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Practical Guide to Evaluating and Eliminating Biased Insurance Experts

Critically examining and applying the Demer framework

Complex framework simplified

  • Focused Discovery Plans and Requests
    Develop strategic discovery plans and requests to uncover expert bias, conflicts of interest, and inconsistencies in an expert’s principles, methodologies, and facts. Utilizing the Demer factors, emphasize the lack of reasonable measures taken by insurance companies and benefit plans to ensure expert neutrality and reliability. Tailor requests to anticipate and overcome the thirteen specious objections interposed by insurers, obtain the proper evidence to infer bias, and negate the insurance company’s neutrality and reliability arguments. Sequential discovery is often utilized to avoid costly and time-consuming battles and the judiciary’s general aversion to granting substantial discovery in expert bias matters.
  • Expert Analytics and Evaluations
    Conduct data-driven assessments of an expert’s relationship with the insurer, vendor, or industry, including compensation, assignment, and reputational metrics. Comprehensively review an expert’s prior reports, testimony, publications, and professional history. Identify critical subjective or experiential opinions and procedural irregularities is instrumental in advancing greater discovery demands. Segmented analysis provides more significant insights and uncovers well-hidden bias, including two-stage biased investigations. High-end qualitative “pattern and practice” evaluations expose trends, irregularities, and manifest bias in the expert’s principles, methodologies, and foundational facts.
  • Strategic Depositions and Assistance
    Prepare detailed deposition outlines, scripts, questions, and summaries to effectively challenge an expert’s bias, credibility, and reliability. Conduct strategic depositions that elicit critical admissions, expose weaknesses in the expert’s testimony, and undermine the expert’s objectivity and neutrality.
  • Complex Motions, Appeals, and Courtroom Advocacy
    Draft, argue, and defend persuasive motions, integrating and complementing the pleadings and other filings, addressing the biased expert issues at each phase of the litigation. This includes motions to compel, motions for summary judgment and adjudication (ideally suited for biased expert issues because an insurer seldom takes reasonable measures to ensure expert impartiality and reliability), motions in limine to limit or exclude biased expert testimony and defenses, and 404 hearings to exclude testimony. Craft well-reasoned jury instructions and appeals to ensure that the courts properly consider and weigh the expert bias issues.