From Adversaries to Allies: Cultivating Constructive Relationships | #6

Is the adjuster your ally or adversary? 

In this episode we will confront that question head on and determine which it really is or should be.  

It may surprise you to learn: 

➤ That most adjusters see themselves as helpers. 

➤ How you develop that relationship has real life consequences on your entire case load

➤ Plaintiff adversarial advertising is an affront to the resolution of cases.

ARE YOU READY TO RESOLVE MORE CASES THAN YOU EVER DID?

ARE YOU WILLING TO MAKE THE ADJUSTMENTS?

Ready, Let's Go!

⚖️ I believe Successful Resolutions through Mediation are possible...when you implement the Relational Mediation Method I teach in each episode.

☎️ BOOK YOUR FREE 20-MINUTE C0NSULT to learn how mediation can save you time, reduce stress, reduce costs and make happier clients and happier you.

📍 CONNECT on LinkedIn

📍 FOLLOW ME on FaceBook

💻 https://www.smarttomediate.com

📺 YouTube

Transcript

You know, when an attorney just ticks you off, they just don't get it. Sometimes they show no respect. In fact, they go out of their way to paint you—the claims adjuster—as a villain. Well, in today’s episode, we'll discuss why that type of behavior is counterproductive to the entire process of case resolution.

By the end of the episode, we're going to create a relationship between the adjuster and the attorneys, and it will be something that you'll always want to do. Avoid a good relationship with the parties you're working with on your case at your own peril and the peril of your client, the person whose interest you’re supposed to protect. See, relationships work both ways.

Together today, we will look at relationship building from the perspective of the adjuster and how it will affect the resolution, which is, of course, the ultimate goal of your case. So you want to reduce your caseload, save costs, impress those that need to be impressed, and make happy clients and a happier, healthier you.

It's easy. Listen, like, subscribe, and share because the more we reach the players in this industry, the better all our lives will become. We are inextricably interconnected, for better or for worse. Let's make it for the better together. Don't tick off the adjuster needlessly. What if the claim professional—the adjuster or the defense attorney—was not your enemy? What if the claim professional—the adjuster or defense attorney—was viewed as a helper and not a herder?

What if it was to your benefit as a plaintiff attorney to educate and present the role of the adjuster as a helper to get the correct result, no more and no less? It's no secret that many attorneys use the adjuster as the personification of evil itself to their clients. Maybe they think they need a foe to focus their client on.

Let me give you an example. There was a poker game called "Helpers and Herders." It’s the kind of game you would play maybe with your friends around a table on Monday night poker night. Each player in the game of Helpers or Herders is dealt a hand of four cards, then a row of cards is laid out, and each card is turned over with the round of betting and is designated as a helper or a herder. Bets are made, and the game ends with the best poker hand.

What is interesting about the game, to me, is that it makes you realize that a card that hurts someone can be a big help to others. Likewise, in claims work, you hold the cards that relate to your case, and what happens in the game between the parties can be helpful or hurtful to your endgame.

Every action made during the course of the relationship can be a helper or a hurter. But here’s a hard fact of this whole thing: in claims work and in personal injury work, it’s not a game. The results have real-life consequences. Real people are affected by the outcome of your actions. How you play your hand will determine if your actions are helpful or hurtful, not only to you and your client but to the relationship that you need to build, not just to survive but to proliferate in this beast of a business.

Just take note of some of the recent advertising by plaintiff's attorneys. You can't go up and down I-95 from New York to Florida without seeing an incredible amount of plaintiff's attorney signs, advertising, and lights—many of them like Las Vegas style signs—lighting up the highways. I always found it ironic; the most distracting signs you ever see on a highway are those placed by plaintiff's attorneys who are dealing with accident cases. It’s crazy, right?

They announce huge settlements. Words like winning, beating, and crushing are routinely used. Just how does that benefit the industry? Talk about looking to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. This approach totally destroys the relationships that need to be built to adequately and really represent your clients in the right way.

