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If you've recently been arrested and/or convicted of a DUI or drunk driving offense there are many things to consider before actually disclosing your DUI on a job application. First, if you are eligible to clear the DUI record (immediately or in the near future) it might make more sense to explore those avenues before you apply for a job that you really want.

9 times out of 10 most every employer will do a pre-employment background check on you and will uncover the DUI offense which most likely will cause them not to hire you. Most pre-employment background checks are conducted by 3rd party HR companies that are contracted by your potential employer specifically to do background checks. A lot of the big companies use the same outsourced HR company to do their checks so if you get flagged within their system that could in effect ruin your chances of ever getting hired from any company who uses them to perform pre-employment background checks.

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So it's definitely something you want to think about and clear up BEFORE you apply and agree to a background check.

But if you take the steps to clear or expunge the DUI record prior to applying for the job there is a good chance that they will never find out about it. So, by spending a little bit of time and educating yourself on what you need to do to take care of your record could pay off big time.
Not every state allows the clearing or expunging of DUI records but even in those states that won't clear your record there are remedies to minimize the damage by keeping it from showing up on background checks. You can get more information at www.duiprocess.com

DUI Records and Pre-Employment Background Checks

Filing compensation claims under the US Department of Veterans Affairs is not as easy as it may seem, especially if you're into it for the first time in your life. Rules and regulations that govern the working of the Veterans Affairs (VA) system keep changing almost everyday. So, it's almost impossible for an individual to keep track of the extremely dynamic provisions of the VA system and make claims accordingly.

Thus, when you think about filing a VA claim, the wisest thing would be hiring the services of a reputed VA attorney who's practicing in your region. Such lawyers would be able to help you with the paper-work that's necessary for filing a VA petition and would also extend his assistance while you start gathering different evidences which are crucial in filing such claims. Now, let's look at some of the basic steps involved in filing a VA claim:

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Before you start arranging the documents required to file such petitions, you must request a copy of your official military personnel records file. You can get this by sending a document request to the National Personnel Records Center.

After you get the records file, you must start collecting other documents which include:

1. The Report of Separation (DD - 214)

2. Your healthcare provider's statement(s) which should make reference to different medical findings, treatment procedures, diagnosis, and so on.

3. Social security number for each of your family members and also that of any dependent relative who may be residing with your family. Together with these, you must also present the social security award letter (or the exact amount of payment received)

4. Marriage certificate (in case you are presently married) and the birth certificates for all your kids being claimed as immediate dependents (also includes adopted and step children).

Once you gather all these documents, your VA lawyer would use these records to make sure that the Veterans Affairs system follows their own rules and gives you the money you really deserve.

Finally, when you are done with arranging all the documents, visit the Veterans Affairs Regional Office in your area and file your claim. You must remember to follow up with the VA Regional Office to ensure that you get the money in time.

However, when in need of legal assistance for filing a claim under the US Department of Veterans Affairs...Columbus (OH) residents must seek guidance from experienced lawyers only!

How to File Veterans Affairs Claims

A large amount of people think that court reporting is a boring job, but it can be such an exhilarating one. The reason it has a reputation for being so dull is because, a court reporter must turn out page after page of legal jargon, but what they don't consider is that the reporter is a first hand witness to some exciting and dramatic court room drama.

What Qualifications Do You Need To Be Able Offer A Court Reporting Service?

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In order to be a certified reporter, an individual has to pass the State Licensure Exams which is executed by a panel of court reporting specialists. He or she may be a member of either the National Verbatim Reporters Association (NVRA) or the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA). To become eligible to be a member of the NVRA you will have to be able to type 250 words per minute, and to qualify as a member for the NCRA the minimum requirement is 225 words a minute.

For additional improving of abilities in the reporting field, they are obligated to undergo quite a few tests like writing, transcriptions examinations, and speed tests categories like Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR) or Real Time Verbatim Reporter (RVR).

Court reporting services

Aside from documenting and transcribing the depositions and litigation in court, a court transcriptionist ought to offer various services:

A good quality transcript or report of all the occurrences that happened in the courtroom. The stenographer should preferably write in flawless grammar with the proper spelling and punctuations. For that reason, the court reporter should have an outstanding knowledge of the spoken and written language.

