In a recent Google search about casualty claims surveillance tactics, one of our team noted that most of the information that comes up on the first five pages was posted by plaintiff lawyers. Many of them nationwide seem to love the idea of warning their prospective clients about the possibility of surveillance being conducted on them and list a number of things to do to prevent or thwart the investigators. Given that surveillance is one of the only ways to determine how disabled or limited one may be, it makes sense that plaintiff attorneys would rather see this technique fail to disclose the truth as often as possible. What we also noted is more disturbing. A large number of these articles or blog entries go beyond discussing surveillance and actually try and convince the reader that insurance companies actively try to deny legitimate claims, through the use of surveillance, and indicate that carriers will break the law to do so.
Here are a few quotes that serve as good examples: “Remember, the insurance company’s goal is to not pay you what it owes you”, “insurance companies sometimes engage in unfair surveillance tactics” and “hired gun investigators will often manipulate surveillance footage”. We stormily resent the idea that the insurance industry aims to deny paying a legitimate claims. The insurance industry is highly regulated by state government and audited. There are also numerous ways for claimants to report unfair insurance practices if they occur. Lastly, we have been working for a wide variety of carriers and defense attorneys over many years and have never witnessed any attempts to deny a claim without a strong reason to do so. What is certainly far more true is the massive number of casualty claims that are fraudulent or grossly embellished by unscrupulously claimants and their money hungry counsel.