The forces vhich contributed to larger protection and indemnity 

 insurance losses and claim expenses vere adequately explained in the 

 last topic of the previous chapter. Some additional evidence is 

 presented here for the sake of consistency and adequate coverage of 

 the subject. The situation on protection and indemnity insurance 

 claims vas stated by a New England owner as follows: "All injuries 

 are treated as a big issue by aill concerned — doctors, lawyers, 

 injured. They tske advantage of the situation because it is an 

 in,jurance case. Owners should resist claims most vigorously." 

 Although the vessel owner may sometimes encourage his crew to claim 

 benefits for personal injuries, it is the lawyer, doctor, and union 

 official who seems to be frequently behind the injured person's 

 demands which are not infrequently exorbitojit. Another New Engleuid 

 o\Tner recommended that "interference and ambulance chasing by M.D.'s, 

 la^/yers, and union agents should be stopped." A third owner from 

 the same area estimated that "probably fifty percent of the claims 

 are not legitimate- -may be collusion even with union officers and 

 lawyer." 



The other side of the story was revealed by interviews with 

 union leaders and la-v/yers representing the claimant fishermen in 

 Hew England. Their basic argument is well expressed by a leading 

 la^vyer in the field: 'If the insurance companies would settle at 

 my figures, they could save money." A union leader put the blame 

 on la^Tyex's of insurance companies who refuse to meet the "reasonable 

 demands of the fishermen so they go to the la'vjyers . " Although the 

 above mentioned lawyer cited a few litigated cases where the amount 

 awarded by the court vras larger than the figure which the plaintiff's 

 lawyer asked, the data of this sui-vey tell a different story. In 

 Ne\7 England only k"] percent of the claimed amounts were actually 

 paid and in California only 23 percent (table A-125 in Appendix A). 



The general concensus of a number of owners from a New England 

 port was that "Insurance company lawyers come into agreement with 

 private lawyers and they encourage claims." This, they argued, was 

 understandable "because the la-v/yers of the two parties were paid 

 vri. th commissions per dollar volume of business." The data of this 

 survey disclosed that the lawyer's fee represented I8.8 percent in 

 New England and ik.k percent in California of paid losses for claims 

 requiring the services of the insurance company's la-vr/ers (table 

 A-I25 in Appendix A) . According to reliable sources of information, 

 the usual reward of la\;yers representing claimant fishermen was about 

 one-third but sometimes ran as high as 50 percent of the collected 

 amount . 



1^6 