A quality litigation reporter would certainly also know the fundamental facts of the case they are reporting on. This is so that they can completely understand the proceedings amongst the lawyers, Judge, Defendant, Plaintiff and the Jury, and what charges or complaint is against the accused. This can also help the reporter to keep themselves updated on all of the jargon, and they might be able to predict what could be said in future proceedings.

Through voice, electronic or stenotype reporting, the reporter may render service by transcribing every one of these into a written format that is legally recognized in court. They will have to create a transcript that can be read.

The reporting services he supplies will need to be speedy and effective, so the reporter should be be trained well enough to handle stress and pressure and sustain grace under pressure.

Court reporting services don't only involve court proceedings but also outside services. A person that is trained to do court reporting may also be able to work as a broadcast captioner or a webcaster. An individual that can transcribe live TV for disabled people can earn an excellent salary.

They could also work from a home office as a freelance reporter, or as a independent reporter. If someone decides to work in this way, they are able to have a flexible schedule, which can be much less demanding and stressful.

If you love and have a good understanding of the written and spoken English language, you will make an excellent court reporter. It is an exhilarating and challenging job. Court reporting also requires you to have remarkable documenting skills, and the ability to make good decisions. The lawyer requires all the support he can get from a certified court reporter or an official court reporter to win his case. In conclusion, the role of a court reporter is a extremely important when it comes to providing documentation for proceedings, dispositions and court litigation.

What You Should Know About Court Reporter Services

If you're interested in real estate careers, the bad economy is creating a great opportunity for you in the form of foreclosures. Here are two jobs in real estate you can work for home and expect to bring in a six-figure income.

You Can Invest In Tax Foreclosures With Only 0 In the Bank

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Think you need lots of money to invest in real estate? You couldn't be more wrong - as long as you invest in the right property, the right way. Few other jobs in real estate offer the potential to make money like foreclosure investing.

The way to accomplish this is to directly approach owners who are about to lose their property to tax sale. At this point in the game some will be willing to part with their deeds for nothing - you just offer them a few hundred dollars for their time in signing over the documents.

Others will want something for the property - you can offer them a few hundred dollars for the deed, and a percentage of whatever you are able to sell it for. Then, you just pay the taxes or sell quickly, and take your profits.

These Same Properties Create Overages - Collect Them and Make Five Figures Finder Fees

The very same owners you look to buy property from are probably owed overages (if they don't end up selling and let the property go). When a bidder bids more for the property than was owed in taxes, the excess generally goes back to the owner. But many never find out about the overage - and eventually it escheats to the government.

One of the best jobs in real estate is to help people collect these overages. You work on contingency, like a lawyer - meaning you take your payment when the money is paid out, but get paid a larger amount for not charging anything up front. This translates to 30-50% of the overage - and that's a lot of money. These overages often run well over ,000 - so you make ,000 or more, all for helping these owners get their money back.

These two jobs in real estate are where you should be looking for the foreseeable future. No other area of the real estate industry is so ripe with opportunity, and if you work hard, you could easily see a six-figure income within a year.

Two Jobs in Real Estate You Can Work From Home For a Six-Figure Income

Columbus is the largest city and capital of Ohio, one of the states of the United States of America. It is greatly responsible for the state's economy and has a proud history whose legacy continues to be lived out by the people of the city to this day. Columbus, Ohio is no doubt one of the most interesting cities in the most powerful country in the world, attracting not only tourists but, more importantly, investors who appreciate the advantages of settling on a city that has a rich culture marked by harmonic relationship among the business, science, arts, and sports sectors.

One of the reasons why Columbus is famous is its name, which is a tribute to no less than the great explorer Christopher Columbus. It was in 1812 that the city was founded and, only four years after, it began to assume the heavy responsibilities of state capital. Centuries after, Columbus is now a recognized global city and heralded as one of the best large cities in the country to live and settle down in. The city's economy remains a wonderful mix, with education, retail, healthcare, insurance, and technology all taking the reigns. This is the reason why the quality of life in Columbus is relatively better than what most other large cities in the United States have to offer. Even with the current financial crisis the country is facing, Columbus is remains strong and fighting, thanks to its diverse economy.

