New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today announced that the City has saved more than $11 million in the first year after launching a new system to electronically resolve claims against the City.

The City has used the Cybersettle system for just over one year to accelerate the settlement of claims by allowing parties to submit confidential offers and demands through a secure website.

"In its first year, the City's use of Cybersettle has been incredibly successful at resolving claims quickly and efficiently," Thompson said. " New York City was the first city to employ such innovative technology to efficiently resolve claims.  We are especially pleased that it has resulted in even greater savings for the City than we anticipated." 

Since its inception on February 23, 2004, and through February 22 of this year, 1,199 claims were placed on Cybersettle, of which 684 cases - more than half - were successfully settled for a total of $8.1 million. The Comptroller estimates that the City saved about $11.6 million in settlement costs for the year's settlement activity.  In the first year of the project, sidewalk, school, roadway, city property, traffic sign and light, motor vehicle, recreation and personal injury cases claims were settled using Cybersettle. 

"Given the initial success of the project, we plan to expand the program to include other property damage and medical malpractice claims over the coming months," Thompson said.

Additionally, the City was able to resolve claims more quickly than before. The Cybersettle settlements took an average of less than nine months from the time of filing of the Notice of Claim to settlement, as compared to similar cases not using Cybersettle that take an average of more than five years to settle.

In an average year, 24,000 claims are filed against the City.  Of these claims, about 9,000 involve sidewalk, school, roadway, city property, traffic sign and light, motor vehicle, recreation and personal injury cases.  

Under the Cybersettle program, once a claim is filed, the Comptroller's Bureau of Law and Adjustment inputs the information into the Cybersettle system. Cybersettle then notifies the plaintiff's attorneys of the City's intention to negotiate and requests pertinent documentation.

City Claims Adjusters then enter offers - which cannot be seen by the plaintiffs - into Cybersettle.  Plaintiff's attorneys can then submit corresponding demands - which cannot be viewed by the City - through Cybersettle. If a demand and offer overlap, a settlement is automatically achieved and Cybersettle informs the parties.

Since its inception in 1998, Cybersettle has processed more than 100,000 transactions, facilitating more than $750 million in legal settlements.  The system is used by insurance carriers, attorneys, third party administrators and corporations to settle claims faster, more efficiently, and less costly than by standard methods.