Liberty Mutual Claims Case Competition

Liberty Mutual sponsored its first annual Claims Case Competition on March 19, 2010. Four of my fraternity brothers and I took advantage of the opportunity, recognizing that the event would potentially be an excellent networking experience. It turned out that we made up 83.3% of the participants as only one other individual joined us in the competition. I was quite surprised by this. Liberty Mutual is an excellent company, and this provided a great way to get you name out to them.

The event started with what I imagine to be a business lunch. We ate and discussed how the event was to run. We were split up into teams of two. Each team was to take on the role of a claims specialist and determine various critical points of the claim we were given. Rob Drouin, UNH alumni and event coordinator, briefed us on the claim, what was expected of a claims adjuster, and exactly what we needed to determine. After we were up to speed, we broke off to complete the tasks at hand.

My partner Adam and I tackled the issue of liability and the degree to which both the claimanat and the insured were responsible. To determine this we cited factors like level of damage to each vehicle, contributory negligence, and statements from both parties and witnesses.

Once this was determined, we moved onto a general qualitative assessment of the case. We found strengths and weaknesses for both parties' cases. We scrutinized our reasoning for the liability determination. Finally, we used qualitative reasoning to determine which services and damages were related and thus should be covered by Liberty Mutual.

We took a conservative approach in regards to liability, but we were aggressive in regards to what services and damages should or should not be covered by Liberty. When it came time for the presentations, we discovered that each group came up with very different answers. Again, we were the most aggressive meaning we covered a lower dollar value than anyone else. However, we defended each of our actions. We placed a high value on the information that was available to the claims specialist in regards to the claimant's lawyer and the potential corruption between the second doctor the claimant went to see. It seemed there were many unnecessary charges. We also placed a high value on legal precedent. The claimant was involved in two prior lawsuits from which we determined that his injury was caused from the incident related to the first lawsuit. That, along with the fact that there was minimal impact in the current accident, lead us to our decision to cover a minimal amount of services. We did note in our argument that the aggressiveness of our approach required further investigation of the doctor's and the prior legal cases. We didn't feel enough information was available in these areas.

Rob made it clear that there was no right answer, and that the event would be judged based on the depth of analysis and hitting all required points. Unfortunately, when it came down to the end he didn't even choose a winner! We were quite disappointed as we felt the other groups looked past the legal precedent and the minimal damage that was done to the vehicles.

Regardless, this was a great experience. I hope Liberty Mutual continues to put on this event. It was a great experience for any student considering insurance as a career. Even for those not considering insurance, it is still a great networking tool and we came out with gift certificates and a free lunch. I recommend every student try to participate in future Liberty Mutual events.