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Columbus is known as the Arch City, a nickname it earned because of the number of wooden, now metal, arches that dotted an area in the metropolitan, High Street, right at the turn of the 20th century, which was a very productive year for the city. While these arches made history by becoming the means to providing electric power to streetcars and brightening the thoroughfare, they are not the only reasons for you to come to Columbus, Ohio; in fact, said arches were torn down in 1914 and only reconstructed in 2002 for the historical interest they provide. Even if you have no pending business in the city, there are plenty of other reasons for you to visit, including taking a tour and having a vacation with your family or just by yourself. There are several sights to see and things to do that await you in Columbus.

The state capital is home to different buildings that have graced history with their notable architecture, design, and purpose. These buildings include the art-deco Ohio Judicial Center, the Greek-revival State Capitol, and the Peter-Eisenman-designed Greater Columbus Convention Center and Wexner Center, to name a few. Other interesting buildings to see are the LeVeque Tower, the Rhodes State Office Tower, and the One Nationwide Plaza. The residents of Columbus don't need to look far for quality education for their children. The Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts is made up of non-profit organizations and remains a center for publications, research, and seminars for leadership and governance in non-profit organizations. The Center is responsible for restoring and renovated at least eleven turn-of-the-century buildings and homes. Of course, Columbus also has venues for large and intimate concerts, and they include the Germain Amphitheatre, Value City Arena, Nationwide Arena, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, Newport Music Hall, and Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Cultural events are hosted by the King Arts Complex, the historic Palace Theatre, the Southern Theatre, the Ohio Theatre, the Riffe Center, and the famed Lincoln Theatre, which used to be for African-Americans only. Indeed, Columbus, Ohio is one culturally and historically rich city.

Columbus, Ohio - A Diverse City With a Rich Culture and History

In the latter part of nineteenth century, social theories from Ida B. Wells-Barnett were forceful blows against the mainstream White male ideologies of her time. Ida Wells was born on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. It was the second year of the Civil War and she was born into a slave family. Her mother, Lizzie Warrenton, was a cook; and her father, James, was a carpenter. Ida's parents believed that education was very important and after the War, they enrolled their children in Rust College, the local school set up by the Freedmen's Aid Society (Hine 1993). Founded in 1866, the Society established schools and colleges for recently freed slaves in the South, and it was at Rust College that Ida learned to read and write.

Everything changed for Ida the summer she turned sixteen. Both of her parents and her infant brother died during a yellow fever epidemic, and Ida was left to care for her remaining five siblings. She began teaching at a rural school for a month and, a year later, took a position in Memphis, Tennessee, in the city's segregated black schools. Upon arriving in Memphis were teaching salaries were higher than Mississippi, Wells-Barnett found out that even though there was a stronger demand for literate individuals to teach, there was a stronger need for qualified ones. According to Salley (1993), because she needed qualifications in order to teach, she enrolled into Fisk University and gained her qualification in under a year. While returning to Memphis from a teaching convention in New York, she was met with racial provocation for the first time while traveling by railway. Ida was asked by the conductor to move to the segregated car, even though she had paid for a ticket in the ladies coach car.

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She refused to leave, and bit the conductor's hand as he forcibly pushed her from the railway car. She sued the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and was awarded 0 by a local court. Even though she won the case, the headlines read, "DARKY DAMSEL GETS DAMAGES," and the decision was appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court and was reversed (Bolden, 1996). She was ordered to pay court frees in the amount of 0. This incident infuriated Ida and spurred her to investigate and report other incidents of racism. Outraged by the inequality of Black and White schools in Memphis and the unfairness of Jim Crow segregation, Ida became a community activist and began writing articles calling attention to the plight of African Americans. She wrote for a weekly Black newspaper called The Living Way. Wells-Barnett's teaching career ended upon her "dismissal in 1891 for protesting about the conditions in Black schools" (Salley, 1993, p.115). During her time as a school teacher, Wells-Barnett along with other Black teachers was said to have gathered and "shared writing and discussion on Friday evening, and produced a newspaper covering the week's events and gossip." (Lengermann and Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998, p.151). The newspaper was officially established and published and distributed under the name Memphis Free Speech and Headlights throughout the Back community a year after she was dismissed. It has been said that her motivation to become a social analyst was the results of her involvement with the Memphis Free Speech and Headlights both as editor and columnist under the pen name Lola and as part owner. Unfortunately, her printing press was destroyed and she was run out of town by a White mob (Sally, 1993). After getting dismissed from her teaching position, her attention then shifted from schools to the issue that would dominate her work for most of her life; lynching. Lynching was the brutal and lawless killing of Black men and women, often falsely accused of crimes, and usually perpetrated by sizable violent mobs of Whites.

