Nuclear Verdict Case Management Tips
Nuclear verdicts (defined as a verdict of $10 million or more) are on the rise – not just in frequency but in the size of the amount awarded. In fact, a recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform found that the average nuclear verdict in product liability cases rose to $36 million in 2022 – a 50% increase from 2012.
Cases with such high stakes often come with a high volume of records that need to be canvassed for, requested, indexed and organized. Even with the average case, it has been reported that professionals such as attorneys, insurance carriers and claims professionals, spend 12% of their day (approximately six weeks yearly) on records retrieval. To combat this drain on their resources, organizations need to leverage technology and the right partner for efficient case management.
Here are some tools and services that requestors should look for when choosing a records retrieval partner:
- Optical character recognition: Convert documents that were originally handwritten, submitted as a photograph or as a scanned document into a fully editable and searchable document.
- Optimized search capabilities: Aggregate your case and claims records into a single view that can be organized chronologically.
- Advanced sorting and indexing: Filter your results by record type and locations to make it easier to review documents. Comprehensive indexing also makes it easier to search and pinpoint specific records.
- Robust and thorough record summaries: Record summaries should provide a complete chronology of the records, which enables quick identification of providers, record type and events critical to your analysis.
- In-house legal team: Your retrieval partner should have an in-house legal team with extensive knowledge of local, state and federal rules of procedure, rules of evidence and data privacy and security laws.
- Automated case chronology: Automatically organize records by date to create a clear timeline of documented events, making it easier for you and your team to recognize nuances and patterns.
- Intelligent records organization: Upload records already obtained to be organized in the same manner as new records being retrieved.
Your records retrieval partner should do more than just provide records (which can be hundreds, or even thousands of pages.) They should also provide services focused on saving you time (and money) as you prepare for your case.
Topics: Records Retreival