So websites of plaintiff's attorneys are filled with war stories and warlike words and images that create a “you against them” mentality. They create the idea that the insurance company and the adjuster are the enemy, only out to screw you every chance they get.

Hey, Mr. Plaintiff Lawyer. Isn't this just a little disingenuous? Don’t you really need to have a working relationship with the claims professional? Doesn't that benefit your client more? And isn’t it true that more times than not, you’re going to have a civil conversation with the same adjuster that, on your website, you’re describing as some sort of beast? More precisely, doesn’t it benefit more of your clients to have a good relationship with the adjuster? Consider this: what if you're hurting your client more by creating distrust?

What if the adjuster was not an obstacle to a fair and just recovery for the plaintiff but rather viewed as a protector of the purse strings, a person who wants to do a fair job and pay what is owed, no more and no less? We all know that there is a certain persona each attorney has and uses when dealing with the client. And then there is the persona that you have with claims people. There’s also the persona that you might have at home and the persona you might have with friends. You know, it’s like a "Carrie" type thing, you know, 11 personalities. But what if you could use the same persona all the time?

Wouldn’t your life be less complicated, easier to resolve cases? Wouldn’t it be respectful? And wouldn’t you command respect if you give respect? You could still try the cases that need to be tried or deal with the recalcitrant lawyer or adjuster that just doesn’t see things in life your way and sees things a little differently. Maybe he wants to be combative all the time. But what if 98 percent of the time, creating a working relationship between the adjuster and the attorney produced the best result, not only for your client but for you? Wouldn’t that make your life easier and your work life more fulfilling?

Let me tell you the answer to that. It’s yes. Today, we will provide you with some thought-provoking information that will help you get to yes.

So who the heck am I? Well, I'm your host, obviously, Tony Mascolo. I am an attorney and a mediator for the New York court system. And as I've said before, I am a recovering personal injury litigator, recovering from the daily grind of too many cases, demanding clients, uncertain results, increasing costs, meeting deadlines, and all the other obstacles of personal injury work.

In other words, I’ve lived your life. Together, we will learn methods to manage this beast of work, reduce caseloads, provide certainty of outcome, and develop relationships that sustain continued resolution. This will give us power over our lives and provide joy in all our relationships, both in and out of court.

Here's a little secret. They call me the mediation whisperer. This podcast will hopefully get in your ear and let its truths sink in.

And by the way, if you enjoy this episode at the end, kindly leave a five-star review or share the episode with a colleague in the industry, or that lawyer or adjuster that is driving you crazy. Someone you just want to work better with. You can even book a call with me, and we can get into more details on how to do this—free and quick.

My favorite words apply here: like, share, subscribe, and consult. This will help my message reach more people.

Speaker 4:

In time and time again, justices tell me that there are two things that if attorneys did on a regular basis, a justice would put their cases at the top of the work pile. They’re easy things. Like, you know, get a timely report to them and, that's a drum roll, put the claim number at the top of the letter in the subject line of the email and on every other communication that you have with the adjuster, either oral or written.

And even if you're sending them just photographs or documents of any kind, put the claim number up in the corner. It documented by the turn by the adjusters how much time is wasted just because there’s no index number attached. I have been told by adjusters that if an email comes in without the claim number in the subject line, they don’t even look at that email till the end of the day. They go directly to the ones with the claim number in the subject line.

So what does that tell you? Be smart. Don't waste the time of the adjuster. You know, be like the grandmother who visits their grandchild. You know, the grandchild can’t wait till grandma comes because in her baka book, she’s got all kinds of sweets and gum and candy and all those kinds of things. Grandma is always welcome. Grandma goes to the top of the list. She gets the hugs, the smiles, the kisses. And only in this case, well, maybe, uh, maybe, you should tattoo the claim number on your forehead. Okay. And that maybe that’s the answer, and the adjuster, of course, will just do the rest at that point.