It was during this Reconstruction Era, after the Civil War, that Black men made immediate civil gains such as voting, holding public office, and owning land. Yet, groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) developed at the turn of the century as a response. They made it difficult for Southern Blacks to vote or live in peace, attempting to maintain White supremacy through coercion and violence, including lynching (Salzman, 2004) . Infuriated by the Memphis lynching in 1892, which involved a close friend, Ida expressed her grief in an editorial: "The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the White man or become his rival. There is nothing we can do about the lynching now, as we are outnumbered and without arms. There is therefore only one thing left we can do; save our money and leave town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, when accused by White persons" (Hine, 1993).

At the same time Wells saw what lynching really was; an excuse to "keep the nigger down" and execute Blacks "who acquired wealth and property." (Duster, 1971) This sparked her investigation into the causes of lynchings. Since Whites could no longer hold Blacks as slaves they found in mob violence a different means of maintaining a system of "economic, psychological, and sexual exploitation" (Duster, 1971).

In addition, the result of her investigation and editorial sparked the Black community to retaliate and encourage all who could to leave, and those who stayed to boycott the city Railroad Company. Ida saw the success of the boycott, and asserted, "the appeal to the White man's pocket has ever been more effectual than all appeals ever made to his conscience." (Duster, 1971.)

As mentioned earlier, because of Well-Barnett's racial identity, her social theory was well shaped by the events unfolding within her community as experienced by the first generation of African-Americans after Emancipation (Lengerman and Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998). According to Lengerman and Niebrugge-Brantley (1998): "This community took as one assumption that White dominance and its accompanying doctrine of White supremacy had to be confronted. American social Darwinists were giving doctrine of White intellectual legitimacy to Whites, which at this time meant Anglo-Saxon, imperialism abroad and supremacy at home, providing dogma such as that in James K. Hosmer's"Short History of Anglo-Saxon Freedom"(p. 159). Wells-Barnett's social theory is considered to be a radical non-Marxian conflict theory with a focus on a "pathological interaction between differences and power in U.S. society. A condition they variously label as repression, domination, suppression, despotism, subordination, subjugation, tyranny, and our American conflict." (Lengerman and Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998, p.161).

Her social theory was also considered "Black Feminism Sociology," and according to Lengerman and Niebrugge-Brantley (1998), there was four presented themes within the theory: one, her object of social analysis and of a method appropriate to the project; two, her model of the social world; three, her theory of domination and four, her alternative to domination. Although those four themes were present in her theory, one could assume that the major theme above the four was the implication of a moral form of resistance against oppression, which is not farfetched seeing that oppression was the major theme in her life.

She used an amazingly straight-forward writing style to prove a very bold argument against lynching, discrediting the excuse of rape and other excuses. Wells used specific examples and sociological theories to disprove the justifications of lynching made by Southerners. Within her pamphlets, Wells portrays the views of African-Americans in the 1890s. Southerners allowed widespread lynchings while hiding behind the excuse of "defending the honor of its women."(Jones-Royster, 1997).

The charge of rape was used in many cases to lynch innocent African-American men. The victim's innocence was often proved after his death. Wells states that the raping of White women by Negro men is an outright lie. Wells supports her statements with several stories about mutual relationships between White women and Black men. White men are free to have relationships with colored women, but colored men will receive death for relationships with white women (Duster, 1971). As shown by Wells, the excuses used by Whites to torture and murder African-Americans were false. In no way can these kinds of crimes ever be truly justified because of the victim's crimes. Perhaps the most obvious reasons these crimes happened are hate and fear. Differences between groups of people have always caused fear of the unknown, which translates into hate. Whites no longer depended on African-American slave labor for their livelihood. When African Americans were slaves they were considered "property" and "obviously, it was more profitable to sell slaves than to kill them"(Jones-Royster, 1997). With all restraint of "property" and "profit" lifted, Whites during and after Reconstruction were able to freely give into their fear and hate by torturing and killing African-Americans.

