Events

How to Identify – and Prevent – a Potential Nuclear Verdict®

August 23, 2023

The medical professional liability (MPL) insurance industry has been implementing year-to-year rate increases since 2019, and claims frequency has plunged to less than half of what it was in 2001. Despite these gains, last year marked the industry’s eighth consecutive year of an underwriting loss. So why aren’t we seeing better results?

The reason: Large jury verdicts are on the rise.

There were 19 jury verdicts exceeding $10 million in 2014, but 50 last year – and there have already been 43 such verdicts in the first seven months of this year.

Before medical liability claims severity worsens, which is the direction things seem to be heading, now is the perfect time to take a serious look at what your organization is doing to recognize — and defuse — these potentially large-dollar claims.

So what can you do to prevent Nuclear Verdicts^® before you even get to trial? What are the most up-to-date tools for preparing and defending med-mal cases? And how can the practice of anchoring damages work in the defense’s favor and reduce the potential for high-dollar verdicts?

Get answers to these questions and more when you register to attend “How to Identify – and Prevent – a Potential Nuclear Verdict,” scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2023. Listen as experts Robert Tyson, Jr. from Tyson & Mendes and Professor Nathan Coates from Villanova University School of Business provide results of their extensive research on outsized jury verdicts, and what your company can do to detect and prevent such verdicts before they happen.

To uncover the causes of Nuclear Verdicts, our speakers used AI technology to analyze thousands of cases that resulted in large verdicts to identify the critical traits, facts, and circumstances that led to them. Find out what those traits are as well as the psychology driving Nuclear Verdicts. You’ll come away with the practical tools you will need to stop them before they happen when you register to attend this can’t-miss webinar.

You’ll get information on four proven methods for preventing Nuclear Verdicts at trial – accepting responsibility, personalizing the corporate defendant, giving a number, and arguing pain and suffering (which is the biggest component of these verdicts). You’ll learn more about these four methods and how they work to stop Nuclear Verdicts before they happen. Using case-study examples, you’ll be able to see the difference these trial strategies can make and how to use them to save your company millions of dollars.

Who Should Attend?
Medical liability insurance professionals, claim managers risk experts, and underwriters – anyone who needs to know how to avoid high-dollar verdicts and finally turn an underwriting profit after eight long years.

For one low price ­– just $147 (through 8/11/23, $197 thereafter) – up to five team members (including yourself) at multiple locations can take part in this fast-paced, insightful webinar. Best of all, you’ll be able to connect personally with our speakers when we open things up for questions from the audience.

Here is just some of what you’ll learn during this comprehensive 90-minute webinar:

• Recent trends in Nuclear Verdicts in medical liability cases – and the four steps you can take to prevent them.
• What drives Nuclear Verdicts – and how to catch as many as 75% of them before they happen.
• Danger phrases that can lead to Nuclear Verdicts: What they are and how to avoid using them in a claim.
• How verdict anchoring by the defense can blunt jury verdicts.
• The inflection point for when it makes sense to use technology to stop Nuclear Verdicts.
• The correlation between specific behaviors and large jury verdicts – what those behaviors are and how they impact your claim.
• How to counter outrageous lifetime care plans.
• How new uses of AI can lower your cost of a claim.
• Progress on a chatbot product in development now for attorneys and claims professionals to get easier access to advice on avoiding Nuclear Verdicts.

…and much more!

Your webinar registration includes:

• A license to have up to five people attend this webinar in various locations at no extra charge—make sure you send the access instructions and handout materials you receive to each participant.
• Downloadable handout materials consisting of PowerPoint slides for use during and after the webinar.
• The opportunity to connect directly with our speakers during the audience Q&A session.
• A written transcript of the webinar (including Q&A) sent as a PDF, just for taking our post-conference survey.

Distinguished Presenters:

Robert F. Tyson, Jr. is the Strategic Managing Partner of the 200+ attorney national trial law firm, Tyson & Mendes, and co-founder of the insurtech company, Schaefer City Technologies. He is a trial lawyer and author of the first book written for the defense to limit exposure at trial, Nuclear Verdicts: Defending Justice for All, which sets forth specific methods to beat plaintiffs’ lawyers and achieve justice. The book is the culmination of a more than 30-year legal career during which he successfully tried a variety of cases involving complex product liability, commercial and general civil litigation, professional malpractice, environmental, and employment law – representing individuals, corporations, public entities, professionals, and many other different types of businesses.

Prior to founding Tyson & Mendes in 2002, he practiced law at some of Southern California’s largest defense firms, including Edwards, White & Sooy, and Booth, Mitchel & Strange.

Mr. Tyson earned his B.S. in finance from Villanova University in 1986 and his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law in 1989. He frequently lectures on a variety of legal issues to business and professional organizations.

Nathan Coates is an Assistant Professor of Practice for the Management and Operations Department at the Villanova University School of Business. His focus is data mining and the application of machine learning to business problems.

Professor Coates started his career as a network engineer designing wireless and wired networks for commercial and government clients domestically and internationally. In addition to teaching and research, he has partnered with more than 15 firms in the last five years to expand the use of analytics techniques to improve business outcomes.

Michael Matray has been Editor of Medical Liability Monitor since 2006. Medical Liability Monitor reports on the medical professional liability (medical malpractice) insurance industry as well as publishes the Annual Rate Survey, which details mature, base-rate medical malpractice insurance premiums for every county in every state. Prior to joining Medical Liability Monitor, Mr. Matray wrote for a variety of consumer and trade publications.