigation management process and outcome. Review and evaluate the legal elements of the case such as motion for summary judgment, offers of judgment, use of mediation, settlement offers and use of witnesses. Evaluate whether there were missed opportunities to serve the member during the litigation in areas such as communication and media relations. This is also a good opportunity to refer any questionable practices by the member which were discovered during litigation to the pool loss control staff for intervention and improvement. For an overall view of the claims process, an outside claims audit is beneficial every two or three years to receive an objective evaluation of defense costs, legal strategy, reserving practices and decision making.
Elizabeth G. Miller, Esq.
CORSA Claim and Litigation Manager
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