What is Colossus?
Colossus is software licensed to about twenty-five insurance companies to aid in predicting the settlement value of injury claims. The insurance industry maintains it is a useful tool because it considers a great many factors, and the settlement values are just a range for use in any way the insurer wishes. The claimants’ attorneys, on the other hand, maintain that the software is only so good as the data input, and we never know what the adjuster has input; that it does not consider interference with normal life activities, or other valid indications of pain and suffering normally proved by lay testimony instead of medical testimony (as required by Colossus); and that it is NOT merely a beginning point, but is instead the FINAL WORD ON VALUE that the insurance adjuster has to adhere to, or else risk unfavorable management reviews. How would you like to know that only a part of all you are suffering will be compensated? Unless data are input, how can a computer quantify your emotional
