Emerging Trends in Compensation for Widespread Losses

Presented by RAND Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation and RAND Institute for Civil Justice

A man in suit selecting a compensation button on a transparent screen

Photo by Duncan Andison / Fotolia

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About the Conference

A number of approaches are used in the United States to provide compensation for losses due to natural or man-made events. These include compensation programs, insurance contracts, and the tort system. This conference will address new and on-going issues that affect the speed, efficiency, and fairness with which this compensation system operates. Recent experience suggests that regulators are playing an increasing role in settlements of mass injury claims, and a first panel will address the extent to which this is the case and consequences for the settlement process. Liens also appear to be an increasingly prominent feature of the compensation process—whether in compensation funds or court settlements, and recent trends and their implications will be discussed in a second panel. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of different mechanisms for aggregating and resolving court claims continues to be debated, and a third panel will review recent experiences and lessons learned.

The conference brings together stakeholders from all segments of the legal ecosystem to analyze influential trends shaping the compensation landscape and to frame how these emerging developments are debated in government, law schools, and state bars across the country.