Background Investigations: Why do BI's in Worker's Compensation or Personal Injury Cases? and The Different Types of Background Investigations offered by the Industry. A Background Investigation is a look into an individual's history and past as profiled in various public records and occasionally with friends and neighbors dependant upon how exhaustive the investigation. What do you really care in adjusting or defending against a Worker's Compensation or Personal Injury suit? Background investigations depending upon how detailed provide the following profiles on an individual's: * Character and Lifestyle * Suitability for Employment * Financial History * Legal History * Previous Injuries * Domestic Status The benefit of knowing these inter-linking profiles to the adjuster or defense attorney should be very apparent. Character and Lifestyle: Knowing where and on what social and economic level an individual lives is very important in being able to communicate with and to relate to the individual from his perception. Good claims handlers or attorneys will want to communicate with the claimant on a level that is conducive to keeping open and receptive dialogue flowing. Talking down to a claimant or speaking to an individual in terms to which he can not relate, usually only serves to alienate the person. This could chase a claimant to attorney so that he feels he has someone who can understand what the adjuster is saying on his side. Further, understanding the impact that the injury has had or could have on the individual from his point of view assists in better communications with the claimant. Suitability for Employment: Knowing whether an individual has a valid drivers license and reasonably clean criminal record can have a significant impact on the direction that the adjuster takes in trying to return an individual to work. Some types of criminal convictions will all but eliminate the individual from certain jobs. Understanding a claimants character and lifestyle will also provide insight as to types of employment an individual is apt to be interested in or capable of handling. Frequently, a male who has been told by the court that as soon as he returns to work he will have to resume child support payments and catch-up on payments is not likely to be very motivated to return to work. In fact we have seen several claimants who were in fact hiding behind their worker's compensation injuries to remain out of jail. Financial: A history of civil suits informs the adjuster that the claimant is no stranger to the litigation world. Further, if he owes money to people or as in the above example back child support, than you have a pretty good idea of what he is interested in when it comes time to talk settlement. Many times unless you offer what the claimant owes or an amount that would at least make significant headway, he is better off to remain out of work. Many companies and the courts are usually very sympathetic to an individual out of work as a result of an injury and will in fact suspend collection efforts so long as the individual remains disabled. This of course provides negative reinforcement to the claimant and encourages prolonging his recovery. Knowledge of these circumstances provides you with options that you might not others have had. Additionally, if claims handler uses the information as a basis to offer advances or words or understanding then the carrier is view in a positive manner. Legal: Tied closely to the above topics, knowledge of the individual's experience with both civil and criminal law is critical to successful claims handling. In addition to all of the already discussed reasons, legal history have and can reveal injuries, strenuous activities that have occurred since the date of accident, other incidents that provide a better explanation for the injury, and incarcerations that perhaps could release the file from financial responsibility if only for short period. Probations and paroles can also be a stumbling block to returning a claimant to work or to providing the necessary medical treatment. Previous Injuries and Domestic Status: The impact of these profiles of the claimant has already been discussed in the other topics. But many a successful petition to Florida's Special Disability Fund got its start in a background investigation that revealed an injury everyone knew about and yet were not cognizant of until brought to mind by a carrier. The need for the background investigation is that the best claims handlers adjust the entire claimant and his life not just the injury a claimant sustained. The difference may seem subtle but then subtle claims handling and investigation is what usually makes the difference. Having established the need for background investigations, there are two basic kinds of background investigations. The first is the simple quick and low cost computer oriented background that covers only the very high points such as criminal, liens, corporation, tax rolls, vehicles files, driving histories and other quick inexpensive databases. Usually this can usually be done for about hundred dollars ($100). The difficulty with such a background investigation is that it is very often sadly lacking in thoroughness and many times good information may fail to come to light. The second type is the trained investigator physically checking the records in the court house, where aside from looking for the individual variations of the name may come to light. Further innocuous civil records can be ordered and examine for information. This type of background is infinitely more thorough and when the background investigation is negative should not cost much more probably about a hundred and twenty five ($125). However when extensive records are found and research the cost can go up significantly. We fully recommend the second type of investigation for all the obvious reasons. Neither of these two background investigations should be confused with an asset investigation which includes the latter style background investigation, plus a great many other financial records.