Collection systems and methods for managing insurance subrogation claims

• US 20070288272A1
• Filed: 06/12/2007
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Orbus Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Orbus Systems LLC
• Inventors: Madden, David, Marks, Peter
• Application Number:
  US11/818,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288272A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing one or more insurance subrogation claims can be utilized during the process of collecting on a claim. Various techniques can be used to assess claim information to determine, initiate, process, and/or create one or more collection events, legal actions, and/or subrogation claim documents to aid in the recovery of a claim. Civil procedure rules and collection law rules, along with predetermined claim objectives can be utilized to schedule events and trigger the automatic generation of legal and correspondence documents having claim information. Interactive and customizable presentation of claim information and determined collection events, legal actions, and/or subrogation claim documents can provide organized management of claims. Various parties interested in a claim can be in communication with the collection systems and have unique, secure, and/or defined access.

Claims

1. A computerized collection system configured to manage one or more insurance subrogation claims, the system comprising:

a claim collector apparatus for obtaining subrogation claim information from one or more collection nodes of the collection system;

a claim storage device for storing the claim information;

a claim assessor apparatus for determining one or more collection events based at least on the claim information, and generating one or more subrogation documents based at least on the claim information and the one or more collection events; and

a claim presenter apparatus in communication with the one or more collection nodes for presenting at least one of the one or more subrogation documents and the claim information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the claim assessor apparatus determines the one or more collection events based on at least one of a stored civil procedure rule and a stored collection law rule.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more collection nodes comprises at least one collection node from the group consisting of:

a device operable by a person; and

a computer system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more collection nodes comprises at least one computer system from the group consisting of:

an electronic insurance record system;

an electronic payment system;

an electronic judicial record system; and

an electronic communication system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein subrogation claim information comprises at least one type of data selected from the group consisting of:

standardized data; and

claim specific data.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the standardized data comprise at least one type of data selected from the group consisting of:

court data;

law enforcement data;

insurance company data;

process server data; and

attorney data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the standardized data comprises at least one type of information selected from the group consisting of:

one or more names;

contact information;

one or more policies; and

one or more fees.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the claim specific data comprises at least one type of information selected from the group consisting of:

claimant information;

insured party information;

incident information;

damage information;

claim objective information; and

transaction information.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the claim objective information comprises at least one type of objective selected from the group consisting of:

one or more pre-judgment objectives;

one or more litigation objectives; and

one or more post-judgment objectives.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the claim objective information comprises one or more pre-judgment objectives, and the one or more pre-judgment objectives comprises at least one pre-judgment objective selected from the group consisting of:

a number of days after obtaining a claim before sending one or more initial letters;

a number of days after a verbal agreement before sending a promissory note;

a number of days after a payment is overdue before sending a payment reminder letter; and

a number of days after one or more lawsuit triggering events before filing a lawsuit.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the claim objective information comprises one or more litigation objectives, and the one or more litigation objectives comprises at least one litigation objective selected from the group consisting of:

a number of days before a scheduled first court date before generating a trial outline;

a number of days after service of suit before sending a stipulated judgment;

a number of days after the earliest date allowed with no service before petitioning for a default judgment; and

a number of days after sending the stipulated judgment before petitioning for the default judgment.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the claim objective information comprises one or more post-judgment objectives, and the one or more post-judgment objectives comprises at least one post-judgment objective selected from the group consisting of:

a number of days after a payment is overdue before sending a payment reminder letter;

a number of days after sending the payment reminder letter before suspending a driver'"'"'s license;

a number of days after an earliest date in which it is legal to suspend the driver'"'"'s license before suspending the driver'"'"'s license;

a number of days after suspending the driver'"'"'s license before garnishing one or more bank accounts;

a number of days after a previous garnishment of the one or more bank accounts before another garnishment of the one or more bank accounts;

a number of days after suspending the driver'"'"'s license before garnishing wages;

a number of days after the previous garnishment of the one or more bank accounts before garnishing wages;

a number of days after suspending the driver'"'"'s license before performing an asset check;

a number of days after garnishing wages before performing an asset check;

a number of days after the previous asset check before performing another asset check;

a number of days before a judgment expiration date before renewing a judgment;

a determination of whether to close a case when a judgment is paid in full; and

a determination of whether to close a case when a claimant is bankrupt.

11. The system of 10, wherein the claim objective information comprises at least a number of days after one or more lawsuit triggering events before filing a lawsuit, and the one or more lawsuit triggering events comprises at least one lawsuit triggering event selected from the group consisting of:

no response to the one or more initial letters;

no response to the promissory note;

no response to the payment reminder letter; and

a minimum number of days before a statute of limitations deadline.

14. A method for processing an insurance subrogation claim, comprising:

receiving subrogation claim information;

storing subrogation claim information;

analyzing the subrogation claim information to determine one or more collection events based at least on the subrogation claim information;

generating one or more documents based on the one or more collection events.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining one or more claim objectives from the received claim information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein analyzing the subrogation case information to determine one or more collection events further comprises analyzing at least one applicable rule selected from the group consisting of:

a civil procedure rule; and

a collection law rule.

17. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 14.

18. A computer-implemented method for managing an insurance subrogation claim, comprising:

obtaining subrogation claim information and claim objectives using a computer;

initiating one or more collection actions based on the claim information and claim objectives using the computer; and

displaying information relating to the one or more collection actions on a computer display.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising receiving commands on an input device from one or more parties involved with the insurance subrogation claim.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more parties involved with the insurance subrogation claim comprises at least one party selected from the group consisting of:

a claimant;

a collection system administrator;

an insurance administrator;

an insurance adjustor;

an insured party; and

an attorney.