Oral Hygiene and Claims Repair
If you have been to a Lawyers Mutual seminar, then you have heard someone say something about our extensive claims repair program and the importance of early reporting. We are the proverbial broken record on this message.
We’re kind of like the dentist who tells you to floss every time you see him. Like the dentist, we tell you these things because we know it is good for you.
Nobody likes to go to the dentist and nobody likes to call their legal malpractice carrier. However, you need to know that we are here to ease the pain—not make it worse.
Lawyers Mutual has been in business since 1977. We didn’t always have a claims repair program. It was developed over many years.
I often take for granted what we are able to offer our insureds. Commercial carriers don’t do what we do. In fact, some bar-related insurance companies in other states don’t even have a claims repair program.
We offer claims repair services for every practice area and have seen just about everything over the last 30 years. We have saved insureds from default judgments and deemed Rule 36 admissions. We have reformed deeds of trust and saved defective appeals.
We recently received a call from an insured lawyer who had a patent agent that left abruptly with missed deadlines on several matters. We hired outside counsel to assist this insured in reviewing his files and getting on top of the mess that the patent agent had left. Our outside counsel was even able to get the missed deadlines repaired.
This is the kind of thing that we do on a daily basis. I often tell people that our claims attorneys spend more time helping our insureds to avoid claims than they do in handling claims.
If you start flossing after you have severe tooth decay, it probably isn’t going to do that rotting tooth much good. The same is true for claims repair. If you don’t call us early, our chances of helping you are greatly diminished.
At the first sign that you realize you have made a mistake that could negatively affect your client’s case or matter, you should pick up the phone and call one of our claims attorneys. They are not here to judge you. They are here to help.
We are on the same team but we need your help first by calling.