Wells' investigations revealed that regardless of whether one was poor and jobless or middle-class, educated, and successful, all Blacks were vulnerable to lynching. Black women, too, were victimized by mob violence and terror. Occasionally they were lynched for alleged crimes and insults, but more often these women were left behind as survivors of those lynched. Up to this time, African-Americans had almost never been free from some form of persecution; the period of Reconstruction was particularly difficult. With the occurrences of lynching steadily increasing with no hope of relenting, their new found freedom ensured little safety. Eventually, Wells was drawn to Chicago in 1893 to protest the racism of the exclusion of African Americans from the World's Fair. With the help of Frederick Douglass, she distributed 20,000 pamphlets entitled "The Reason Why the Colored American is Not in the Columbian Exposition." On June 27, 1895, she married Ferdinand Lee Barnett, lawyer and editor of the Chicago Conservator, and continued to write while raising four children with him (Duster, 1971).

Ida believed firmly in the power of the vote to effect change for African-American men and women. She saw enfranchisement as the key to reform and equality, and she integrated the Women's Suffrage movement by marching in the 1913 Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., with the all White Illinois delegation (Sterling, 1979). She continued to write in her later years, and remained one of the most widely syndicated Black columnists in America. She published articles on race issues and injustices that were printed in African-American newspapers nationwide. Toward the end of her life, Ida worked to address the social and political concerns of African-Americans in Chicago. She made an unsuccessful run as an independent candidate for the Illinois State Senate in 1930, and died the next year of the kidney disease uremia (Duster, 1971). Wells-Barnett's influence was profound. When the federal government built the first low-income housing project in Chicago's "Black belt" in 1940, it was named in her honor (Sterling, 1979). Her autobiography was published posthumously by her daughter, Alfreda Duster in 1971. In Chicago, she helped to found a number of Black female and reform organizations, such as the Ida B. Wells Club, the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, and the Chicago Negro Fellowship League. She also served as director of Chicago's Cook County League of Women's Clubs. These clubs were a means for Blacks to join together for support and to organize to effect change (Duster, 1971). At the national level, Wells-Barnett was a central figure in the founding of the National Association of Colored Women, a visible organization that worked for adequate child care, job training, and wage equity, as well as against lynching and transportation segregation.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett's passion for justice made her a tireless crusader for the rights of African Americans and women. She was a social reformer, a suffragist, a civil rights activist, and a philanthropist. Her writings, regardless of the risk to her safety and life, raised public awareness and involvement to address a number of social ills resulting in the oppression or murder of African Americans. Her service of time through the creation of myriad clubs and organizations improved the lives of her people. Her work in Chicago, in her final years, focused on providing for the needs of the city's African American population. Modeled after Jane Addams' Settlement House efforts, Wells created urban houses for Black men, where they could live safely and have access to recreational amusements while they searched for employment (Hines, 1993). Ida B. Wells-Barnett is sometimes referred to as the "Mother of the Civil Rights movement." She refused to be moved from the Whites only railway car eighty years before the famous Rosa Parks held her seat on an Alabama bus. She encouraged the Black community to take steps to gain political rights, using the same means that would successfully be used much later during the Civil Rights movement such as economic and transportation boycotts (Hines, 1993).

In similar fashion to Margaret Sanger (of the Birth Control movement) and Susan B. Anthony (of the Women's Suffrage movement), Wells-Barnett was a woman who dedicated her entire life to upholding her firm beliefs about social reform. She began by writing about the disparity in education and school conditions for Black children and spent much of her life working to abolish lynching through public awareness (Hines, 1993). Ida, through her example, writings, speaking, and service in various organizations, elevated the voice of women's equality and suffrage. She was a pioneering Black female journalist, and led a very public life in a time when most women, Black or White, did not actively participate in the male political realm. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was connected to many prominent leaders and reformers, male and female, during her lifetime. Among them: Jane Addams (1860-1935) was a social reformer, social worker and the founder of Chicago's Hull House, the most famous of the settlement houses. Addams and Wells-Barnett successfully worked together to block the segregation of Chicago's public schools (Sterling, 1979). She was also connected to W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963) who was a famous Black scholar, sociologist, researcher, writer, and civil rights activist who voiced opposition to the accomodationist views of his contemporary, Booker T. Washington (1856-1915). Washington urged African Americans to focus on self-improvement through education and economic opportunity instead of pressing Whites for political rights.

