Some Rush To Courthouse Faster Than Others

Study identifies demographics of those most likely to file injury lawsuits

Risk managers and insurers who understand a claimant's propensity to sue are better equipped to predict future losses and quantify exposures, the author of a study on the psychological and demographic factors of those who file lawsuits contends.

Those who are younger, poorer and less educated, and who suffer more serious injuries are the likeliest to sue, according to the study”The Propensity to Sue: Why Do People Seek Legal Action?”released last month by National Economics Research Associates Inc. in New York.

The report by Faten Sabray analyzed raw data from a Rand Corp. study of about 3,000 people who experienced an injury. She found the propensity to sue to be linked with the perception of fault and the type of accident as well as individual demographic data. The findings contrast, she said, with previous studies, which examine the cost and severity of an accident when trying to predict litigation behavior.

Ms. Sabray told National Underwriter that in response to suffering ill effects from a particular drug, for example, only 15 percent might sue, whereas side effects from another drug could potentially generate more claims simply because of the different demographics of its users.

In general, across different types of personal injuries, “less educated people and lower income people are more likely to file claims,” she found, adding she suspects “this has something to do with whether or not they have insurance, but I haven't been able to verify that with this study.”

Ms. Sabray added that even though older people are “less likely to file a claim, on average, whether it's a product liability or a car accident or work-related,” their propensity to sue has little to do with insurance.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, June 4, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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Some Rush To Courthouse Faster Than Others

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