As medical and wage loss expense claims continue to rise for even the most minor car accidents, post-termination claims are growing as well. In order to get the full amount of medicals considered along with any wage loss or replacement services claims, Plaintiffs increasingly will be filing with the district court for recovery of claims over the $10,000 no-fault arbitration jurisdictional limit. And with no-fault attorney’s fees an incentive in a tough economy, the incidence of district court no-fault filings is bound to increase.
In the past, district court no-fault cases have been relatively few and far between. The few I did each year always settled at mediation. And, given how cost-effective and plaintiff-friendly the AAA forum has been, plaintiffs had no reason to move. However, with the recent push to have more defense lawyers on the panel actually bearing fruit and the economic downturn, plaintiffs are willing to risk more to get more.
Read the full article which appeared in Minnesota Claims magazine.