Ida B. Wells outwardly disagreed with Booker T. Washington's position on industrial education and was mortified with his implication that "Blacks were illiterate and immoral, until the coming of Tuskegee." (Hine, 1993) Outraged by his remarks, she considered his rejection of a college education as a "bitter pill." (Hine, 1993). She wrote an article entitled "Booker T. Washington and His Critics" regarding industrial education. "This gospel of work is no new one for the Negro. It is the South's old slavery practice in a new dress." (Hine, 1993).

She felt that focusing only on industrial education would limit the opportunities of aspiring young Blacks and she saw Washington as no better than the Whites that justified their actions through lynching. Wells-Barnett joined DuBois in his belief that African Americans should militantly demand civil rights, and the two worked together on several occasions, most substantially as co-founders of the NAACP. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), of which Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a founding member, is still a thriving organization with thousands of members nationwide (Hines, 1993). The association continues to advocate and litigate for civil rights for African Americans.

Two of the primary issues on which Wells-Barnett worked on, anti-lynching and women's suffrage, are now defunct issues. Lynching is a federal crime and women received the vote in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. For this reason, related groups that arose at the time, such as the Anti-lynching League, the Freedmen's Aid Society, and the National Association of Colored Women are no longer in existence. Yet, the League of Women Voters was created as an outgrowth of the suffragist movement, and is an organization that still educates men and women about their responsibilities as voters. Wells-Barnett's contribution to the field of sociology is so significant that her work "predates or is contemporaneous with the now canonized contributions of White male thinkers like Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, George Simmel, and George Herbert Mead, as well as the contributions of White female sociologists like Adams, Gilman, Marianne Weber, Webb, and the Chicago Women" (Lengerman and Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998, p.171). Ms. Wells-Barnett is an inspiring example of the power of the written word and the determination to succeed despite the odds. She was an African American woman, the daughter of slaves and considered the lowest of the low on the historical totem pole in American society and her tenacity, ambition, courage and desire for justice changed history. She was direct and possessed strength during a time when this was unheard of by a woman, especially a Black woman. A reformer of her time, she believed African-Americans had to organize themselves and fight for their independence against White oppression. She roused the White South to bitter defense and began the awakening of the conscience of a nation.

Through her campaign, writings, and agitation she raised crucial questions about the future of Back Americans. Today African-Americans do not rally against oppression like those that came before. Gone are the days when Blacks organized together; today Blacks live in a society that does not want to get involved as a whole. What this generation fails to realize is that although the days of Jim Crow have disappeared, it is important to realize that the fight for equality is never over. In the preface of On Lynching: Southern Horrors, A Red Record and A Mob Rule in New Orleans (a compilation of her major works), she writes, "The Afro-American is not a bestial race. If this work can contribute in any way toward proving this, and at the same time arouse the conscience of the American people to a demand for justice to every citizen, and punishment by law for the lawless, I shall feel I have done my race a service. Other considerations are of minor importance" (Wells, 1969).

Warrior Woman - Ida B. Wells-Barnett

What is Colossus?

Colossus is software licensed to about twenty-five insurance companies to aid in predicting the settlement value of claims. The insurance industry maintains it is a useful tool because it considers a great many factors, and the settlement values are just a range for use in any way the insurer wishes. The claimants’ attorneys, on the other hand, maintain that the software is only so good as the data input, and we never know what the adjuster has input; that it does not consider interference with normal life activities, or other valid indications of pain and suffering normally proved by lay testimony instead of medical testimony (as required by Colossus); and that it is NOT merely a beginning point, but is instead the FINAL WORD ON VALUE that the adjuster has to adhere to, or else risk unfavorable management reviews.

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How would you like to know that only a part of all you are suffering will be compensated? Unless data are input, how can a computer quantify your emotional distress, or the loss of enjoyment of life because you no longer can take long walks with your spouse, or the pain and despair you suffer each day because your work hurts you and interferes with your healing? Unless all of your circumstances are included, is it fair to quantify all you have suffered and reduce to a dollar value based upon some factors that may or may not reflect your condition?

That is the essence of the Colossus software. It is an attempt by some insurance companies to value claims with no consideration at all given to whether or not a jury might award you more than the “average” claimant. They plug in such things as damage to the vehicles and expected length of treatment and allowable cost of treatment and many other variables and then come up with a number for the value of the claim. No consideration whatsoever is given to the extent of your actual pain and suffering.

Nor is any consideration whatsoever given to the fact that you might have a job where your injuries cause continued pain, or which slows your healing (consider, for example a waitress, or a person who has to stand all shift). They do not know, nor do they care, that you cannot hold your baby because of the pain in your neck and back. There is no room in the formula for such information.

