Combating Negative Juror Attitudes Toward Insurers with Effective Visuals

Written by Jill Leibold, Ph.D. and Adam Bloomberg of Litigation Insights for the Fall/Winter 2015 issue of USLAW Magazine

Do jurors feel like they’re in good hands with their insurance companies? Not really. Just shy of half of mock jurors hold negative feelings about insurance companies. With 2011 and 2012 bringing several catastrophic events – from wildfires, landslides, tornadoes and hurricanes – leading to an avalanche of property and business interruption claims, mock jurors’ views on insurance coverage and claims have likely changed.

Jurors have familiarity with claims. Indeed, according to the Insurance Information Institute, one in 15 insured homes make a claim each year. How did those personal claims experiences and the media exposure about others’ claims affect mock jurors’ views on insurers? To get a better sense of what biases jurors may hold when they walk into a courtroom, Litigation Insights collected mock jurors’ attitudes on insurance companies from around the nation. The results below discuss jurors’ views on insurers’ ethics, profits, coverage, and claims handling….READ MORE.