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Attorneys' Major Complaints

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
August 13, 2004

Attorneys who conduct a large number of insurance defense cases say that they face these problems with the insurance companies that they represent.

1) Arbitrary time standards. Some insurance firms' litigation guidelines place very tight restrictions on the hours for research or depositions. In their defense, insurers and auditors say that they are constantly revising their guidelines to reflect data they get from their counsel.

2) Flat fees. Flat fees are the stepsister of time limits. If attorneys are being paid the same amount regardless of the time and effort they put into a case, there's a natural tendency to put in fewer hours. This doesn't mean that attorneys aren't trying ' but that at some point, they might say “enough is enough.” A Kentucky court ruled against flat fees in 1996 to avoid just that problem. See American Ins. Ass'n v. Kentucky Bar Ass'n, 917 S.W.2d 568 (Kty. 1996).

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