The phone call comes at the worst possible time. Your family is still processing the devastating loss of your loved one when an insurance adjuster calls about your wrongful death claim. The settlement offer decision was surprisingly quick—and disappointingly low. What you may not realize is that artificial intelligence (AI) likely played a role in calculating that number.
Most insurance companies now use AI technology to evaluate claims. While this speeds up the initial review process, it also creates new challenges for grieving families seeking fair compensation. The entire legal team at Dortch Lindstrom Livingston Law Group is fiercely proactive about helping families throughout Texas understand how an AI assessment of their wrongful death claim might grossly undervalue key damages, such as pain and suffering.
How Insurance Companies Use AI to Process Wrongful Death Claims
Corporations have embraced artificial intelligence as a tool to streamline claim processing and reduce costs. When you file a wrongful death claim, AI systems often conduct the initial review by analyzing medical records, police reports, financial documents, and other relevant data in minutes rather than days.
AI uses algorithms to identify patterns and calculate potential settlement amounts based on previous similar cases. The AI examines factors like the deceased person's age, income, employment history, and medical expenses to generate what the system considers an appropriate offer.
But does this truly represent your loved one or your family’s needs? Because AI systems work with data points and statistical models, there’s a total lack of human judgment and empathy to properly evaluate the unique circumstances of your loss—and what makes your wrongful death case distinct.
Unfortunately, an insurer's primary goal is to minimize payouts. Artificial intelligence programs identify the lowest defensible settlement amount rather than the maximum compensation your family deserves.
Most concerning, AI can’t adequately assess pain and suffering damages or the true impact of losing a family member. These non-economic damages represent a considerable portion of many wrongful death settlements, yet they resist the type of mathematical analysis that computers excel at performing.
Why AI Undervalues Pain and Suffering in Wrongful Death Cases
Pain and suffering damages compensate families for the emotional trauma, loss of companionship, and grief that follows a wrongful death. These damages are inherently personal and subjective, making them difficult for artificial intelligence to properly evaluate.
AI systems rely on historical data and mathematical formulas to assign dollar values to pain and suffering. However, they can’t account for the special relationship between family members or the specific circumstances that made your loved one irreplaceable in your life. Key limitations of AI in evaluating pain and suffering include:
- Standardized relationships. AI assigns generic values based on family roles—such as parent, spouse, or child—without considering the unique bond you shared with your loved one or their specific contributions to your family's well-being.
- Missing emotional context. Computer systems can’t measure whether your loved one was the family's primary emotional support, provided daily encouragement, or served as the cornerstone of family gatherings and traditions.
- Future potential blindness. AI struggles with cases involving deceased children or young adults who hadn’t reached their full earning potential, often severely underestimating a young person's lifetime value and contributions.
- Overlooked caregiving roles. The technology fails to account for unpaid but valuable services such as childcare, eldercare, household management, or emotional guidance that your loved one provided.
- Cultural and personal factors. AI can’t understand how cultural background, religious beliefs, or personal circumstances made your relationship with the deceased particularly meaningful or irreplaceable.
Insurers benefit from these limitations because AI-generated settlements typically fall below what juries award in similar cases. When grieving families accept these initial offers, the insurance company saves money that rightfully belongs to the survivors. At Dortch Lindstrom Livingston Law Group, we want to ensure this doesn’t happen to you.
Protecting Your Rights When Facing AI-Generated Insurance Claims
Recognizing when artificial intelligence has influenced your settlement offer is the first step in protecting your family's interests. Quick turnarounds on complex wrongful death claims often indicate AI involvement in the evaluation process.
Our team of experienced wrongful death lawyers will step up to challenge AI-generated valuations by presenting crucial evidence a computer system can’t properly analyze. This might include:
- Testimony about your loved one's unique contributions to the family
- Future plans that were interrupted by the death
- Specific ways your family has been affected by the loss
Economic damages also require careful human analysis. While AI can calculate past earnings, it often misses the value of bonuses, promotion potential, or career changes that would have increased your loved one's lifetime earning capacity.
Working with experienced legal counsel ensures that someone advocates for your family's interests rather than simply accepting what an algorithm determines your case is worth. We provide more than 60 years of combined experience on both sides of the aisle to negotiate with human decision-makers who have the authority to override AI recommendations when the evidence supports a higher settlement.
Don't let artificial intelligence determine the value of your loved one's life. Contact the compassionate wrongful death attorneys at Dortch Lindstrom Livingston Law Group to ensure your family receives the full compensation you deserve during this difficult time.