Health maintenance organizations pioneered this approach to profitability during the last seven or eight years. Casualty insurers now use the same methods. They limit work, time and expenses of lawyers who defend you. Under their policies, insurers pay damages against you and pay lawyers to defend claims. There is no uniform approach to reducing defense costs.
Guidebooks require that billings go to independent auditors, who decide whether charges are valid.
If a charge is outside the guidelines, the insurance company won't pay it. Restrictive provisions limit numbers of depositions, research time greater than a fixed number of hours, use of experts, purchases such as models, maps and drawings, and use of expert witnesses. All this leaves you, the insured person, out in the cold. An adjuster frequently controls the case. The adjuster isn't a lawyer, and he or she is paid by the insurance company.