Dix Law Firm, PLLC’s Post

The news that GEICO is laying off so much of its workforce is disheartening. Having spent the first half of my career doing insurance defense work, I know how incredibly hard rank-and-file line claims adjusters work. Likewise, I know how, almost uniformly, some of the more head-scratching decisions on claims are made not by the line adjuster, but by regional or national managers with little to no familiarity with the jurisdiction where the claim is pending (typical jury pool, judges, sometimes--sadly--even the applicable law); IMO, a consequence of the wrong-headed decisions made after the 07/08 real estate crash when, among other things, (1) local claims offices were consolidated into regional offices administering claims across numerous, far-away states, and (2) outside insurance defense counsel was replaced with in-house counsel. One of the misconceptions in personal injury is that plaintiff's attorneys have an acrimonious relationship with insurance adjusters. Not true (although, admittedly, there are times when the adage about getting along with "all of the people all of the time" comes to mind). By and large, we get along quite well with the adjusters; indeed, for the sake of our clients, we should try and get along with the adjusters on the other side (bees and honey) to hopefully avoid costly and protracted litigation. The folks who lost their jobs Thursday are human beings, just like the rest of us, and are undoubtedly hurting. Hopefully they will land somewhere else, somewhere better, very soon. https://lnkd.in/g2Pa2pyg