Personal injury claim management system

Claim 1

A method of computerized management of a plaintiff's personal injury case, comprising: (a) executing a program loaded on a computer to establish a client data record, the record having data relative to a personal injury claim including status of the claim; (b) establishing the status of the record in a first management phase with the program, the first phase corresponding to pre-negotiation of the claim, the program characterizing the first phase with at least a first subordinate pre-negotiation stage and a second subordinate pre-negotiation stage; (c) initiating the first stage of the first phase, the program generating a first number of pre-negotiation prompts in response to said initiating, said first prompts being directed to obtaining information about the claim; (d) activating the second stage of the first phase after medical treatment for an injury corresponding to the claim is completed, the program generating a second number of pre-negotiation prompts in response to said activating, said second prompts being directed to obtaining information to formulate a proposed settlement amount for the claim; (e) setting the status of the record to a second management phase corresponding to negotiation of the claim; and (f) changing the status of the record to a third management phase representing settlement of the claim, the program calculating a settlement distribution during said third management phase from expense information entered in the record and generating an output including a check with a settlement amount payable to a client for the claim based on the settlement distribution.

Claim 10

A method of computerized management of a plaintiff's personal injury case, comprising: (a) establishing a number of data records in a computer by executing a program, the records each corresponding to a different personal injury claim and each being opened with a first status representing a medical treatment phase for a corresponding injury, the program prompting generation of a first number of documents in accordance with a first schedule timed by the program for each of the records, the first schedule spanning a first number of days, the first documents being correspondingly directed to receiving information about the claim for each of the records; (b) changing a selected one of the records from the first status to a second status in accordance with completion of medical treatment for the corresponding injury, the program prompting generation of a second number of documents different from the first documents in accordance with a second schedule initiated by said changing and timed by the program, the second schedule spanning a second number of days, said second documents being directed to formulation of a proposed settlement amount for the injury; (c) switching the selected one of the records to a third status in response to communicating the proposed settlement amount to a corresponding opponent; (d) setting the selectcd one of the records to a fourth status corresponding to litigation of the corresponding claim, the program prompting generation of a third number of documents in accordance with a third schedule timed by the program during the fourth status; and (e) adjusting the selected one of the records to a fifth status corresponding to settlement of a claim corresponding to the selected one of the records, the program calculating a client's settlement amount from expense information entered in the selected one of the records and providing an output with the client's settlement amount.

Claim 26

A device for a computer system having a processor, video monitor, and printer, the device comprising: a computer readable medium storing a software program configured for execution by the system; the program being configured to generate a number of data records each corresponding to a different respective personal injury claim, said program being adapted to place each of said records in a first management phase corresponding to pre-negotiation of said respective claim, said program characterizing said first phase with at least a first subordinate stage corresponding to medical treatment for an injury associated with said respective claim and a second subordinate stage corresponding to completion of medical treatment for said injury, said program being configured to time display of a first number of prompts on the monitor in accordance with a first schedule spanning a first number of days and generate a first number of corresponding letters with the printer during said first stage, said program being configured to time display of a second number of prompts on the monitor in accordance with a second schedule spanning a second number of days and generate a second number of corresponding letters with the printer during said second stage, said program being configured to selectively classify said records in a second management phase corresponding to negotiation of said respective claim and a third management phase corresponding to settlement of said respective claim, said program being operable to calculate a settlement distribution during said third management phase and provide an output corresponding to a settlement amount owed a client for said respective claim.

Claim 32

A method of computerized management of a personal injury case, comprising: (a) establishing a number of data records in a computer system for processing by a case management software program executed by the system, the records each corresponding to one of a number of personal injury claims, the claims each corresponding to a respective client suffering a respective personal injury; (b) entering a number of data items into each of the records, the items including a factual description of the respective injury, a number of values corresponding to damages suffered by the respective client, and an address of an opponent to a corresponding claim; (c) selecting one of the records to generate a demand letter with the system, the program automatically assembling the letter from a standard form, the items corresponding to the selected record, and a demand amount automatically calculated by the program from the values corresponding to the selected one of the records; (d) setting status of a designated one of the records to a first management phase with the program, the first phase corresponding to pre-negotiation of the claim, the program characterizing the first phase with at least a first subordinate pre-negotiation stage and a second subordinate pre-negotiation stage; (e) initiating the first stage with the program to generate a first number of letters and a first number of pre-negotiation prompts in accordance with a first schedule spanning a first number of days, the first letters and prompts being directed to obtaining information about a respective claim; (f) activating the second stage with the program to generate a second number of letters and a second number of pre-negotiation prompts in accordance with a second schedule spanning a second number of days, the second letters and prompts being directed to obtaining information to calculate a proposed settlement amount for the respective claim; (g) changing the status of the designated one of the records to a second management phase corresponding to negotiation of the respective claim; (h) changing the status of the designated one of the records to a fourth management phase representing settlement of the respective claim; and (i) generating a settlement check payable to a client for the respective claim, the program calculating the amount automatically from expense information entered in the record.

Claim 37

A method of computerized management of a plaintiff's personal injury case, comprising: (a) establishing a number of data records in a computer by executing a program, the records each corresponding to a different personal injury claim and each being opened in a first management phase representing medical treatment for a corresponding injury; (b) changing a selected one of the records from the first phase to a second management phase in accordance with completion of medical treatment for the corresponding injury; (c) switching the selected one of the records to a third management phase in response to communication of a proposed settlement amount to a corresponding opponent; and (d) changing the status of the selected one of the records to a fourth management phase representing settlement of a corresponding personal injury claim for a final settlement amount, the program calculating a distribution of the final settlement amount among a number of recipients and prompting generation of a corresponding number of checks with the computer, the selected one of the records including a number of accounting entries, a first one of the entries corresponding to a medical cost for the corresponding injury, and a second one of the entries corresponding to an expense incurred during the second or third phases to pursue the corresponding claim, the distribution being calculated as a function of the entries.

Claim 42

An apparatus for managing plaintiff's personal injury cases, comprising: a computer system configured to generate a number of data records each corresponding to a different respective personal injury claim, said system having: a first means for prompting entry of information during a pre-negotiation phase for said respective claim for each of said records, said first means being configured to generate a first number of data input prompts and a first number of corresponding letters in accordance with a first schedule spanning a first number of days, and said first means being further configured to generate a second number of data input prompts different from said first prompts and a second number of corresponding letters different from said first letters in accordance with a second schedule spanning a second number of days; a second means for automatically generating a demand letter to an opponent to said respective claim from a standard form and a number of data items entered into a corresponding one of said records, said items including information input into said corresponding one of said records in response to said second prompts, said second means including a calculation means for formulating a proposed settlement amount stated in said demand letter; a third means for scheduling and tracking events corresponding to litigation of said respective claim for each of said records; and a fourth means for printing at least one check for each of said records from a number of values correspondingly entered therein.