"No-fault automobile-insurance regimes were the culmination of decades of dissatisfaction with the use of the traditional tort system for compensating victims of automobile accidents. They promised quicker, fairer, less-contentious, and, it was hoped, less-expensive resolution of automobile-accident injuries. This monograph considers how these plans have fared. After reviewing the intellectual and political history of no-fault auto insurance, the monograph concludes that no-fault lost political popularity because of the perception that it did not deliver the promised consumer premium cost reductions. Analysis of data from a variety of sources confirms this view, demonstrating that premiums and claim costs have become substantially larger in no-fault states than in other states over time. These cost increases can be traced to a variety of factors, including growth in excess claiming in no-fault states and convergence between no-fault and tort states in litigation patterns and noneconomic-damage payments. However, the primary driver of no-fault's cost growth has been high medical costs. The extent to which these additional costs represent augmented utilization of medical services rather than cost shifting from the medical insurance system to the automobile insurance system remains unclear." --Back cover.

No-fault insurance fraud amounts to a significant "fraud tax" on consumers, estimated at billions of dollars each year. This is a practice-focused guide to the litigation and settlement of no-fault insurance anti-fraud cases, from inception through summary judgment.

This almanac sets forth a discussion of motor vehicle no-fault insurance law with a focus on the history and development of the no-fault system and recent trends. The appendix provides sample documents, applicable statutes and other pertinent information and data. A glossary is included. The Legal Almanac series serves to educate the general public on a variety of legal issues pertinent to everyday life and to keep readers informed of their rights and remedies under the law. Each volume in the series presents an explanation of a specific legal issue in simple, clearly written text, making the Almanac a concise and perfect desktop reference tool. All volumes provide state-by-state coverage. Selected state statutes are included, as are important case law and legislation, charts and tables for comparison.

In recent years, choice no-fault has emerged as a popular but controversial proposal for addressing the problem of high automobile insurance rates. Choice plans offer consumers the option of a lower-cost insurance policy with restrictions on filing lawsuits or a higher-cost policy with full tort rights. Some American states have implemented choice programs, and major federal choice legislation is now pending in the United States Congress. Choice no-fault has caught the attention of policy makers, the insurance industry, and academics. Until now, however, no single book has pulled together the available research on the topic. The Economics and Politics of Choice No-Fault Insurance fills that gap. Edited by scholars from different disciplines, each of whom has written extensively on automobile insurance issues, the book includes some of the best work in the area. Former Massachusetts Governor and presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis wrote the foreword. Contributors include University of Virginia Law Professor Jeffrey O'Connell, widely considered the `father of no-fault,' as well as authors of the influential RAND study of the potential effects of choice no-fault on insurance rates. The book chapters, most of which were written especially for this volume, cover topics ranging from the impact of choice no-fault on accidents and driving behavior, to the effects of choice on medical care usage, to alternative approaches for resolving accidents involving both `no-fault' and `tort' electors, to the political feasibility of choice legislative proposals. Emphasis on the potential advantages of choice no-fault is balanced by consideration of possible ill effects.