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The Frequency of Excess Auto Personal Injury Claims
This study analyzes auto personal injury claims across the states to estimate the frequency of claims for nonexistent or preexisting injuries. The authors develop a series of hypotheses regarding the specific claiming patterns that would signal the presence of excess claims. The authors draw on a nationally representative sample of auto-accident injury claims closed during 1987 to test these hypotheses. The results strongly support the hypotheses. The authors conclude that approximately 42% of report soft-injury claims in the dollar-threshold and tort states are for nonexistent or preexisting injuries.
Originally published in: American Law and Economics Review, v. 3, no. 2, 2001, pp. 228-250.
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