Why the first 14 days matter most in liability claims

The data in our current State of the Line makes one point clear: The first 14 days in the life of a claim represent the most critical window to influence severity, litigation trajectory and ultimate cost.

Attorney representation is happening almost immediately

Sedgwick data shows that among general liability claims that ultimately become litigated:

• 71% have attorney representation in place within 24 hours of notice.
• 83% were represented within 14 days 

Broader calendar year 2025 data shows a similar pattern. Among all general liability bodily injury claims, 56% had attorney representation within 24 hours, and 70% were represented within 14 days.

In practical terms, by the time many organizations complete internal incident reports and decide whether to submit a claim, plaintiff counsel may already be directing medical treatment, coaching clients and establishing a litigation strategy. This compressed timeline materially alters the risk landscape for organizations, reducing opportunities for early investigation, controlled claim direction and timely resolution. 

Attorney involvement is not merely a procedural milestone; it represents a clear inflection point for claim severity.

• New litigated general liability bodily injury claims average 14.4 times higher incurred than non-litigated claims and 5.5 times higher than auto bodily injury claims.
• New litigated auto bodily injury claims average 5.5 times higher incurred than non-litigated claims.
• Closed litigated claims, while representing only 2.9% to3.6% of total claim closures, account for roughly half or more of all paid dollars

For large organizations, This concentration of risk has direct financial and governance implications, including:

• Higher actuarial projections and increased reserve volatility.
• Greater scrutiny from chief financial officers, boards and insurers.

In an environment where a small subset of claims drives the majority of loss dollars, the timing of escalation becomes critically important. That escalation most often begins within the first 14 days. The data confirms that early attorney engagement has emerged as one of the most influential drivers of claim severity.

What should businesses be doing?

When attorney representation is occurring within 24 hours in more than half of litigated claims, traditional internal reporting timelines are no longer sufficient.

Organizations should evaluate whether they have the ability to:

• Identify high-severity and litigation-prone claims immediately upon first notice.
• Escalate attorney-involved claims within hours, not days.
• Retain investigation data, whether telematics, photos, videos and other incident data for sufficiently long enough times.
• Align claims, legal and analytics teams around shared severity indicators and decision protocols.

Severity is increasingly concentrated in high-dollar, litigated claims, making early identification critical to effective severity management. These high-complexity, high-severity claims can no longer be managed in  silos and require greater cross-functional collaboration.

The State of the Line data underscores a critical shift for large organizations.  The financial impact of auto and liability programs is no longer driven primarily by claim frequency, but by claim trajectory. When most litigated claims are attorney-represented within days of first notice, the first 14 days become the defining window in the life cycle of risk.

For corporate policyholders, this shift changes the playbook. Rapid reporting, evidence preservation and early escalation processes are essential. While the industry cannot prevent attorney involvement, organizations can control how prepared they are before it occurs.

In today’s liability environment, two weeks can be the difference between a manageable claim and one that materially affects the balance sheet.