Recently, we’ve come across Sedgwick's 2026 liability litigation report, which highlights that settlement severity has been increasing much faster than verdict severity. The firm concludes that claims costs are being driven more by voluntary settlements than by jury awards.
But if verdicts aren't the primary driver of escalating claim costs, why are settlements becoming so expensive?
We assume it’s fear – nuclear verdicts, social inflation, and unpredictable juries – that influences claims decisions. But this fear stems from uncertainty.
Fear comes from a lack of confidence
How confident is the insurer in what actually happened?
How strong is the evidence supporting liability?
Is there enough objective information to defend the insured's position?
When those questions can't be answered with confidence, settling may appear to be the safer financial decision, because the alternative is difficult to assess.
In other words, insurers often pay not for the value of the claim, but for the uncertainty surrounding it.
Better evidence changes the conversation
The Sedgwick report notes that credible trial readiness changes the negotiation dynamics.
The stronger the factual record, the more confidently insurers can assess liability, evaluate exposure, and distinguish between claims that should be defended and those that should be settled.
The objective isn't to take more cases to trial, but to take those that can be defended.
Turning raw data into claims evidence
Unlike witness statements or post-accident reconstructions, camera data captures objective data that helps establish a clearer picture of what happened before, during, and after an incident.
But how come – the facts exist, captured at the moment of the incident. The facts can save hundreds of thousands of dollars, but seem never to reach the claims teams.
It’s not a data-availability problem. In modern commercial auto insurance, that problem is solved.
There’s a process problem – how long it takes those facts to reach the people making the claims decision. And it shows up the same way across the industry, not just at one insurer or one fleet.
That's the challenge Draivn addresses.
Raw data isn't designed for claims professionals. To be usable, it needs to be validated, enriched, and presented in a way that supports claims workflows.
That's the gap Draivn closes: validated, claims-ready evidence delivered directly into the workflow, not extracted from it after the fact.
It aggregates telematics, camera, and contextual data and turns it into verified, insurance-ready claims evidence, including:
A detailed description of the event with driver behavior, road conditions, traffic, and weather.
Video footage from the insured's in-cabin and road-facing cameras.
Driver and vehicle compliance status.
Draivn enables adjusters and claims teams to make decisions based on objective facts to ensure greater confidence in liability assessment and settlement decisions.
Have no fear
The conversation may be shifting – from the impact of nuclear verdicts to the growing cost of settlements – but the solution hasn't changed. Better evidence gives insurers greater confidence to make better claims decisions.
Reducing uncertainty won't eliminate difficult claims, but can shift negotiations away from assumptions and toward facts.
If you'd like to see how validated telematics can strengthen your claims process, let’s talk. Contact us at draivn.com.
