Insurance co's don't pay
I think the problems started with greedy insurance companies, who line the pockets of congressmen, who are mostly lawyers.
If Insurance companies paid fairly and promptly, there wouldn'b be so man lawsuits. INSURANCE COMPANIES have no integrity and ye they are allowed to cooperate on rates, customer data (yes, they all share you credit history and know about every legal problem you have every encountered, not just wrecks and claim history), and they all share the same accuary databases.
Insurance companies had destroyed the business that originall was designed to protect us. Insurance coverage is even mandated by law = how convinent is that that ?
And the big awards only make the head lines. Less than 3% of all jury award reach those sky high figures, and most of them are never paid because of lengthy littiegation, appeals, and even bankruptcy.
I have a good friend who has a 5 acre lot off of Davis lane, where her tiny cottage was condemed for mold problems - sealed-up. Nobody can live there, but she still has to pay her mortage company and insurance company premiums, and meanwhile, they have spent over a year debating about what to do and how they will fix the house.
The cost of repairs exceeds the fair market value of the house, so you would think the insurance company would demolish the house and just pay off the mortgage ?
No, they insist on repairing it, knowing full well that no one will ever buy the house after this mess, no other company will insure it again, and no mortgage company will ever loan money on it again.
Worse, the insurance company retains and demands the right to approve the contracts bids and then will not pay until the work is complete and inspected by the city. After all that, they write a check to 5 parties, not to the homeowner who pays the premiums.
Think that's sad, I watched an edlerly couple pay for emergency repairs to their house after a tornadoe pushed a tree through it. They spent $50,000 of their savings for repiars and the insurance company won't pay because the insurance company did get to pre-approve the contractors. And quess what, in an emergency like that, there were ''required to make necessary repairs'' by the same insurance company. Contractors were scarce and coming in from other states for the next 6 months. The home owners only recoverd 20% of their expenses. They had no choice but to sue....
Insurance companies are the problem here, not the courts or the lawyers.