But the problem is that in our system, it is the jury that is supposed to be the basis for determining the value of a claim, and juries do tend to listen to and consider many of the factors that Colossus ignores. Juries do make a distinction based upon whether or not they think the plaintiff is believable, or has attributes we value in our society, such as the virtues of honesty, perseverance, humility, or patience, for example.

Colossus has no way to evaluate those positive traits, so if you are possessed of anything positive that is likely to bring you a larger jury verdict, it will not be included in the Colossus valuation. You will have become a magnetic image, no different in regard to your positive characteristics than the magnetic image of any other of thousands of claimants with injuries similar to yours.

The real problem with Colossus is that the adjuster for your claim is just about stuck with the results that come out of the computer. Of course the insurance company will deny this, and will tell the media and the state insurance commissioner that Colossus is nothing more than an evaluation tool. It just gives a starting point, they say, from which the adjuster can move up if the facts of the case merit it. That is not at all true.

The Colossus result is a position that is increasingly locked in, and the adjuster who wishes to vary from it because of the facts of an unusual case, had better be ready to justify it. Furthermore, how many times do you think any adjuster trying to make the cut at an insurance company is going to go to her boss and ask for permission to exceed the Colossus determination of value? Considering that her evaluation and merit pay will be based upon how “efficiently” (read that to mean cheaply, or “hard-line”) she settles her cases, do you think she will ever go to her boss to ask for more money than allowed by Colossus? Not very likely.

Colossus is a well-kept secret by the insurance companies that use it, and they will likely not tell you if they have licensed the software. It is the market leader bodily injury claims-handling software used by an increasing number of insurance companies in the world. According to Computer Sciences Corporation, the company which produces Colossus, it is used by more than 50 per cent of the nation’s claim adjusters and by more than 300 insurance companies. Out of the top 20 US Property and Casualty Insurers, 13 are using Colossus.

Most claims insurance adjusters use computer software to appraise any insurance claim that you make. CSC claims that Colossus can evaluate more than 600 type of injuries based on 10,000 different rules. This way, adjusters will obtain a figure from Colossus software and then offer it to you to settle your claim. Insurance companies claim that their adjusters are not required to settle within the suggested Colossus calculations, but that is truly nonsense, and should be investigated by the nation’s insurance commissioners.

How does it work?

Neither insurance companies nor CSC will divulge exactly how they determine the Colossus baseline value. Most of Colossus' calculation of your claim is based on insurance data to which you don't have access, and insurance companies certainly do not want former insurance adjusters to tell anything about it either, see the article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ([http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/93800_insurance01.shtml]).

However we do know that the value of your claim will differ greatly from one region to another and also by the baseline that your insurance company has set. For example, auto insurers using the software select a number of closed, already-settled claims from each region in which they do business to provide the "baseline" settlement value for each type of injury. For example, an insurer might pick 200 back injury cases from a particular region that previously settled for between ,000 and ,000 and enter them into the Colossus program. Based on this past settlement data, Colossus calculates a settlement range for similar claims. Therefore the baseline value will be different for each insurer.

But who is there to ensure that the closed claims selected truly represent the norm? Wouldn’t it be in the interests of the insurance industry to “pad” the research by holding back reports of high value settlements? There is no assurance whatsoever that Colossus represents anything other than what best serves the interests of the insurance industry. No one has certified that the base from which the data are drawn was fairly and objectively constructed.

By using Colossus, most insurance companies will try to lower the value of your claim, and will not take into consideration stress, or emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium (relationship), inability to participate in activities that you used to enjoy, or any number of other things that a jury will consider. These factors are not accounted for by the Colossus software.

What Should You Do?

The first thing to do is to determine whether or not the company you are dealing with uses Colossus for any purpose in its claims process. Here is a list obtained through the media, of companies that will admit to using Colossus for some purpose in their claims valuation process.

