July 18th, 2007
By Nigel Cragg
I read with interest the article in the Post magazine February 2007 Nick Gunters article regarding Colossus.
Many of the uninitiated personal injury Claimants may not realise that insurance companies use a computer programme to calculate how much compensation to offer.
Not only this but the computer programme concerned “Colossus” is a system which can be tailored to the individual needs of the insurer concerned.
The programme can be calibrated to calculate damages dependent upon certain criteria. If the insurer decides not to include a particular criteria in its assessment then the computer will obey its master and this may lead to it coming to a calculation of compensation at a lower level than had that particular criteria have been counted.
For example if Colossus were to use as part of its criteria the number of days away from work as a result of the injury and the insurer were to decide not to include this then if a Claimant had had time off work as a result of his injuries he might receive the same offer of compensation as a Claimant who had had no time off work as a result of his injuries. Can this be right?
In my experience of handling personal injury litigation over the last 28 years I have come across the use of Colossus in the last 5 years. Many insurance companies do not like to publicise the fact that they use this system nor do they admit that they have used this system if they are challenged.
I handled one particular case recently in the County Court where an insurer had made an offer that it conceded was calculated by Colossus.
The handler at the insurance company, when asked whether they were prepared to negotiate simply responded by saying “I am afraid I am not permitted to offer anymore than Colossus has calculated”. I started Court proceedings on behalf of my client which were then heard by a Judge who awarded significantly more in compensation than Colossus had calculated.
As a consequence my client received his genuine award of compensation and penalty interest. The legal fees involved had already significantly increased by virtue of the extra work in taking the Court case to trial and therefore not only did the insurer have to pay more in compensation but also had to pay significantly more in legal fees.
All this when insurers are complaining that legal fees often exceed the value of the claim. If the insurance companies only looked at their own conduct they would realise why this might be the case!
It would always be wise when considering an offer from an insurance company for personal injury compensation to ask them whether they have calculated the offer using the computer system or whether it has been carefully considered by an experienced professional.
I have no doubt that many cases have been settled using the Colossus system. This is because Claimants may not realise that the offer has been calculated by a computer and may not believe it right to challenge the valuation or ask how it has been calculated. Sometimes Claimants accept less than the claim is actually worth simply to achieve an early settlement. Some lawyers promote this way of working because they to are acting on a fixed fee and therefore the quicker they settle the case the quicker they get paid. The amount of work they do on the case is no longer relevant to the amount they get paid.
This is not necessarily good news for the public. I would therefore recommend to any Claimant that they ensure that their claim has been properly assessed and valued by an experienced personal injury practitioner or a member of the association of personal injury lawyers before deciding to accept any settlement