And as for reports, I'll only say that brevity is considered godly in an adjuster’s life. No purple prose. There’s no need for extensive footnotes, cites, cases. They know you’re a lawyer. They know you're smart. They know you got through law school. You know what an adjuster wants? They want the facts. Remember that show years ago on TV called Dragnet? You know, the guy would say things like, you know, “just the facts, ma’am.” That’s what adjusters want. They just want the facts. They don’t care how wonderful your writing skills are. They could care less how exciting and how wonderful and brilliant the argument is. Here’s what they want. They want a brief, succinct summary of the major points. They don’t want you to offer your opinions, unless they've asked for them, of course. Yeah, just be ready to do what the adjuster asks you to do. Unless there’s something that’s totally out of whack that the adjuster needs to know that they wouldn’t otherwise know. Just be a helper, and then guess what? The adjuster will be a helper to you.

The last thing I wanted to mention in terms of adjusters is that it’s no different. This is where attorneys and adjusters really align their interests. Adjusters hate open files. Just a truism in this world. Attorneys hate open files. Everybody wants to close. So therefore, to be on the same page, it just means you need to recognize that everyone wants to close the case. So those these truisms are okay. Listen, um, let me guess. Oh, the sun rises in the east and it sets in the west. The chemical makeup of water is H2O, in my opinion. Truism: Bisquick makes the best pancake batter. Well, how about this one? In an Italian family, Mom’s meatballs are the best in the world. So one of the truisms in the adjuster business is adjusters hate open cases, and there is nothing good about an open case to an adjuster. You know what it is? It’s an open wound, just waiting to fester, waiting to be infected, and to blow up into something unmanageable. Closing it quickly while it’s only a small wound.

Trust me, no adjuster wants to get into the heavy litigation stage with mounds and mounds of discovery. That just creates tons of work. Litigation, depositions, authorization exchanges, medical reviews, experts. Cha-ching, cha-ching. It's a major infusion of time and money. Many, many calls to adjusters, to bosses, to supervisors. Many calls from the client. Oh my goodness, many reports to be done. More of everything. More. More. More. We don't want more in this business. So trust me, adjusters hate open cases, and you need to use that hatred of the open case in every interaction that you have, every discussion that you have, every piece of paper that you exchange with the adjuster.

And by the way, even early on, before you’re even ready for it, you should be asking the adjuster, “Hey, what’s your opinion on the resolution of this case?” They just might say, “Oh, we haven’t round tabled yet.” Say, “I’m not interested in their opinion. I’m interested in your opinion. You’ve been around a long time. I know you’ve settled a lot of cases. I know you’ve tried a lot of cases. I know you have a lot of experience. You and I, this is you and I talking, let’s resolve this case. We don’t need anyone else deciding it for us. We are the experts. We know.” By the way, what you discuss with the adjuster, and what you tell them your position is, and what you kind of share with them, and then have them develop their position, that’s likely what’s going to go in their report when they put it into the round table, to the supervisor, to get money on the case to help you resolve it. So by doing this with the adjuster, you are showing the adjuster you appreciate their work. You appreciate their intellect and you have a desire to get on the same page. That equality is very important. And by the way, this should be done whether you’re on the same side or either side of the “V” in this case. In other words, the adjuster should know value. Close cases as much as he or she does. Now, listen, you might not agree on the value of the case, but there are things that you can always agree on.

For example, having a closed case. There’s no question that we can agree on. We want to close the case out. Okay. You can find other things, too, in a case, you know, such as a hit in the rear and things like that where there’d be no liability issue. And I always make a point of finding the things that we don’t need to disagree on that are irrefutable and posing them as something that we both know. It kind of sets a good groundwork.

So even though you might not agree on value, you should find things that you are aligned with that lead you towards closing, because closing is good. I’m going to make a reference to an old-time movie: that alignment towards closing cases—well, that can be the start of a beautiful relationship.