The following companies are known to license COLOSSUS:

Aetna Allstate (since 1997) American National Property and Casualty (since 1997 in 38 states) American Family Group of Madison (since 1996) Arrow Claims Management (since 1997) AXA Insurance (based in UK, one of the world’s largest insurance group) (2001) Bishopsgate Insurance (since 2000) Explorer Insurance Company (1997) Farmers Insurance Group of Companies (2000) Federated Mutual Insurance Company (1998) General Casualty Insurance Companies (1998) Grange Mutual Casualty Companies (1998) Great American Insurance Company (1998) Hartford Financial Services (2000) Keystone Insurance Companies of Philadelphia Metropolitan Group, Rhode Island Norwich Union Motorist Mutual –American Hardware Insurance Group (1998) Ohio Casualty Group of Insurance Companies (1998) State Auto Insurance Companies of Columbus (1996) 20th Century Industries (1997) Travelers/Aetna Property Casualty (1996) United Services Automobile Association (USAA) (1997) Utica Mutual Insurance Company (2000) Zurich Personal Insurance (1998)

Therefore, we recommend that you follow carefully our advice on this topic to avoid allowing the insurance company an upper hand in resolution of your claim. How could this valuation software allow them the upper hand? First, as documented above, this is a software program that will produce a result that is in favor of the insurance industry. It does not include factors that may cause real interference with healing, or which may result in many nights of disturbed sleep.

Be it the tortfeasor’s company or your own insurance company, if the company that you are going to deal with for a general damages award has licensed Colossus, we recommend that you consider that in your negotiations. For example, since Colossus produces only an “expected” result based upon an “average” from input verdicts and settlements, you would want to call to the attention of the adjuster any facts that put your situation outside of the norm.

Let’s say that you are a waitress and you sustained a soft tissue injury to your neck and low back. No matter how good and helpful your medical treatment or no matter how much healing you achieve from a couple of days off of work, your condition will worsen just as soon as you again start carrying those trays full of food or drinks. The weight of that tray on one side or the other will make your injuries worse, and it will be much more difficult for you to obtain healing.

Another example might be a single mother who has to pick up her 11 month old baby frequently. She will suffer continued pain from her accident injuries a lot longer than a person who does not otherwise burden healing tissue. Think of how many times a day she has to pick up that child, and what a strain that puts on her neck and back.

Now do you think there is any way that either of these—or like—situations will be covered or considered in the Colossus result? Of course there isn’t. This is the old adage of: “Garbage In—Garbage Out”. Since the computer was not queried or programmed to consider either of these circumstances, then it is your job to provide sufficient information to the adjuster to allow her to modify the result from Colossus by making another set of information inputs to the program.

What you have to do is to think about your situation and come up with some aspect of your case that may be a little different than the norm. Then you will make note of that situation in a letter to the adjuster and ask her to confirm that in her evaluation she will make allowance for your situation notwithstanding the result suggested by Colossus. A good resource to consult to get such a letter would be a website specialized in personal injury claim such as SettlementCentral.Com (http://www.settlementcentral.com)

If she does not respond, or if she does not agree to make allowance for your particular situation, we suggest you warn her that you will write to the insurance commissioner. Again, consult the SettlementCentral.Com website (http://www.settlementcentral.com) as they do provide a sample demand letter. As a next step, we suggest that you write to your state insurance commissioner and complain about the use of Colossus. Finally, we think that your state Trial Lawyers Association may have some information or suggestions on legislation to curtail the total reliance on Colossus.

Another key to working with an adjuster who is using Colossus is to make sure your medical record documents everything in a way that the software will reward. There are three key elements to this requirement, and you control only one of them: the other two are held by your doctor (who may not wish to make adequate documentation) and the adjuster (who may not cooperate to let you know what format is required for information to be understood by Colossus).

You will need the cooperation of the adjuster to tell you what format would be helpful to him in getting you full value for your claim. Ask him about the quality of your medical records. Which records were most useful, and which records were virtually useless. He should be able to tell you. This person is not an actual enemy; he has a job to do in this mission, and so do you; you need each other to ensure the case is settled fairly and amicably.

Solicit the adjuster’s cooperation to let you know the specific injuries and specific complaints used to evaluate the claim. Since each complaint and injury must be documented in a medical report to be considered by Colossus, ask him to help you by telling you which doctor needs to make a supplementary record in this case.

If you don’t have a good medical record, you will have to obtain a narrative report from your doctor, or get him to make specific findings that are translatable to input into Colossus.

Additional information such as a letter to the insurance adjuster regarding Colossus, letter to the insurance commissioner, and other Colossus references are available for free on our website at: http://www.settlementcentral.com

The Truth about Colossus: Are You Just A Magnetic Image?