When you file a personal injury claim after a car wreck, slip and fall, or trucking accident, you probably picture a human adjuster reading your file, weighing your medical records, and making a judgment call. Increasingly, that’s not what’s happening. Insurance companies across the country are leaning on artificial intelligence and automated claims software to evaluate — and often undervalue — bodily injury claims before a person ever looks closely at the file.
At O’Hare and Koch Law Firm, we’ve watched this shift accelerate. Insurers aren’t hiding it, either. They talk openly about it in earnings calls and industry conferences. The problem is that the tools built to speed up claims processing are also built to protect insurance company profits and Texas injury victims are the ones absorbing the difference.
The Industry Has Already Gone All-In on AI
A 2024 Deloitte survey of 200 U.S. insurance executives found that 76% of insurance organizations have already deployed generative AI in one or more parts of their business and claims handling was named as one of the areas with the highest number of active implementations. Separate industry data shows the vast majority of auto insurers now use or plan to use AI and machine-learning models somewhere in their claims and underwriting process. Software estimates repair costs from photos, marks injury types, and — critically — generates a suggested settlement value before a human adjuster even opens your file.
The Legal System Is Catching Up
Courts and regulators aren’t waiting around to see if this becomes a problem. It already has. Homeowners in Alabama recently sued State Farm, alleging the company used what the lawsuit called “cheat and defeat” AI algorithms to systematically shortchange claims. And this isn’t the first time an insurance algorithm has ended up on the wrong side of a courtroom — two decades ago, a wave of class actions accused major auto insurers of using a claims-evaluation program called Colossus to lowball bodily injury payouts, resulting in settlements collectively valued at more than $1 billion. Federal courts have also started allowing plaintiffs to obtain discovery into exactly how insurers’ AI systems reached a denial or a lowball number, treating an opaque algorithm the same way they’d treat a human decision-maker who can’t explain their reasoning.
What This Means If You’re Injured in Dallas or Carrollton
Here’s the part that matters most for you: an algorithm doesn’t know your life. It doesn’t know that your job requires standing eight hours a day, that your kids need you to be able to lift them, or that the ache in your neck six months from now traces directly back to the careless conduct that caused the injuries. Automated systems are built to compare your claim to thousands of “similar” claims and spit out a number — often the lowest number the insurer can justify.
That’s exactly why the first offer you receive is rarely the right one. We’ve written before about why you should never sign a release the insurance company sends you without having it reviewed first, and ideally by an experienced attorney. Once you sign, an algorithm’s lowball number becomes permanent, even if your injuries turn out to be worse than expected. We’ve also explained how insurance adjusters are trained to protect their company’s bottom line, not yours — and that dynamic only gets more automated, not less, as AI tools take on more of the evaluation.
Fighting Back Against the Machine
You can’t cross-examine a computer program, but you can push back against the number it produces. An experienced personal injury attorney knows how to build a record — medical documentation, expert opinions, lost wage evidence, and a clear narrative of how your injury actually affects your life — that forces an insurer to move beyond whatever their software recommended. When an algorithm’s suggested settlement doesn’t hold up against real evidence, insurers know a jury won’t buy it either.
Talk to a Texas Personal Injury Lawyer Before You Accept a Number
If you or someone you love has been injured and an insurance company has already made an offer, don’t assume that number reflects what your case is actually worth. At O’Hare and Koch Law Firm, we have over 25 years of experience going up against the insurance industry’s playbook — automated or not — for clients across Dallas, Carrollton, and the surrounding North Texas communities. Consultations are free, and you never pay anything unless we recover for you.
Call us today to have your claim reviewed by one of our experienced personal injury attorneys — free of charge.
