An insurance defense firm saved insurers and their clients some $1.07 billion in aggregate damages claims last year, according to a partner at the Tyson & Mendes law firm in San Diego.
“The calculation was done based upon the initial demands when we would receive the case, how much the plaintiff or their attorney was asking for, and determining what the case ultimately was resolved for either through settlement, a jury trial, a bench trial, or arbitration,” said Robert Tyson, strategic managing partner at Tyson & Mendes law.
In 2021, the firm saved its clients $667 million, and $606 million in 2020.
“We had more cases this past year than the year before,” Tyson told the Southern California Record. “As we're coming out of this pandemic, the courts are opening up, people are opening up and there were more opportunities to resolve matters and move out some of the backlogs from 2020 and 2021 and we were able to do so pretty aggressively.”
Tyson authored, Nuclear Verdicts®: Defending Justice for All, a book that details methods attorneys can employ to minimize damage awards.
“Nuclear verdicts have been increasing over the last 10 to 15 years at a pretty good pace and it's become pretty alarming to the defense industry, to corporations, to insurers, and to individuals who have to pay for these," Tyson said in an interview. "Plaintiffs’ lawyers have changed the way they try lawsuits in the last 15 years. They used to try to get a sympathetic jury. Now, they're trying to get a jury angry.”
A 'nuclear verdict,' trademarked by Tyson, refers to cases in which damages awards exceed $10 million or where noneconomic damages awards are inconsistent with the facts of the case.
“What we've done is developed methods to help diffuse anger,” he said. “Plaintiff's lawyers now are asking for large verdicts because they've studied psychology and they've learned that the best way to get a big verdict is to ask for one."
In 2022, the firm launched the Nuclear Verdicts Defense Institute to teach the methods to other defense attorneys. The second annual Nuclear Verdicts Defense Institute is scheduled for the upcoming summer.
“The big thing that you can do as a defense lawyer to combat this is to accept responsibility for what you've done wrong and the second thing you can do is give your own number," Tyson added. "Give a reasonable number that you think is fair and reasonable, and hopefully a jury will agree with your number.”